Syd Hook said that everything has changed in the port of Teignmouth. From a large window that looks out over the panoramic view of the estuary and beyond, it appears like a timeless scene to the untrained eye – the Georgian properties of Shaldon to the left and the fish quay to the right with boats moored all down the river and on the reliable Salty.
But there is evidence of a changing world – the quay extension at the ABP-owned port and Polly Steps, which before the war was nothing but beach. Syd Hook turns 86 years old in June and still lives in the house in Ivy Lane where he was born . The property has been in his family for more than 100 years and tradition seems to mean an awful lot to him. There are few with such a comprehensive understanding of the river, its movements, and of course the town which has been home to generations of Hooks.
It sounds romantic, a life by the water and living off its riches. But it's not and never has been. 'Oh, it may look alright on a sunny afternoon, but I have lived hand to mouth all my life. I have always had enough but not too much more,' he said, putting paid to such fanciful notions. Mr Hook will not be pulled into talking about 'anything controversial', he's washed his hands of all that now. 'I don't want to talk about what's happening now, it's the past I remember well,' he said.
And it is his life-long knowledge that has earned him much respect with sailors over the years. He knows in all senses the ebb and the flow of the estuary. Born into a family of mussel men, Mr Hook worked the river and the south Devon coast as a young man. He recalls going out in a dinghy with nets for herring, mackerel and sand eels that are good bait for sea bass. Fishermen would go off for sprat fishing or herring in seas off East Budleigh, 'then in the months following Christmas, the mussel industry went into full swing'.
In those days, Mr Hook recalls: 'There were mussel beds all up the river. 'It would take 10 men working on a sprat swain, and to keep the crew together, the owner would have mussels up the river to keep them from catching the sprats.' Nowadays there are just three mussel men remaining, though an initiative by the Teignbridge Estuary Partnership hopes to swell numbers. Now much of the fish is sorted and weighed at Brixham, but in the past, markets would be held at the Ship Inn.
'There was a salmon market held morning and night, they would fetch three shillings per pound at Easter, but during the main run in May and June it would be about 10p per pound,' he said. Mr Hook went on to become an apprentice with the Morgan Giles Boatyard, picking up skills that would serve him well throughout his working life. He went weekend sailing with the boss to Torquay and Salcombe. 'In those days, you weren't asked if you wanted to go, you were told,' he said. The seascape, no doubt, has altered much since then.
Up until 1938, clay from the Bovey basin was brought down by barge from the Stover Canal, said Syd. Tugboat The Heron would tow barges carrying 30 tonnes of clay each and the ships would be moored on buoys in the estuary. 'Two men worked each barge and the ball clay came in blocks that would be put into baskets and winched onto the sailing ship.
'The ships would go out to Runcorn for the potteries and come back this way with coal,' 'Apart from that there would be timber from Russia and Sweden but that would be during the summer because the Baltic would freeze in winter. 'It was rare but I remember steamboats loading clay for Italy then going to Plymouth to finish off.'
Though the cargo remains much the same, modern shipping has seen an increase in ship size. 'A big ship in the 1930s days was 200 tonnes,' said Mr Hook. In 1925, a German cruiser was brought into the port to be broken up as part of the disposal of the German Fleet after the first world war.
'Somebody brought the generators up on to the quay and with them generators, came Teignmouth's electrics. 'It was the first time we had electric streetlights. It had been gas up until then,' said Mr Hook. Mr Hook was 19 when the second world war broke out and his seafaring skills were soon put to good use.
He signed up in 1939 and remained in service until 1946. He was involved in many seaborne invasions, including the D-Day landings on Gold Beach. He served on minesweepers in the North Sea and also was posted to the Mediterranean.
'We nearly starved on ship but we were with a lot of Americans and they had food with them and we pinched most of it. 'I remember us singing "There will always be an England" and they would add, "While there's a USA"'. He received a Distinguished Service Medal for his valour. Back on civvy street with a £130 pay-off, he returned to Teignmouth 'knowing that I never wanted to work for anyone again'.
He built boats with his late brother Stan. 'We'd build anything from rowing boats to 46ft motor boats, but the upkeep is a barrier to people these days. Plastic and fibreglass boats just get polished, like a car,' he said. For almost 25 years Mr Hook was pilot for Teignmouth and in that time guided 10,000 ships in and out of port. In the days before a fixed channel, maintained by dredging, the only way to navigate the entrance 'was to know its character'. 'You had to live on it to really know it and see it every day to know its way,' said Mr Hook. He was deservedly recognised by a British Empire Medal on his retirement.