A Sea tractor is a motor vehicle designed to travel through shallow seawater, usually carrying passengers on a platform suspended typically 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) or so above a tractor-like chassis. Early models of Sea tractors had a 20–40 horsepower (15–30 kW) motor and a 10 person capacity. The sea tractor was most popular during the early 1930s, as a unique way to give scenic tours to patrons of waterfront hotels and resorts. In other applications, Sea tractors were used merely as a ferry through shallow waters. Sea tractors are hardly used in present time - as boats, ferries, and other aquatic vessels often serve their function much more efficiently and comfortably.
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The hotel at Burgh Island own and operate a sea tractor, to carry hotel guests, and other visitors, the 250 m (273 yd) to the island at high tide, when the causway connecting the island to the mainland is covered. The current tractor is the third one to be used at this location.
A sea tractor is also used at South Sands Beach near Salcombe, Devon. The beach has no jetty or pier and the South Sands Ferry therefore cannot reach dry land to pick up passengers. The sea tractor transports passengers to the ferry waiting a few metres out to sea.[1]
The first sea tractor featured in a video game appeared in the game Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun for PC and Nintendo Wii.
Sea tractors have been featured on the famous child's TV Show Teletubbies.
The Burgh Island sea tractor also appears as the method of transport between the mainland and the island in Evil Under the Sun (2001 film) TV series of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. The second Burgh Island sea tractor features in the 1965 Dave Clark Five film "Catch Us If You Can'(1965).