Tag: Gravesend Pontoon

Just to prove…..

Just to prove we do occasionally do some work when we’re swanning about aboard the barge, here’s quite a nice picture of us moving the barge from one side of Gravesend pontoon to the other. Last Sunday strong winds and bad weather had meant that the barge, returning from charter under Skipper Ian Ruffles had had to be brought in to the outside of the pontoon rather than attempting the more difficult manouvre of either the ‘S-bend’ onto the inside, or the gentle kiss against the unforgiving concrete wall of St Andrew’s Wharf. The outside of the pontoon though, is not as nicely visible to the passing public and might, anyway, shortly be needed by the Gravesend to Tilbury Ferry or the visiting paddle steamer Waverley who was due in at 16:00 Friday. We needed to move Cambria in once we had sensible weather and the back end of an ebb tide, but Mr Insurance Man (quite rightly) says we can not move the barge about without a qualified Skipper on board. These days that is either Tim G, Richard T or Ian Ruffles and Ian was available first, so the manouvre was booked for 16:00 Thursday.

 

Hauling her in

Hauling her in to the pontoon at Gravesend; Photo by Jason Arthur

The short version of this task’s description is that you let the barge drift backwards off the pontoon while controlling the drift with the thick mooring warps (ropes) and then, when the bow is clear, put the helm over so that she slides sideways in the current till she’s line up with the other side of the pontoon, and then winch her back up against the tide using the dolly line. Needless to say it’s not as simple as that and there’s a lot of preparing by, for example, hauling the barge-boat inboard, then nipping about letting go one rope and making fast another, setting ropes up so they do not tangle on bits of pontoon, fending the barge off the sharp corners of the pontoon and, of course, heckling Ops Manager Rob Bassi (red overalls) on the pontoon. Also hauling up the anchor, taking the outboard back off the boat and squaring away ropes etc at the end.

In this, another pic from new contributor Jason Arthur, on deck (l to r) are Denis Johnson (admiring the view while dangling a fender ‘bladder’), Skipper Ian Ruffles keeping an eye on things and issuing instructions, my good self taking up some slack on the big yellow and black warp and Dave Brooks giving it some on the dolly line, a surprisingly strong but thin cord. Looking at it, you’d not think it could start a 90+ ton barge into forward progress against a 3-4 knot tide flow, but it did with Dave leaning on the windlass. All good clean fun!

 

Back home again

Cambria from the waterline

Cambria from the waterline; Picture by Jason Arthur

Hi, one and all. I am back now at home after spending a nice few nights aboard Cambria on my ‘holidays’. I will post properly tomorrow but for now let me welcome aboard a new friend, one Jason Arthur who is a resident of Gravesend and an enthusiast for all things ‘shipping’. He spends his leisure time wandering around with some good camera kit and was all over Cambria like a rash as she arrived on the Pontoon last Sunday in those interesting winds. All be it, I think his real interest lies in the big stuff – the massive container ships and cruise ships which are up and down that part of the Thames. He has since been down to the pontoon a couple of times to get to know us and is now furnishing us with some lovely images of the old girl which he has given me permission to use on this website. So, thanks for that, Jason.

September Charters

Today’s picture of Cambria battling through mountainous seas and lashed by a Force 8 comes from the lens of Phillip Barnes-Warden. Thank you for that, Phillip. The Barnes Warden family have made a very generous bequest to the Cambria Trust in the name of a recently departed, barge-related family member. I have added their name to the list of Sponsors under the ‘Funding’ tab. If you are aware of any other sponsors or donors who are not currently showing on this list please advise us.

 

Becalmed

Cambria becalmed during the Thames Match 2012: photo by Phillip Barnes Warden

With her racing season over, Cambria is now moored against the inside of Gravesend Pontoon being serviced and readied for her next job(s). It is the inside of the pontoon because the pontoon is shortly to be used as a dock for the Gravesend ferry and also the Waverley may be calling by. We are involved now in 4 short charters sponsored by the Rotary Club in the “Respite for Young Carers” programme. This is where youngsters who are tied up most of their lives caring for, for example, a blind or disabled family member, get a break sailing while the Rotary Club pays for a substitute carer to look after the family member. On these trips, Skipper will be Ian Ruffles, with Denis Johnson and Shipwright Ryan Dale as crew.

 

This brings us through to 23rd Sept when Cambria will move to the ‘wall’ at St Andrew’s Wharf in Gravesend for a week or so of mooring and being open to the public to look round. I’ll actually be there myself, living on board and meeting the public, so please come up an introduce yourself and be as rude as you like about this blog!

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