SB Augusta

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.

Crewman Drowned

One incident to note was that Ernest Smith, mate on Augusta witnessed, from the shore, the drowning described in the panel.

IPSWICH SEAMAN DROWNED IN THE DEBEN:
On Tuesday Walter Brook Esq. Coroner for the Liberty of St. Etheldreda, held an inquest on George Juby, of Ipswich, mariner, aged 31 years, who was drowned at Waldringfield on Thursday last. George Brooks, of Tomline Road, St. Clement’s, skipper of the barge Augusta, stated he had known the deceased some 15 years and had been mate with him for a year and 9 months. Deceased was always a steady and quiet man, and I during the last 9 or 10 months had been a total abstainer. Last Thursday they were on board Augusta, which was lying off Waldringfield, in the river Deben: they got under weigh about 9.30 in the morning. Witness was at the tiller and deceased was weighing the Anchor, and they had spritsail, top-sail, and jib set. Witness saw deceased go to the bow to see if the anchor was clear. He did not see deceased fall overboard but heard Ernest Smith call from the shore that he had fallen overboard. Witness looked over the starboard side and saw deceased rise near the leeboard and threw him a wooden ladder. He made no attempt to catch it. And sank almost immediately. The barge was hardly moving, there being only a gentle breeze blowing at the time. The jib was not flapping, the jib sheet was to windward, and witness was certain that nothing touched the deceased, causing him to fall over. Ernest Smith, of Waldringfield, stated that he was standing on the beach at Waldringfield last Thursday morning watching the Augusta get under weigh and saw deceased weighing the Anchor and fall over. No sail was flapping to knock deceased over and nobody was near him. The barge appeared to go over the deceased as he came up the starboard side. The barge was almost stem on to where witness was standing. Harry Ward, of Waldringfield, deposed to dragging for and finding the body on the edge of the Channel, and P.C. Charles Green also gave evidence. The jury returned a verdict of “Death from accidental drowning.”
Evening Star 23rd February 1898

The Great War

He and his brother Isaac stuck with barging and during the Great War Ernest continued as master of the barge Grace of Ipswich and, together with Isaac, operated under the auspices of the Merchant Navy along the coast of East Anglia and Kent. Both earned the Mercantile Marine Medal and the British War Medal.

Lost in Collision

Most of Masons’ fleet went Cranfields but Augusta was lost in a collision with SS Hartington in 1902, near the Nore light vessel on the London River.

Barge Details