SB Pudge

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SB Pudge 5006.jpg
Pudge on the Medway Estuary in 2017
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NamePudge
Owner Thames Sailing Barge Trust
Builder London & Rochester Trading Co [1]
Commissioned1922
StatusPrivate use and private charter ship
General characteristics
Tonnage97
Length92.5 ft (28.2 m)
Beam22.5 ft (6.9 m)
Height0 ft (0 m) to top of mainmast
Draught3.5 ft (1.1 m) distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel)
PropulsionSpritsail and Kelvin 66hp diesel[ citation needed ]
NotesPine on Oak [2]

SB Pudge is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Rochester, Kent, England in 1922. Her hull was pitch pine on oak frame. She was originally spritsail rigged with bowsprit. An auxiliary oil engine made by The Bergius Co.Ltd of Glasgow was installed in 1932. She was used to carry various cargoes for the London & Rochester Trading Co until 1968, when she was bought out of trade by the Thames Sailing Barge Trust. Her last cargo was pineapple juice.

Contents

History

Thames sailing barges were the heavy goods vehicles of their time, moving 150  tons of loose cargo at a time from outside the capital to the city. They brought in coal for the furnaces, bricks to construct mills and houses, and hay for the horses. Barges were used to transport rubbish from various cities out to the brickfields where it was used as fuel; it was only for the last mile of the trip to the brickfields that road transport had to be used. [3] The spritsail rig has many advantages on rivers and in confined waters: maneuvering under topsail and mizzen catching the steadier wind clear of the wharf side buildings. Their flat-bottomed hulls allow them to ride over the shallow waters of the estuary and penetrate the creeks and higher reaches of the rivers of the south east. [4] They could be berthed on a flat mud bank, against a camp-shed, on a barge bed or a held tide dock. Pudge carried general cargo:grain, cattle cake, fertilizer, etc..

Early life

By the 1880s, there were three types of sailing barges: stumpies, river barges and coasters. . She was launched on the 15 February 1895 by John and Herbert Cann at the Bathside yard, Gashouse Creek, Harwich. [5] March relates that she was built specifically for the 1899 Medway Barge Race and that construction took six weeks. [6] She won the race, passing over the finishing line at Upnor 2+1⁄2 minutes ahead of SB Giralda. [7] The Mistley barges worked Dunkirk, Calais, Antwerp, Ostend, Alderney, Bruges and the Netherlands, from ports including Dover, Rochester, London, Lowestoft, Goole, Shoreham, Southampton and Newport. [5]

Inter-war years

After the war, she resumed coastal trade. Ephraim Cripps was her skipper for twenty years and kept records of each voyage – Colchester was her main port from 1928 to 1930, and she worked the Essex and Suffolk coasts. [5] In 1933 she joined the Colchester fleet of Francis and Gilders Ltd transporting grain between Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, into London.

World War II

The first major civilian maritime event of the Second World War was the Dunkirk evacuation, in which hundreds of small ships rescued Allied soldiers from beaches in northern France. Like many of the sailing barge fleet, Pudge was requisitioned in May 1940 whilst in Tilbury, and sailed down to the assembly point at Dover. Under cover of darkness, the tug St. Fagan towed three barges, Pudge, Thyra and Lady Rosebery, to Dunkirk, and released them toward the beaches. St Fagan was hit by a mine, and she, Lady Rosebery and Doris were sunk. Pudge was lifted out of the water but "she came down the right way up". She took survivors on board and set off for England, picking up a tow from the tug Tanga on the way, to arrive safely back at Ramsgate. [8] [2]

1988 Reconstruction

Hundred-year-old wooden boats need continuous maintenance. The planking and the flooring become soft, indicating a lack of strength, or even rot. Those components are easily replaced with other planks of pitch pine, though the wood in elements of the frame remains hidden, and requires stripping back to inspect and eventually replace. If the bow or the stern start to droop, the frame is suffering some problem, and the immediate thought is that it is rot. A loaded commercial barge would lie low in the water, and the water would support the structure and, in turn, the stresses caused by the standing rigging. A passenger-carrying barge would be subjected to greater stresses. The Pudge was displaying those symptoms. When the doubling was stripped back, many of the floors, and the port inner chine plank and the chine keelsons, were cracked or dislodged. These were 4-to-10-inch (100 to 250 mm) oak timbers, in some cases up to 35 feet (11 m) long. The damage was put down to two collisions, a sinking, a stranding, and the effect of the exploding mine at Dunkirk. Different woods were used in the reconstruction because timber of the original specification was no longer available. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thames sailing barge</span> Type of commercial sailing boat

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 4,200 square feet (390 m2) 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spritsail</span>

The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak, clew, and tack. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail.

<i>Thalatta</i> (Thames barge) Thames sailing barge

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SB <i>Cambria</i> Preserved spritsail barge

SB Cambria is a preserved spritsail Thames sailing barge now used for sail training. She was the last barge to trade entirely under sail, and took her last cargo in 1970. She is now restored and owned and operated by the Cambria Trust, a registered charity under English law.

<i>Edith May</i> (barge)

Edith May is a wooden Thames sailing barge built in Harwich, Essex, in 1906. She was used to carry various cargoes until 1952, when a diesel engine was fitted, after which she was used in various Thames Sailing Barge matches, winning several. She was a museum ship for a time, and was restored in 2010 to offer charter trips on the River Medway. Her winter moorings are at Lower Halstow, where she opens during the weekend as a tearoom.

<i>SB Lady of the Lea</i>

Lady of the Lea is a spritsail Thames sailing barge, the last such barge to be built in England. She was built in 1931 to carry explosives from Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills on the River Lea to Woolwich Arsenal on the River Thames. The barge was later sold and rebuilt. She currently operates as a private yacht and competes in Thames sailing barge matches.

SB <i>Centaur</i> British wooden Thames sailing barge

SB Centaur is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Harwich, Essex, England in 1895. She was used to carry various cargoes, mainly grain, for the next 60 years. During the First World War she carried food and coal to the French Channel ports. During the Second World War Centaur was damaged when sailing to assist with the Dunkirk Evacuation. She did war work for the duration of the conflict.

SB Kathleen Spritsail Thames barge built 1901

The SB Kathleen was a spritsail Thames barge built by Glover at Gravesend, Kent, in England in 1901, and registered in Rochester. Her official number was 113,708. She was built to carry grain- for capacity rather than speed. she was 82.8 feet (25.2 m) long and had a beam of 19.7 feet (6.0 m). Light, she drew 30 inches (76 cm) of water, and laden 6 feet (1.8 m).

SB <i>Wyvenhoe</i>

SB Wyvenhoe is an 83-ton, steel Thames sailing barge. She was built by Forrest & Sons, Wivenhoe in 1898. She has the Official No. 110012.

SB Xylonite

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<i>SB Kitty</i> (1895)

Kitty is a wooden Thames sailing barge in the bowsprit class of 65 tons. She was built in Harwich in 1895. She is No. 209 on the National Historic Ships Register.

SB <i>Lady Daphne</i>

SB Lady Daphne is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Rochester, England in 1923. She was used to carry various cargoes such as bricks and Portland stone on the River Thames and along the English Channel. She is infamous for sailing unaided from The Lizard to Tresco in the Scilly Isles, and safety beaching herself in two feet of water on shelving sand.

SB <i>Reminder</i>

Reminder is one of seven Thames barges built between 1925 and 1930 for F W Horlock, Mistley.

SB Phoenician

The Phoenician is a wooden Thames sailing barge constructed in Sittingbourne in 1922. She was derigged after an accident in 1940. She left trade in 1973. In the 1980s, she was re-rigged to her original specification.

SB Decima

SB Decima is a steel Thames sailing barge constructed in Southampton in 1899 by J.G. Fay and Co, Southampton for E. J. Goldsmith of Grays, Essex. She is back under sail and resident on the River Darent in Dartford, Kent. She is a notable "Historic Ship".

SB Ardwina

Ardwina was the last wooden Thames barge to be built in Ipswich. This was in 1909. She was registered in London. She worked commercially until 1956. She was laid up after a collision and restored as a yacht conversion. She is still sailing in 2018, based at St Katherine Docks, and regularly passes under Tower Bridge.

SB Mirosa

Mirosa is a Thames barge which was built in 1892. From 1892 until 1947, she sailed under the name Ready when the name was sold to Trinity House for a lightship support vessel. Under her new name, she traded until 1955. Mirosa has never had an engine.

SB Edme

Edme is a Thames barge which was built in 1898 for the Horlocks of Mistley. She was registered in Harwich. She is one of two barge sailing today that have no auxiliary engine.

SB <i>George Smeed</i> A Thames sailing barge built in 1882

George Smeed is a Thames barge built in 1882 by Smeed Dean & Co. Ltd. in Murston.

<i>Blue Mermaid</i>

Blue Mermaid is a steel-hulled Thames sailing barge constructed between 2015 and 2019. She was built specifically to operate under sail and does not carry an engine. She is a replica of an older vessel of the same name, built in 1930 but sunk by enemy action during the second world war.

References

  1. ↑ Renouf, David. "Sailing Barge Centaur". www.thamesbarge.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 ADLS 2018.
  3. ↑ March 1948, p. 1.
  4. ↑ March 1948, p. 3.
  5. 1 2 3 WW1 Survivor 2017.
  6. ↑ March 1948, p. 97.
  7. ↑ March 1948, p. 153.
  8. ↑ Barge Trust 2017.
  9. ↑ Boss 2003, pp. 6–8.

Sources

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