Barges
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
Black Diamond
Active member
Lovely yarn from Jimmy Lawrence in Part 2 about 'anticyclones'. Good to see the Vigilant under sail, will be visiting her in Topsham this week, but work seemed to have been halted on my last visit.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Is that the Brixham Trawler,rebuilt in Littlehampton back in the 1950/60
Black Diamond
Active member
No, the Thames Barge 'Vigilant'. She was built in the early 20thC by Orvis and Fuller. I started my working life in the 70s at the Dock End Shipyard just outside the lock in Ipswich, when I was in the Sir Alan Herbert (née and again Lady Jean) and our ship's husband was Roy Orvis, of barge building fame. He was as old as Methuselah then, and spitting image of Mr Pastry. His pride and joy was an ancient dinghy which we knew as 'the Heirloom', but he carelessly left it alongside the Ena prior to us coming alongside during a stiff south westerly, and the only thing sadder than the horrible splintering of the main thwart as we flat-packed the dinghy was the look of inconsolable horror on Mr Orvis' face....
I'll try and get some pics of Vigilant in Topsham when I'm down west on Thursday.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Ok sorry……long way from it’s home?
