Model of a Deal Galley made by Major M. Castle-Smith. From Special Exhibition of Fishing Boats July 22 - August 31, 1936, p. 23, No. 94: "These open boats were long in use in the Downs, both for putting pilots on board and also for taking out the mails. They were designed to be fast under sail and also to be convenient for boarding ships under way. These boats were all clincher-built with a straight stem, a narrow verticle transom, and considerable depth amidships. The ' Deal Galleys' were in common use about 1890 and did not disappear entirely until after the Great War."

These open boats, which did not disappear entirely until after the first World War, were long in use both for the service of pilots and for taking out the mails to sailing ships which so often anchored in The Downs, awaiting suitable conditions to enable them to proceed down the Channel.

The Deal galley was a five-oared, clincher-built boat, about 30ft long, with a vertical stem and stern-post; but in contrast to the double-ended beach-yawls of the East coast, the stern terminated in a narrow transom. It was rigged with a single mast on which was set one large, almost square, lugsail; and when under sail, attained considerable speed.