Thames barges on TV tonight

Sniper

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I don't think it's all that long ago that Cygnet had a wheel. In the late 90's she was around Pin Mill, still owned by her previous owner Mikka, and she definitely had a wheel then. She was moored just astern of my houseboat under the guardianship of the chap I bought the houseboat from. I also remember her having a wheel in the 70's too, so the tiller is a relatively recent reversion to the original method of steering.
 

Seashoreman

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Just for interest/information the local barge Neljan, a Dutch Tjalk sailing barge has gone to Sandwich and is unlikely to return. Neljan spent about 20 years (80's/90's) at Snape Quay and up to last year near the Tide Mill Woodbridge.
I tipped off the new owner who was asking around about buying a houseboat, he approached the owner with an offer and I believe got a very good deal. Jon is going to look after Neljan and is competent enough to sail her.
 

chinita

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Thanks! Worth a diversion to see her next time I'm driving up north.


It certainly is; she is a joy to behold.

We were at Snape a couple of weeks ago and I told the Missus that I had watched Cygnet sailing in and anchoring off Brightlingsea singlehanded. She didn't believe me!
 

sailorman

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Just for interest/information the local barge Neljan, a Dutch Tjalk sailing barge has gone to Sandwich and is unlikely to return. Neljan spent about 20 years (80's/90's) at Snape Quay and up to last year near the Tide Mill Woodbridge.
I tipped off the new owner who was asking around about buying a houseboat, he approached the owner with an offer and I believe got a very good deal. Jon is going to look after Neljan and is competent enough to sail her.

A great shame she was re-engined, so distinctive a sound
 

Barge Growler

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Yes, many thanks for that fascinating Wakering link. Will pass it on to Des when next I see him at Snape, although he may already know about it.
Curious that in the earlier of the two photos Cygnet had a wheel but these days she has a tiller.
Also interesting was the account of the 1953 Flood and the mention of Ed Mumford... whom I remember seeing working around at Bill Sutton's Wakering yard when I visited with my dad (who often went there to photograph whatever boat Bill was building at the time in the '60s or '70s). Somewhere I have an archive photo of Ed at the yard, working on the barge yacht Growler, which had in the past been owned by Sir Alker Tripp. I remember being told at the time that Ed had won a medal for his part in the rescue of the flooded Foulness islanders.

Hi there, I am currently rebuilding the Barge Growler. Is there any chance that I might be able to see the photo of Ed Mumford working on her in the yard? ]
 

Jan Harber

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Hi there, I am currently rebuilding the Barge Growler. Is there any chance that I might be able to see the photo of Ed Mumford working on her in the yard? ]
Yes, I do have the old black and white print. Somewhere. It might take a little while but I will dig it out and scan it. Nice to have a project at the moment...
If you pm me, I can then send you the scan.
Where is Growler at the moment and what sort of condition is she in? In the late '60s, when the photo was taken, she was owned by L.S.Welch who kept her on the foreshore at Leigh-on-Sea.
 

PeterWright

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Hi,

Fascinating stuff about Des and Neljan. I don't know Des, but I did know the previous owner of Neljan in the eary70's who I understand may have been Des' father. He was known at Bradwell Power Station, where he worked as an electrician, if I remember correctly, as Chiefy, probably an English simplification of his surname Kaliczewski (apologies if I spelled that wrong). I have no recollection of his Christian name a he always answered to Chiefy.

In those days, Neljan lay at Maldon Hythe although, at least once in the summer, I recall that he motored her down the river and ran her up the beach at Bradwell, so he could walk to work.

Peter.
 

Black Diamond

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Hello Peter, Des's father was called Albert. I never met him, as he died sometime before I met Des and his mother Dinah in the summer of '77. Neljan had a large wheelhouse in those liveaboard days, when she was moored adjacent to the seawall in the Basin. There were many characters living aboard on that stretch of the river, perhaps the most eccentric was Belgian George, whose rotting Thames barge sank during his occupation, to which his answer was to nail his bunk ever higher as the barge was slowly subsumed into the mud. He used to ride a motorcycle combination, a regular at the Chequers in Goldhanger for Sunday night jazz, and then to the curry house in Maldon. Happy days.

It was such a privilege to know so many longshore characters, moulded by the war (and in many cases, both wars) and hardship unimaginable today. Central heating and social security has made us rather bland in comparison.
 

Barge Growler

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Yes, I do have the old black and white print. Somewhere. It might take a little while but I will dig it out and scan it. Nice to have a project at the moment...
If you pm me, I can then send you the scan.
Where is Growler at the moment and what sort of condition is she in? In the late '60s, when the photo was taken, she was owned by L.S.Welch who kept her on the foreshore at Leigh-on-Sea.
Yes, I do have the old black and white print. Somewhere. It might take a little while but I will dig it out and scan it. Nice to have a project at the moment...
If you pm me, I can then send you the scan.
Where is Growler at the moment and what sort of condition is she in? In the late '60s, when the photo was taken, she was owned by L.S.Welch who kept her on the foreshore at Leigh-on-Sea.

Hi,

thanks so much for your reply. She is now just outside wells next the sea in north norfolk. I trucked her up from a barn in suffolk where she had been sitting for the last 25 years. Condition is much much better and improving every day. All frames doubled, new chines in, 50% of port side planking replaced. Completing bottom planking and new cockpit currently under construction. Launching July I hope.
 
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