We have a ‘celeb’ aboard Cambria for the first part of her current historic trip to reproduce the barge’s final cargo-carrying run, Tilbury to Ipswich. None other than Dick Durham, her last Mate and now writer for  Sailing mag “Yachting Monthly”. Dave Brooks reports, “Today the Cambria and her Sea Change crew left Gravesend with a certain Mr Dick Durham aboard bound for Tilbury Dock to load  token cargo. Tomorrow she will leave Tilbury around 7.00am bound for Ipswich in a rerun of her last ever cargo passage in 1970 under Bob Roberts with Dick Durham as mate. I am pleased to say he looked quite at home on the old girl as he helped throw off the mooring lines. Unfortunately Dick can’t make the full trip due to other commitments but will sail down river with them for a while.”

Nice to have you aboard, DD – it always feels a bit weird inviting Dick aboard; almost as if we should be asking his permission to be there! Incidentally, Dick writes a very nice blog from under the wing of the mag, at http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/blogs/1/dick-durham but it is web-fed, so you will need to add it to Google Chrome (or whatever web browser you use). I added it as an RSS feed, if that means anything to you.

Dick Durham casts off

Dick Durham casts off the stern warps as Cambria departs Gravesend. Photo by Dave Brooks.