Barging Into the 21st Century
by The Thames Sailing Barges, an invaluable part of British maritime commerce and history for nearly 300 years, are experiencing a renaissance thanks to the skill and attention of enthusiasts. Here’s a look back on the heyday of the Thames Sailing Barge, and information on the efforts being made to restore and maintain these craft.
Workhorses of the River
As the road down to The Hythe at Maldon reaches The Queen’s Head pub, the barges suddenly come into view. Three flat, wide platforms lie motionless at the quayside. One is dressed with the distinctive rust red sails that identify it and its’ companion craft as Thames Sailing Barges. All three are huge craft – over 70 feet in length – and they dwarf the pleasure yachts sailing out of Maldon towards the estuary. No handrails, no cockpit – just deck, beneath which lies the voluminous hold which made the Thames barge such a versatile and important craft for over 300 years.
The Thames barge has its origins in the 17th century, when flat bottomed boats were used around the developing ports of London and Rochester to ferry cargo from ships moored in deeper waters to the wharves along the river. The original craft were little more than floating wooden boxes which evolved into much larger sailing craft. The distinctive rectangular sails are thought to have originated in Holland and the craft developed into a true ship, trading across the North Sea to Holland, Germany, Belgium and France, as well as plying trade along the east coast of England from the River Humber in the north, as far down to Cornwall in the south. The Thames barge was at it’s peak in the 1890’s, with well over 2000 craft registered.
The Thames barge is a unique vessel. With its flat bottomed hull and without the need for ballast the barge can sail in very shallow waters, ideal for navigating the creeks and tributaries that cut into the Essex coastline.
The way a barge was rigged made it easy for a man and a boy to sail, despite setting over 3000 square feet of canvas! The larger vessels required just one extra crew member.
These craft were central to the construction of modern London in the 19th century, ferrying building materials up river, along with precious fuel for the capital’s transport system – hay! London was home to thousands of horses and they all needed feeding. The barge builders of Maldon designed the ‘stackie’ – a vessel that could carry an entire haystack on deck!
The barges, skippered by the ‘sailormen’ as they were known, were a familiar site along the River Thames and around the Essex coast until the early 1950’s. The popularity of the diesel engine and the introduction of the articulated lorry spelt the end for the commercial use of these craft. With the arrival of container shipping and the demise of the London docks in the 60’s and 70’s the barges faded away and rotted into obscurity.
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