About a mile and a half northwest of Harwich, in Ewarton Bay just West of Shotley, there is an open-type FCB. There are no elm strakes or fenders, perhaps the rust marks show where they were once fixed. It appears on Google Earth from 2000 but may have been there earlier. There has been a …
A hulk (69’x20′ ) sits on the mud in Bathside Bay (drying height 3.8m CD) and has been there since at least 2000. This looks very much like an old steel Thames lighter.
Three types of vessels of roughly the same size can be confused: ‘barges’, metal ‘lighters’ and ferroconcrete ‘lighters. This is compounded by the term ‘barge’ sometimes being used to describe a lighter. Thames Sailing Barges These have a sailing rig, or at least did when active. In the distant past, they partly evolved from wooden …
The fighting men who landed on D-Day needed to be fed so ten Landing Barge Kitchen (LBK) were built for the task. These were adapted from steel Thames Lighters by fitting two petrol engines and building the kitchen on the lighter. Crossing from Langstone Harbour to Sword Beach on D-Day, with the 35th LB Flotilla, …
There is a Ferro Concrete Petrol Barge (PCB), or Lighter, in the Harwich area. These were originally built for use on D-Day but were found to be unsuitable. It is (85’x22′) and was in the cutting to the East of the Sailing Club serving as the clubhouse until replaced by LBK6. It was then moved …
An open-type FCB at Titchmarsh Marina is well disguised as a wooden bungalow by the marina car park. The fascinating story of how it got there and its connection with the building of Titchmarsh Marina, is recounted on the Concrete Ship & Mulberry Blog. Another open FCB was at Titchmarsh Marina, but is now (2023) …
Sales Point at Bradwell in the Blackwater is protected by Ferro Concrete Barges or FCBs.
This site has a wealth of information about the HMS Wildfire shore base at Sheerness in World War Two. There is a ship and wreck database as well as an excellent article on the defensive barrier.
Commissioning 1942 H.M. Fort Sunk Head (U2) was the second Maunsell Navy Tower to be installed during World War Two in the Thames Estuary for Air Defence. After her commissioning at Tilbury, she was towed out on June 1st 1942: unlike The Maiden Voyage of Roughs Tower, the trip to the site was quick and …
Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) was from a wealthy family and a gentleman of leisure. Known primarily for his translation of a Persian poem he was of a bohemian disposition and lived an unconventional life. He was one of the ‘Woodbridge Wits’, a group of poets and artists, which included Thomas Churchyard, George Crabbe and Bernard Barton. …
SS Richard Montgomery on youtube. Beware the shallow water to the east at LW. There is a plan to remove the masts. See SS Richard Montgomery – Wikipedia – a United States ship named after an Irish soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Arethusa was a Royal Navy Light Cruiser stationed at Harwich under Admiral Tyrwhitt during the Great War. She served as his flagship at the Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914). On the 11th of February 1916, she struck a German mine: whilst being towed back to the port, she sank near the Cutler sandbank by the …
Coasting Bargemaster In Coasting Bargemaster, Bob Roberts tells of taking refuge, whilst in the Martinet, in an offshore anchorage: “It is a desolate spot, many miles offshore, where the Maplin sands are divided from the Whitaker shoals by a semi-circle of water from three to four fathoms in depth at low tide.” Coasting Bargemaster by …
In the 1885 Dickens Thames Dictionary ‘Barges’ entry, he covers both dumb and sailing barges, his assessment of dumb barges and Thames Watermen is interesting and not complimentary. Here is what he says about sailing barges. It is a singular fact, not unnoticed by the committee, that whereas the men who work in the dumb …
The Waldringfield village sign represents the coprolite, cement and muckand straw tades that were carried out by sailing barge in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Waldringfield is best placed on the the Deben for this activity.
The position of Mystery is wrong in the SB Compendium, being near Easton, but the description as a walkway fits. Perhaps this was the K.C., both remain to be resolved.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, London was the largest city in the world and road transport was powered by horse: fifty-thousand horses were required just to keep Victorian London’s public transport running, another ten thousand horses for hansom cabs, and countless more to substitute for white vans made around 300,000 horses producing, say, …
Coprolite is a phosphate material that come from Red Grag. It was used to make fertiliser by Packards and Fisons. It was collected from Waldringfield by Barges Ammonite, Fossil, Nautilus and Dewdrop.
For literary reasons, we will take our imaginary trip in 1881. It is mid-November and fortunately the weather is set fair; this has been a year of dramatic weather extremes. Repairs have been made from the Great Storm of a few weeks ago; thankfully we were on a sheltered berth at the time. We are …
Naming Frank Mason ordered Elsie Bertha in 1878 from Miltons, a Kent builder. This was Masons’ third vessel and was named for his daughter who had died aged five months. Skatty Her final skipper, Arthur Catchpole, was a smartly dressed man and was known as Skatty., he would have nothing to do with the orthodox seaman’s blue …
Masons probably had Jumbo from new in 1883. Shipping movement records show Jumbo with Brooks as the master in London in August 1888 and Quantrill in 1900. Whether or not she was sold with the rest of the fleet to Cranfields is uncertain but by 1916 she was registered with the Cotton Powder Co., City, London. War …
As Elsie Bertha was lost in 1894 it is probable that Orinoco, bought new in 1895, was her replacement. At some point, she was fitted with a deckhouse and, conceivably converted to wheel steering although she may have had this originally. Masons were rather unsporting on a Friday in 18971For an account of the 1897 …
Masons bought Excelsior second-hand in 1888 as their fourth vessel. Along with the remainder of the fleet she was sold to Cranfields in 1912 eventually being used for training as she was, by then, their smallest barge.
Petrel was built by Orvis in Ipswich in 1892 as Masons fourth vessel. The first three had a family-related name so it is unclear why she was called Petrel. Fred Strange was skipper in 1894, she competed In the Harwich Race in 1897, see Orinoco. Quantrill was skipper in 1905. Arthur Catchpole (see Elsie Bertha) had …
Grace was Masons second barge built at their own yard at Stoke, Ipswich in 1874 and named for George Mason’s daughter Grace Eliza. Along with the rest of the Masons fleet, she would have carried cement and mixed cargoes to and from Waldringfield. Ernest Smith, one-time mate on Augusta, and his brother Isaac continued sailing …
Augusta was Masons’ first barge built at their own yard at Stoke, Ipswich in 1874 and named for George Mason’s daughter Augusta. Along with the rest of the Masons’ fleet, she would have carried cement and mixed cargoes to and from Waldringfield.
Masons Cement Works at Waldringfield from 1860s to 1907. Some sailing barges belonged to the factory,others not. Mud dug at Hemley Point. Fates of the barges mostly known.
Portland cement was made at Masons Cement Works in Waldringfield on the Deben. 120,000 tons of mud was taken Hemley Point and Early Creek in SB Kingfisher
The cross-Channel steamer Prinses Juliana (1909) was wrecked off Felixstowe. On 1 February 1916, she struck a mine from UC-5 while on a voyage with passengers from Vlissingen (Flushing) to Tilbury and was grounded. Ultimately the ship became a total wreck. There is confusion in online sources between Juliana and …
Bob Roberts, in Coasting Bargemaster, tells a compelling tale of how his ship, the ‘boomie’ barge Martinet, was wrecked in World War Two. He wrote that the ship wanted to kill its crew, and he had been in trouble before, having …
Built in 1872, Dover Castle was operated on the Deben by Robert Skinner from 1923, this was the twilight period of barge traffic on the Deben: she was in her dotage, having been bought cheaply and worked with old sails in poor condition. In 1930 she was run onto the left bank opposite the Tide …
The 46 gun fourth rate H.M.S. Kingfisher was built by Phineas Pett III at Woodbridge in 1675. The Petts were rival shipbuilders to Anthony Deane, who had built ships at Harwich in the 1660s, but was by then at Portsmouth. The history …
The iron hulk on the left bank of the Deben opposite Lime Kiln Quay has an interesting story. It was thought that she was a dredger but recent research shows that she was originally ‘Lady Alice Kenlis’ a three-masted screw steamer, built in 1867 on the Clyde. The story is told here see page 10.
These items are for the London River rather than the Estuary. 1790 Bowles’s new map of the River Thames, from it’s spring in Gloucester-shire, to it’s influx into the sea : with a table of all the locks, wears, and bridges thereupon ; shewing the tolls payable at each and their distance by water from …
The Oriana Buoy This Starboard Hand Mark with the legend ‘Oriana’ opposite Wallet No.4 should logically be Wallet No.1: oddly, it is un-named on charts. The buoy has been in position for some years. The photograph below shows the buoy in 2021, it is clearly a vintage piece, note the elaborate topmark. Oriana and Medusa …
A light ship to the north of Cork Ridge is marked on the 1852 Washington Chart and also appears on a 1903 Meesum Chart. It was replaced by a large buoy in the 1970s.
There is a full account of this topic at Woolverstone, D-Day at 80 Exhibition. This RAF photograph, 26th March 1944 – 3054 – shows what must be real landing craft near Woolverstone on the River Orwell. There are thirty-five of what appear to be MkV landing craft tank (LCT) and, perhaps, six of the considerably …
Dummy Landing Craft were built at Waldringfield and moored on the Deben before D-Day to deceive the Nazis. These were probably the largest craft ever to be in the river.
The 1845 Deben Survey shows an oxbow bend with Troublesome Reach to the south and Kingston Reach to the west. ‘Troublesome’ relates to the difficulty experienced by sailing vessels in rounding the bend at Kingston (now Kyson Point) due to the prevailing southwesterly and erratic winds from Martlesham Creek. At the west end of Troublesome …
Read more “Loder’s Cut and John Loder, Troublesome Reach, Bloody Point and Kyson Point.”
Here are some good poetic extracts: The Singing Swan by Sir A.P. Herbert extracts APCM Handbook for Bargemen and Lightermen by Charles T. Perfect extracts Books on Sailing Barges Carr, Frank G G. Sailing Barges. Dalton, 1989. ‘The Thames Sailing Barge Compendium’. Hervey Benham, Roger Finch, and Philip Kershaw. Down Tops’l. The Story of the …
There are quite a few items on this fascinating structure, so it gets its own section.
Surveyor – Explorer – Deben Survey – Franklin – Erebus & Terror – Australia – Rattlesnake and propellers.
A group of twenty dumb barges or lighters has protected the northeast of Horsey Island, by the entrance to Walton Channel, since 1988. They constitute a one kilometre sea defence guarding the island against northeasterly waves to which Hamford Water is exposed, this is the …
According to a FaceBook post That’s the remains of the Sailing Barge Westhall of Rochester Off. No. 127259 built by the London and Rochester Barge Co. for their own use in 1913. Converted into a motor barge in 1948 and finished trading in 1965. Laying for some years as a houseboat at Gillingham, Kent. Westhall …
We know from Walter Tye’s book that Kingfisher was used in the mud digging for the cement works. His information was firsthand from the crew. Robert Simper says that Kingfisher was built by William Colchester in 1878 as a tiller-steered ‘stumpie’ (no topmast)1Kingfisher – Topsail 44, Barges on the Deben by Robert Simper. However, the …
Capsized on the sand near Cork Spit, this is on the south side of the channel opposite Wadgate Ledge. See RNLI report
There is little activity at Kirton Creek nowadays. However, it was once the mouth of the Mill River and, after enclosure, boasted a Brick Works. This was dependent upon barge transport which seemed quite challenging given the nature of the channel. A relic of that era is the hulk of a Thames Sailing Barge which is slowly being claimed by the mud.
1801 Nelson in HMS Medusa with Capt. Gore is guided by Spence to scrape out to sea.
Great Britain has led the World in many things, mostly good: maritime safety is but one example. Before the mid nineteenth century, local …
Robert Fitzroy had overcome the confusion caused by “Larboard” and led the change to using “Port”. However, all was still not well. Until 1930 helm orders were tiller not oriented. Putting the tiller to port, would turn the ship to starboard but a wheel to port would turn the ship to port: the opposite effect. …
Once we’ve realised that Port is on the left only when facing the pointy end (not Italians – see later) we take these terms for granted. However, those of a curious bent might wonder how they came about . About ninety percent of us are right handed. Since roman times , at least, we have …
Whole book available on FB and here. Neither scan is good. A real copy would be very nice to have. Lights Ahead Meeting steamers do not dreadWhen you see three lights ahead :Port your helm and show your redGreen to green, or red to red.Perfect safety, go ahead. If to starboard red appear’Tis your duty to …
Read more “APCM Handbook for Bargemen and Lightermen by Charles T. Perfect (extracts)”
Published in 1968 this is a fictional story contrived to tell of life on a sailing barge. Set in the 1930s and going, via Dunkirk, through the War much of it is set on the “Singing Swan”. The thinly disguised author joins as an occasional third mate and gives a brilliant description of what goes …
This book, of local interest, is available online, A Floating Home. It was subsequently re-issued as a “A Floating Home and Born Afloat” by the son of the last residents of the barge in question who moved to Waldringfield along with parts of the deck house which still stands just off Cliff Road. The extra …