Thames Barge

A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narrow tributary rivers. The larger barges were seaworthy vessels, and were the largest sailing vessel to be handled by just two men. The average size was about 120 tons and they carried of canvas sail in six working sails. The mainsail was loose-footed and set up with a sprit, and was brailed to the mast when not needed. It is sheeted to a horse, as is the foresail; they require no attention when tacking. The foresail is often held back by the mate to help the vessel come about more swiftly.

The topsail was usually first sail on and last sail off, being fixed to the topmast by hoops. In the upper reaches of the rivers and constricted harbours it reached into the clear air, and when approaching a berth casting off the halliard would drop it immediately killing the forward drive. The mizzen boom in a mulie is sheeted down to the long shallow rudder. The masts are mounted in tabernacles so they can be lowered to pass under bridges; the anchor windlass is used to lower and raise the gear via triple blocks. This takes considerable effort and to aid in the process 'hufflers' were often used. They would come on board to help with lowering and raising the gear (for a fee). The bowsprit where fitted could be 'topped', helping where space was limited.

The river barges worked the London River and the Port of London. Cut barges were smaller so they could pass into the Regent's and Surrey canals. The larger estuary barges were seaworthy craft working the Kent and Essex coasts while coasters also traded much further afield, to the north of England, the South Coast, the Bristol Channel and to continental European ports. Cargoes varied enormously: bricks, cement, hay, rubbish, sand, coal, grain and gunpowder. Timber, bricks and hay were stacked on the deck, while cement and grain was carried loose in the hold. They could sail low in the water, even with their gunwales beneath the surface.

They sailed the Medway and Thames in a ponderous way for two hundred years; then in the 1860s a series of barge races were started, and the barges' design improved as vessels were built with better lines in order to win. The Thames barge races are the world's second oldest sailing competition, second to the America's Cup.

Build and rigging

The vast majority of barges were wooden hulled (although a significant number of later barges were also built in steel), between long with a beam of around . The hull form was as distinctive as their rig, being flat-bottomed with no external keel. There is a degree of flare to the sides and plumb ends. The stern was a transom, shaped like a section through a champagne glass, on which was hung a large rudder. The hull was mainly a hold with two small living areas in the bow and stern, and access was through two large hatchways, the smaller before the main mast and a much larger aperture behind. To prevent her unwanted (sideways) passage to the lee, are two massive pivoted leeboards.

They were usually spritsail rigged on two masts. Most had a topsail above the huge mainsail and a large foresail. The mizzen was a much smaller mast on which was set a single sail whose main purpose was to aid steering when tacking. The rig also allowed a relatively large sail area on the upper part of the mast, to catch wind when moored ships, buildings or trees blocked wind on the water's surface. The topsail could remain set even when the mainsail had been brailed to the mast. Sail areas varied from depending on the size of the barge. The typical, rusty-red colour of the flax sails was due to the dressing used to treat the sails that were permanently aloft (traditionally made from red ochre, cod oil, urine and seawater). The red ochre was there to block the ultra-violet in the sunlight from degrading the sails (much as lamp-black was used in the sail dressing for the Norfolk wherries), but sails that were stowed away such as jibsails were usually left untreated. The barges required no ballast, and sailing in this condition with leeboards raised they typically draw only 3 foot; this has caught out a few modern yachtsmen who have run aground while attempting to follow them. No auxiliary power was used originally but many barges were fitted with engines in later years and most retain them, but among the surviving sailing barges both ''Mirosa'' and ''Edme'' have never had engines.

The mast was mounted in a mast case, or "tabernacle", at deck level and could be dropped and raised while under way, enabled the barge to "shoot bridges"-pass under bridges, on the Thames and Medway without losing headway. When no wharf was available, the barge could use the ebbing tide to stand on the mud, close to shore and offload its goods onto carts. A barge with no topsail – or top mast sailing ''stumpy-rigged'' required a smaller crew. With a shallow draught, they could penetrate deep into the back waters. Not needing ballast reduced their turn-round time. Where fitted, the bowsprit could also be "topped up" - raised, to allow it to use a shorter wharf.

In good conditions, sailing barges could attain speeds of over , and their leeboards allowed them to be highly effective windward performers. The unusual spritsail rig allowed any combination of sails to be set: often the topsail on its own would be effective.

History

The precursor to the square spritsail barge was the London lighter or dumb-barge. They flitted up and down the river delivering cargo, using the incoming tide to send them up river, and the ebbing tide for the return journey. They were manoeuvered by a pair of bargemen using long sweeps (oars). These barges had a flat box like bow (swim-headed) and a near flat stern, or a square sloping stern (budgett stern). There is a print in the Guildhall Library dating from 1764, showing a 1697 built, round bowed barge with a spritsail rig – but with no mizzen.

The spritsail and the leeboards are both of Dutch origin and can be traced back to 1416 and can be seen on the London River by 1600.

Mizzenless barges, known as luff barges, were smaller and more streamlined: they principally worked the upper reaches of the Thames. In a 1752 engraving of the Chelsea Waterworks there is a stumpie with a transom stern.

In the 1800's EW Cooke (1811–1880), made a series of engravings of barges on the river, leaving a record of most of the possible rigs.

The flat-bottomed hull made these craft extremely versatile and economical. They could float in as little as of water and could dry out in the tidal waters without heeling over. This allowed them to visit the narrow tributaries and creeks of the Thames to load farm cargoes, or to dry out on the sand banks and mudflats to load materials for building and brickmaking (it was no coincidence that their use peaked while London was expanding rapidly). The main mast could be lowered to clear bridges. Furthermore, unlike most sailing craft, these barges could sail completely unballasted — a major saving in labour and time. The predominant rig was spritsail, though there were some that were sloop rigged with a gaff and an overhanging boom, and some that were ketch rigged. Mulies were rigged spritsail on the main and gaff rigged on the mizzen. The dandy rig had spritsail on the main and a lugsail on the mizzen.

The hull evolved: firstly decks were fitted around 1810, the round bow started to supersede the swim-head about 1840, and became a straight stem by 1900, the transom stern replaced the budget stern about 1860.

1863, 1864 and 1865 saw the first Thames Barge Races. These continued unbroken until 1938. The aim of the founder William Henry Dodd, "The Golden Dustman", was to raise the status of the bargemen, and to improve the performance of the barges. There were two classes, one for stumpies (under 80 tons) and one for heavier (under 100 tons) topsail barges. These were fiercely competitive – and soon new barges were being built, using the improved techniques learnt, to win the next year's race. The Medway races started in 1880.

Their heyday came at the turn of the 20th century when over 2000 were on the registry. That century saw a steady decline in their numbers. The last wooden built barge SB ''Cabby'', was built by Gill, at the LRTC yard in Frindsbury in 1928. The last Thames barge to trade entirely under sail was the Everard-built in 1970, owned by the folk song collector Captain A. W. (Bob) Roberts.

''Cambria''s last mate was Dick Durham from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, with whom Bob carried the last freight under sail alone: 100 tons of cattle cake from Tilbury Docks to Ipswich in October 1970. Dick wrote Bob Roberts's biography: ''The Last Sailorman''.

Following the Second World War, the coastal barge trade diminished as the nation became more mechanised. Cargoes went by road instead of by sea, squeezing the purses of the barge owners, until most of the once-handsome barges were given motors and relegated to short, lightering passages within the Thames Estuary.

Trade

Many cargos were brought by barge into London such as building material. Bricks came from Essex and Kent, cement from Kent and sand was dug by the bargees from the estuary sandbanks. When the barges reached London Bridge, the mast was lowered with the help of 'hufflers' (spare strong blokes), so they could pass under to wharfs in the Pool of London or further upstream to Westminster or beyond. At the wharf the load was removed by horse and cart – the cart could carry one and a half tons over the un-metalled roads. The barge could carry 80 to 150 tons, although 120 was the most common tonnage.

Hoy companies

There was a well established trading network along both sides of the estuary before the Thames sailing barge became ubiquitous. Each port had a hoy company that would run weekly forays into London to deliver or collect goods. They got their names from the hoy, an open square-sail barge. Typically they would run into London laden on a Monday, discharge and return the Thursday with a new cargo to arrive home to spend the Sunday with their families. By the 1880s they were competing for trade with steam engines on the railways, but could offer rates four or five times cheaper.

The hay-up dung-down trade

All transport in London was horse-drawn. The horses needed vast quantities of hay and straw, and they produced a vast quantity of dung.
The 'Stackie' was a special type of barge designed for the hay and dung trade. The hold would be loaded with fodder root crops and hay would be loaded on the deck, in an inwardly sloping stack eight bales high. This would be covered with a tarpaulin, secured with the hatch covers and roped down. The mainsail had to be smaller to clear this stack (this could be achieved by reefing), and the foresail would be sheeted to a temporary wire horse. Often the stack would also overlap the sides of the vessel, and in all cases it obscured the view from the helm requiring excellent communication between master and mate sailing such an awkward load in a crowded river. On the return run from London, the hold would be filled with dung, useful for farmers but a nuisance in London.

Mirosa was once a stackie barge, built in 1892, extensively raced and chartered since c1970 she is one of the few remaining Thames sailing barges that has never had an engine fitted. built at Cooks Yard in 1897 was also a stackie. She has been restored and in 2017 is sailing again. Stackies have been popular with model-makers, and two are regularly displayed at the Thames sailing barge pop-up museum. They are ''Venta'' and ''British King''.

Cut barges

The smallest river barges were designed to trade up the Regent's and Surrey canals as well. They had a capacity of 70-80 tons, and a beam of only . They were stumpies with a high peaked mainsail. They had little sheer as they had to pass under very low bridges. They stowed their leeboard and lowered their gear flat on deck, so their highest point would be the wheel from which spokes would be removed to gain a few extra inches. When light, the barge would be partially flooded to gain headroom for a bridge or tunnel.

Cement barges

These were the Kentish Barges from along the Medway. Chalk was quarried between Aylesford and Strood, and the barges shot Rochester Bridge and took the chalk to the many cement works in the region, and then took the cement to London. There was brick and cement activity along the Swale. At Teynham Charles Richardson produced stock bricks that were used in the viaduct that took the railway from Greenwich to London. Cement from his kilns in Conyer was exported from London to New Zealand. These barges were recognised by the covering of ash and cement dust, caused from lying to the lee of cement works. Additionally the Kentish creeks such as Conyer and Milton contained discolouring mud that would foul clean paintwork.

Kentish barges had less need of bowsprits, that the Essex barges found beneficial doing the long run along the Swin (Thames).

Grain barges

The main trade was trans-shipping grain unloaded from large vessels from the colonies, and taking it from the London ports out to the mills or maltings at the head of the many tidal creeks on the East coast and around the Thames estuary, though also grain was transhipped into London mills further upstream such as the City Flour Mills at Puddle Dock reputed to be the largest in the world when built in the early 1850s. Grain could be carried loose in the hold or bagged. Those delivering grain out of London would then seek a suitable cargo back into London to avoid returning light. A particularly well recorded example of a grain barge is the , which was a 59-ton barge built by Glover at Gravesend, Kent in 1901, and registered in Rochester. Her official number was 113,708. She was built for capacity rather than speed.; long and had a beam of . Light, she drew of water, and laden .

Brick barges

Bricks were made using the heavy Essex clay, or clay deposits from along the Swale which was mixed with local chalk and breeze (town ash). The breeze was the ash screened from London rubbish. This was transported by barge, to Teynham, Lower Halstow and Conyer and the finished Kentish yellow bricks went back to London. A sizeable barge building industry was created in Sittingbourne. These 100 ton capacity barges stowed 40,000 to 42,000 bricks and were box-like in section.

Coastal barges

Portland stone was brought from the quarries at Weymouth round the North Foreland, into the Thames estuary and up into the London River.

North Sea barges

The North Sea was important. Coals were brought from Newcastle, to the shallow estuary ports along the London River. These essentially were schooner rigged with the flat barge hull. After the second world war, coal was still delivered to the gasworks at Margate by from Goole. During the first world war, they carried coal between Goole and Calais; this was four days work- 200 tons at £6.00 a ton. The barges general were too shallow to activate the mines.

Coastal barges made long passages, built in 1858 used to trade regularly between Liverpool and Rotterdam.

The matches

The barges' performance was perfected through the annual sailing matches, in which they competed for trophies and cash prizes. The matches are credited with encouraging improvements in design, leading to the craft's highly efficient final form. They were begun in 1863 by a wealthy owner called Henry Dodd. Dodd was a plough boy from Hackney, London, who made his fortune carrying the city's waste to the country on the barges. He may well have been the model for Charles Dickens's character the Golden Dustman in ''Our Mutual Friend''. On his death in 1881, Dodd left £5000 for future match prizes.

The Thames and Medway barge matches were temporarily discontinued in 1963. In the matches that year, ''Spinaway C'' (skippered by George Morgan) won the Thames race and came second in the Medway. ''Memory'' came second in the Thames (skippered by Hedley Farrington) and first in the Medway (skippered by "Dick" Springett). These two were the very last of the restricted staysail barges to win the old classic races.

The matches have ceased and been reinstituted several times, and are now considered the world's second-oldest sailing race (after the America's Cup). The course was originally from Erith upriver, but as of the early 20th century the start was moved to the Lower Hope downriver from Gravesend into the Estuary and back to Gravesend.

2013 was the 150th anniversary of the Thames Match – and to celebrate the finish line was at Erith. There was a full programme of races in 2017 on the Medway and Thames.

The 109th Medway barge race took place on Saturday 3 June 2017. The course was from Gillingham Pier, following the channel to the Medway buoy east of the Nore in the Thames and back to Gillingham. The 110th is scheduled for 19 May 2018.

Operation Dynamo – the Dunkirk evacuation

Thirty barges were part of the fleet of ' Little Ships' that rescued soldiers of the retreating British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of Dunkerque

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