Book excerpt: Built by Nobles of Girvan gives a wonderfully comprehensive account of one of Scotland's finest boat-building companies -Alexander Noble & Sons Ltd of Girvan - from its founding in 1946 to the present-day. The phrase 'Built by Nobles of Girvan' is synonymous with the construction of finely crafted wooden fishing vessels - in particular some wonderfully elegant and successful ring netters - yet to think of the yard as a builder of ringers only is to deny it its versatility.While the ringers take pride of place in this book it also covers the other types of fishing vessels built in Girvan, including forty-footers, seiners and trawlers as well as the yard's diversification into construction, using steel, of both fishing and non-fishing boats.This book is the master list of Nobles' fishing boats. It records the main dimensions of each boat, the major changes which took place during her lifetime and her ultimate fate. The history of the yard is covered in an insightful introduction which includes some fine fishermen's tales of big catches and happy days spent fishing, as well as detailing the other activities that took place there such as that of maintenance and repair work.Featuring over 180 photographs, many previously unpublished and from the Nobles archives, each fishing vessel is illustrated by at least one image, allowing readers the incredible opportunity to revisit the grand sight of a varnished Nobles boat in her heyday.