In the beginning
The Crab and Hammer was opened by The Blue Sea Food Company Ltd (Blue Sea) for one simple reason; to show off our Great British Crab! Blue Sea opened its crab processing doors in 2004, but its origins lay much further back. Trevor Bartlett initiated and facilitated the company with four graduates on the back of an MBA project at Exeter University.
By the time Trevor was born in 1955 his mother's side of the family had already been fishing for crab for over fifty years.
To see how the industry has changed over the last 100 years or more we thought we would share a few photos and give you a potted history!
On the left is Trevor’s Great Grandfather Albert Browse, at sea, having just hauled a traditional hand made willow ‘ink-well’ pot. Crabs and lobsters are attracted into the pot by bait and drop in through an entrance in the top. These pots would last for just two or three seasons.
Albert & Maurice
On the right is Albert’s son Maurice – Trevor’s maternal grandfather. Both fishermen are holding a good specimen of a male ‘cock’ crab. If you look closely you can see the pots are now made of more modern material.
Nicking
Trevor (great hair!) as a deck hand ‘nicking’ the claw of another fine specimen of a cock crab. Nicking is the term used to cut one of the two tendons of the claw. There is one on top and cutting this prevents it from opening its upper claw but cutting the one underneath ends all movement preventing it from damaging other crabs.
Working on the Family Boat
Excel was built in 1971 for Maurice Browse and Trevor worked on this as a deck hand for three years and skipper for six. Here she is in Paignton Harbour having had her bottom antifouled. She is still looking as good today under new ownership.
Landing the Catch
Preparing to land a catch alongside Kingswear quay.
1987 Vivier Crabber
In 1987 MFV Euroclydon with a length of 18.3m, was the first steel, shelter-decked, super- crabber to be built in the UK for Trevor and his new partner Reg Matthews from Teignmouth – hence the registration TH.
See a tribute to Reg here https://fishingnews.co.uk/features/memories-of-reg-matthews-by-trevor-bartlett/
This is a Vivier Crabber ( vive = to live) having a large tank built into the hull, circulating sea water to keep the 20 ton crab capacity alive.
1993 The Amadeus
In 1993 the partners had the Amadeus built and with an overall length of 24.5m she was the largest vivier crabber in Europe at that time. Holding capacity 25ton and able to carry 1500 pots. Built for nomadic activity fishing the North Sea, Shetlands, Western Isles, and Western Approaches throughout the year.
2003 The Blue Sea Food Company Ltd
In 2003 Trevor invested in a 22,000 sq ft industrial unit at Torbay Business Park and with four younger partners, set up The Blue Sea Food Company Ltd.
Supplying Sainsburys
Heavily investing in the buildings, fit out and state of the art processing lines the first four years were hard work and loss making but by then, there was light at the end of the tunnel as we had just secured a contract to supply Sainsbury.
Fire Fire!!!
Sadly, that light was a spark and we lost the lot in a catastrophic fire on 1st November 2008.
By the following April we had taken over the old family facility of Browse Bros on Paignton Harbour. We began to rebuild the business to what it is today and now we are back processing where we started, with a live crab facility still based on the harbourside.
Supplying Worldwide
Blue Sea now exports crab around the world! Whilst we may now be the biggest crab processor in Europe the Crab & Hammer is a great local reminder of why we do what we do.
Sustainability
One of the management tools to maintain sustainability is a minimum landing size (MLS). Any crab caught that is smaller than the MLS is returned to the sea. Although this measurement varies around the coast, by the time a crab reaches the legal landing size, it would have reproduced at least once, probably twice - this helps to maintain stock levels. Any female carrying eggs or recently moulted soft shelled crabs are also returned to the sea.
All these discards survive which guarantees a good, healthy future crab stock.
Extracting the meat
Extracting as much of the meat as possible whilst maintaining the highest quality taste and texture is the key to a successful crab processing operation.
In the beginning
The Crab and Hammer was opened by the Blue Sea Food Company for one simple reason; to celebrate our fantastic Crab! The Blue Sea Food Company opened its doors in 2004 on the back of a university project but its origins lay much further back. The Browse family have been involved in crab fishing and processing for over 70 years. Trevor Bartlett, one of the owners of Blue Sea, married into the Browse family and has worked in the crab industry man and boy.
To see how the industry has changed over the years we thought we would share a few photos to give you a potted history!
On the left is Trevor’s Great Grandfather Albert Browse, at sea, having just hauled a traditional hand made willow ‘ink-well’ pot. Crabs and lobsters are attracted into the pot by bait and drop in through an entrance in the top. These pots would last for just two of three seasons.
Albert & Maurice
On the right is Albert’s son Maurice – Trevor’s mum’s father.
Both fishermen are holding a good specimen of a male ‘cock’ crab.
If you look closely you can see the pots are now made of more modern material.
Nicking
Trevor (great hair!) as a deck hand ‘nicking’ the claw of another fine specimen of a cock crab. Nicking is the term used to cut one of the two tendons of the claw. There is one on top and cutting this prevents it from opening its upper claw but cutting the one underneath ends all movement preventing it from damaging other crabs.
Albert & Maurice
Excel was built in 1971 for Maurice Browse and Trevor worked on this as a deck hand for three years and skipper for six. Here she is in Paignton Harbour having her bottom antifouled.
She is still looking as good today under new ownership.
Landing the Catch
Preparing to land the days catch alongside Kingswear quay.
1987 Vivier Crabber
In 1987 MFV Euroclydon with a length of 18.3m, was the first steel, shelter-decked, super- crabber to be built for Trevor and his partner Reg Matthews from Teignmouth – hence the registration TH. Just outside Paignton Harbour.
This is a Vivier Crabber ( vive = to live) having a large tank built into the hull, circulating sea water to keep the 20 ton crab capacity alive.
1993 The Amadeus
In 1993 the partners had the Amadeus built and with an overall length of 24.5m she was the largest vivier crabber in Europe at that time. Holding capacity 25ton and able to carry 1500 pots. Built for nomadic activity fishing the North Sea, Shetlands, Western Isles, and Western Approaches throughout the year.
2003 The Blue Sea Food Company
In 2003 Trevor invested in a 22,000 sq ft industrial unit at Torbay Business and with new younger partners initiated and facilitated The Blue Sea Food Company.
Supplying Sainsburys
Heavily investing in the buildings, fit out and state of the art processing lines the first four years were hard work and loss making but by then, there was light at the end of the tunnel as we had just secured a contract to supply Sainsbury.
Fire Fire!!!
Sadly, that light was a spark and we lost the lot in a catastrophic fire on 1st November 2008.
By April we had taken over the family facility of Browse Bros on Paignton Harbour and began to rebuild the business to what it is today and we are back where we started.
Supplying Sustainable British Crab Worldwide
Blue Sea now exports our crab around the world! While we may be the biggest crab processor in Europe now the Crab & Hammer is a great reminder of why we do what we do! Its all about the crab and we hope that you have a great time celebrating our fantastic crab!
Minimum Landing Size
One of the management tools to maintain sustainability is a minimum landing size (MLS). Although this varies around the coast, by the time a crab reaches the MLS it would have reproduced at least once and probably helping to maintain stock levels..
Discards’ Survive
Berried females must also be retuned to the sea and as all these ‘discards’ survive, sustainability is pretty much guaranteed.
Extracting the meat
Extracting as much of the meat as possible whilst maintain the highest quality taste and texture is the key to a successful crab processing operation.
Devon’s finest Crab
Love crab?
Then you’ll love the Crab & Hammer!
Why not pop down to sample something delicious from our take-away menu – or let’s celebrate crab together & book a table now!
