EVERY so often my wife tries to encourage me to have a break from Maldon’s history.

She knows it’s futile, of course, but she still tries.

Recently she arranged a long weekend away in the beautiful Norfolk coastal village of Blakeney. As we booked in to our hotel, I noticed a heritage trail leaflet on the counter.

Having unpacked and had a bite to eat, we set off on the guided route. After a while it took us to the 15th-century parish church of St Nicholas.

Among the various monuments and fixtures and fittings there, I was surprised to see a glass-cased model of a lifeboat and, above it up on the wall, an original board listing the “services rendered” by the now long-gone Blakeney Lifeboat.

The station was run by the RNLI from the 1860s until its eventual closure (due to silting) in 1935.

The board made for fascinating reading, detailing two rescues by the vessel Hettie (in service from 1873 to 1891), three by Zaccheus Burroughs (1891 to 1908) and finally, and most successful of all, nine using the last lifeboat Caroline, crewed by 17 men, including 14 oarsmen.

As I looked down the list I suddenly had one of those ‘lightbulb moments’, exclaiming to my wife: “There – a Maldon connection!”

She sighed in a long-suffering kind of way, but knew that she wouldn’t get away without asking me about it.

On April 12, 1923, Caroline had apparently “stood by” the smack Telegraph.

Presumably the fishing boat was in difficulty off the coast and had to be escorted to the safety of Blakeney harbour.

Many of you will know that Telegraph was for years part of the iconic view of Maldon’s riverside.

Looking from the Promenade’s extension towards the barges at the Hythe and the tower of St Mary’s (the fisherman’s church), on the left in the foreground was to be seen the distinctive red hull of Telegraph.

Sadly she isn’t on that mooring anymore and has been moved a short distance away, around Herring Point, not far from the entrance to Heybridge Basin.

She is, however, still very much part of the local scene and of our special maritime heritage.

That said, Telegraph didn’t start life here – she is far too big to be a Maldon smack.

Instead she was built and launched at Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1906.

Originally owned by a fish merchant called William Stringer, she was registered BN122, initially used for prawning and whelking, but later also for spratting.

When not working, Telegraph – a very fast smack in her day – was also a successful competitor in the local races and even won the Skegness Regatta in 1908.

Captain Stringer was tragically killed in an accident in 1917 and so the smack passed to his widow.

It was during Mrs Stringer’s ownership that the Blakeney incident occurred.

In the following year, 1924, Telegraph had her first engine fitted and other alterations were made to make her a more efficient craft.

The Stringers’ son Eric took her on in 1944 and she had a major re-fit at his hands, including a new and improved engine which essentially changed her into a motor vessel.

In that respect she lost her sailing charm, but continued in her fishing role until involved in a major collision with another boat in 1969.

As a result of an insurance issue linked to that incident, she passed to the owners of the other vessel involved.

They quickly sold her on and the stalwart smack continued shrimping under two further owners until being finally laid up in 1975.

Four years later, in 1979, my friend Colin Swindale (son of Maldon’s railway expert, the late Dennis Swindale) bought her.

She was in a sorry state and Colin moved her to Tollesbury.

By the early 80s she had been extensively restored and, when not sailing, was on her familiar Maldon mooring.

Colin’s love affair with Telegraph has been mixed, for having brought her back to life he then sold her (albeit reluctantly) in 1986.

Almost ten years later, however, he bought her back and restored her for a second time.

A remarkable survivor, over the years Telegraph has had her fair share of trauma – accidents, successive periods of neglect and repair, she was even struck by lightning while off Bradwell in 2000.

But Telegraph sailed on, even winning a trophy in the 2001 Tollesbury smack race.

More work was done on her in 2003 and Colin could often be seen on board tending to her at that riverside mooring.

Although Telegraph is very much still with us, somehow her absence from that familiar Bath Wall position makes the classic view much the poorer.

But as long as some of the countless photographs taken of her in that position survive, she will continue to be part of Maldon’s Blackwater scene.

Meanwhile, the RNLI continues to keep us safe on the water.

The Maldon branch raises a substantial amount of money to help the work of the lifeboats. To support them, contact the Maldon branch at pwandsw@btopenworld.com.