The Primrose was built around 1890, in Rye. A small everyday working craft, it was used to ship goods between the port of Rye and the hinterland of the rivers Rother, Tillingham, Brede and, indeed, the Royal Military Canal to Folkestone.

These crafts shipped cargo including timber, coal, hops, hop poles, manure, sand and ballast. The Primrose was also known to have carried bricks, wool, furniture, glass, and animals used for meat.

It was believed that the Primrose operated until the 1930s, until the vessel was abandoned in the mudflats of the Rye for around 50 years. Submerged by the tides twice a day and washed over by passing ships, the Primrose was filled with mud, which helped to preserve it. In 1990, it was brought to the attention of the Nautical Archaeology Society.

As the project officer of the Nautical Archaeology Society, Valerie Fenwick was tasked to formulate and execute a plan to preserve the ship, working alongside the Nautical Museums Trust to home the Primrose at Hastings’ Shipwreck Museum.