Tag: William Collard

Stocking Filler?

From Chris Harvey of the Thames Sailing Barge Trust via, in this case, an email from Restoration Project Manager, William Collard (Thank you, William) a possible last minute stocking filler if you are stuck for a gift for the barge-nut in your life.

Chris says “Christmas is fast approaching, and here’s a gift idea for anyone you know who is fond of Thames sailing barges – or maybe you just want to treat yourself.  All you need to know about our beautiful 2015 calendar and how to order can be found on the attached flyer.  Any purchases you make will be helping us to looking after our two historic barges, Centaur and Pudge“.

2015 TSBT Calendar

2015 TSBT Calendar

 

Meanwhile, on Cambria, another burst of heroic hard work from the team sees our poly tunnel sheeting now stretched across the arches and we are nicely snugged down for the winter re-fit. Inevitably the existing team are always asking around for more volunteers and now, if you fancy a bit of painting or cleaning or any other barge related work, you will be all warm and dry out of the wind and weather.

Tunnel on, picture by Dave Brooks

Tunnel on, picture by Dave Brooks

William Collard, Bernard Drew and Golden Miller

Golden Miller

Golden Miller

We don’t hear much from Restoration Project Manager, William Collard these days, but he occasionally pings stuff into my email and when he does it is often to pass me a real gem. During the rebuild phase we had found a horseshoe screwed to the front of the wheelhouse and when the wheelhouse was rebuilt we were careful to reinstate the shoe but curious as to how it had come to be there. We put out a call via this blog but nobody seemed to know. It was no ordinary horse shoe, no rough old bend of iron; it was a cast aluminium alloy affair, so we were pretty sure it must be a racing shoe, the horse racing equivalent of racing alloy wheels on modern cars. We may now have an answer but, surprisingly, that answer refers to two shoes, so where the 2nd now is, we can not tell.

William’s email told of a note he had received from an old school chum from 60 years ago pointing to a collection of journalistic articles called ‘Thames at War’ by one Bernard Drew, and William had already looked through these and found reference to Cambria and the horseshoes.

Bernard Drew writes….

Beating the Bombers

Proudly playing their part in the Battle of Britain, many of the picturesque Thames sailing barges daily sally forth into the front line, carrying cargoes around the coasts. Nazi raiders hold no terrors for the tough skippers, who with a rifle as their only means of defence seem more concerned about the weather and the tides. Bombing takes a back seat with these old salts. At least, that was the impression “Cully” Tovell, master of the sailing barge Cambria, gave when, as the first reporter to make awar-time trip in a sea-going barge, I sailed down the Thames and round to an East Coast port with him.

Cambria is the most famous of London barges. She holds both the championships of the Thames and Medway, won in the last races before the War, in 1937. The trip was not without dramatic incidents, though we were not attacked. I boarded the Cambria at her home port, where she was built 35 years ago “come November”, as the skipper figured it. “We occasionally get bombed”, he told me, “but I don’t take much notice of the planes. Not long ago one dropped two bombs 50 or 100 yards away. I thought he was one of ours. Two or three Hurricanes were up in a second, and he was gone like a flash”.

Hazards Braved

With sails hoisted, we got under way, tacking down river, and I learned something of how these barges, despite all the hazards, are carrying on with their job almost as in peace time. There are regulations, of course, which have to be obeyed, and sailing is not made easier by minefields. But the skippers put up with these additional inconveniences, and trust in the Navy and R.A.F. to guard them. So far, I gathered, the only casualties among the Thames barge fleets in this war have been due to Acts of God. As we stood in the little wheelhouse, which should give the barge its quota of good luck, for two horseshoes hanging in it were once worn by the famous steeplechaser Golden Miller, the skipper told me something about his crew of two – Alf the mate, aged 19, and Jim, the 18-year-old cook and deck hand. “They are good lads and so they should be”, he said. “I was a barge master at 20, but some of the youngsters you get to-day won’t be at 40. My first trip was to Antwerp, and I shall never forget it”.

I found Jim the stuff of which British lads are made. Two weeks previously he was working at a factory in Essex – both Alf and he hail from Grays. Though he did not know it, there was salt water in his veins. Bombs, mines, U-boats or E-boats did not worry him. He tried to get away deep-sea, but being without the necessary experience had no luck. So Jim became half the crew of the Cambria, and with us made his first trip to sea. Alf has been in barges since he left school.”

Fascinating stuff. You can link to the original (long!) document at

The horse, (says Wikipedia) “Golden Miller (1927–1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the most successful Cheltenham Gold Cup horse ever, having won the race in five consecutive years between 1932 and 1936. He also is the only horse to have won both of the United Kingdom’s premier steeplechase races – the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year (1934).” on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Miller.

Thank you very very much for that, William. Nice one.

Will Collard Lecture

William Collard strolls Cambria's Decks in Sept 2010

William Collard strolls Cambria’s Decks in Sept 2010, Picture by Matt Care from down in the main hold.

This is a bit short notice but I have just received word of a lecture by Rebuild Project Manager, William Collard to the National Historic Ships UK who say that “Monday 14 Jan: Wellington Trust Heritage Evening – talk on the subject of historic vessel CAMBRIA, the Thames sailing barge. 7pm start, with bar open from 6.15″ Further, ”

This evening’s talk is on the subject of the restoration of the Thames sailing barge (and National Historic Fleet vessel), Cambria.  William Collard, a member of the Watermen & Lightermen, was closely involved in her restoration and will give a fascinating account of the process.

1900 start, with the bar open from 1815.

£25 for Wellington Trust Friends and £30 for non members. If you would like to come for the lecture, but are unable to stay for the supper, then a donation of £5 is requested”.

and lastly,

“The Cambria was the last Thames sailing barge to operate entirely under sail. In the 60’s her skipper, Bob Roberts, was well known as a shanty-man. Like so many of her type she fell into decline, but has now been restored to her former glory, and this year she had a full season undertaking charters. William Collard, a member of the Watermen & Lightermen, was closely involved in her restoration and will give us a fascinating account of the process.

As usual, for those who wish to enjoy the supper, and the sociability that accompanies it, the cost is £25 for Wellington Trust Friends and £30 for non members. If you would like to come for the lecture, but are unable to stay for the supper, then we ask for a donation of £5.

Business Manager, HQS Wellington, Victoria Embankment, London WC2R 2PN

If you want to go, it looks as if you need to visit the website at

http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/calendar.php?date=2013-01-14

Go along and support our Good Friend!

Sailing the Sorlandet

Sorlandet

Norwegian sail training ship, Sorlandet; picture a screen grab from You Tube noted by David Rye.

A bit of a treat today with a link found by our friend and occasional contributor, David Rye.

 

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6DZIvMZWzQ&feature=youtu.be

 

This is a video explaining how to sail and manouvre a square rigger. This link is to part 1. The video claims to explain all sorts of manouvres from weighing anchor and getting under way, through tacking, heaving to and finally anchoring under sail but part 1, 11 minutes long manages only to explain the sail plan and get under way. I presume the other parts will cover the rest. It is fascinating stuff mainly for the myriad ropes (sheets, buntlines, braces, halliards etc) and huge amount of people needed to crew the ship. In this case it is the Norwegian sail training ship Sorlandet. Get a look at it, if only for the beauty of the ship and the snippets of info you will be able to drop into conversation if it all goes quiet in the snug tonight. A ‘ship’ for example was a fully square rigged vessel with squaresails on the mizzen, anything less, for example a mere ‘Spanker’ on the mizzen, and you were a ‘barque’. The commentator also sounds worryingly like Rebuild Project Manager, William Collard, to me anyway!

Thanks very much for that, David!

 

Bounty etc.

HMS Bounty

HMS Bounty, Image from news website.

There can not be many of my readers here who do not know by now that replica ship HMS Bounty, built for the filming of the Brando movie “Mutiny on the Bounty” was unfortunately sunk and lost in the recent storm “Hurricane Sandy” which hit the Eastern seaboard of the USA.  Our friend David Rye, though, has found a rather nice video about the ship on the National Geographic website at http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/ which includes, among other footage, pictures of shipwrights using mauls and adzes. Thank you for that link, David. Incidentally, go grab a look sooner rather than later because this link is to NG’s ‘front page story’ rather than the Bounty piece, so as Bounty falls off the front page it may disappear from this link.

 

Meanwhile, Rebuild Project Manager, William Collard provides some more detail on the Cory’s slipway and SB Rathbale, which story we featured a few days ago. William says, “I may be able to give you a little information about Cory’s Slipway.

In Ken Keenan’s excellent book ‘ The Fires of London’ – A History of the Thames lighterage operations of William Cory & Son Ltd, he quotes that on the 15th October 1896 William Cory & Son amalgamated with seven other coal handing companies and become a limited liability company.  In so doing it became the biggest fuel handling company in the Britain and quite possibly in the world.
Two of the companies in the formation were Lambert Bros and Beadle Brothers Ltd.   Ken notes that with Beadle Brothers came Charles Beadle and Mr J C Hamilton Creig together with the thriving business at Erith where the wharf rivalled Cory’s Victoria Dock premises in throughput. The same aerial picture of Erith is shown in the book and is attributed to the 1920s and was originally published in the Cory house magazine ‘Black Diamond’
Francis Lambert of Lambert Brothers personally owned the sailing barges Giralda, Surf (sure you are fast) and Surge (sure you are Giralda’s equal)  and raced them all successfully in the annual barge races, though Giralda was notably the best.
SB Rathbale is noted in both Racing Sailormen and Spritsail barges of the Thames and Medway where details of the 1896 Thames race say the barge was one of the first steel barges to race but proved a disappointment in finishing sixth.  However, she struck a fresh note in colour schemes being resplendent in a light blue hull and dark blue wale!”
So now you know. Thank you very much for that, William.

 

Work Party 1989!

1989 workparty

1989 Cambria work party notification from William Collard’s own archive.

Here’s a bit of history from Rebuild Project Manager, William Collard, found when he was going through his Father’s barge-related paperwork. It dates from 1989 when Cambria was in Dolphin Yard and was a ‘joint project by the Maritime Trust and the Dolphin Museum’. It is written by Rod Spratling, we think the ‘Boss of Volunteers, Basil’ of his day but William can find no other mention of him and did not know the gentleman.

 

The work party was to happen on Sunday 19th March and Rod was asking for a good turn out to make a “good impression” because the session might be visited by a crew from Television and Local Radio. The tasks were to be ‘mucking out’ the accumulated debris beneath the hold cieling and clearing limber holes, chipping, wire brushing and painting winches and fittings, spraying preservative fluid and generally tidying and making ship shape the decks and hold. They were laying on tea, coffee and soup for the volunteers. The letter came with an attached sheet by which you could reply listing which of the jobs you were happy to help with.  “You could end up on TV”, said Rod.

 

Thanks for that, William. Fascinating stuff.

MTB 102

MTB102

MTB102 alongside Cambria at Gravesend recently; photo by William Collard

Rebuild Project Manager William Collard sends me this nice picture of the Motor Torpedo Boat MTB 102 moored alongside ‘us’ at Gravesend. You will recall that MTB 102 led the Flotilla of boats on Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant day. Being an important historic vessel, 102 naturally has a big write up on the internet including a very full section in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTB_102 from construction by Vosper Thornycroft, through wartime service, post war activity, decline and then restoration. There are a million and one impressive images available on https://www.google.ie/search?q=MTB102&hl=en&rlz=1C1DVCH_enGB423&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rWhdUO2KLorDhAeBp4CIBw&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=916

and she has her own website at http://www.mtb102.com/ . This has the latest news, newsletters, programme of events in which she will be involved, more lovely images, technical information, lists of sponsors and much much more detail.

Happy Hunting

New Compendium

Compendium

New SSBR Compendium pre-order form. Provided by William Collard.

Project Manager for the Rebuild Phase and friend of Cambria, William Collard has emailed me this useful link, actually a pre-order form for a new Compendium of Sailing Barges publiushed by the Society for Sailing Barge Research. The ‘blurb’ says the Compendium is the culmination of 50 years of research and carries details of over 4000 sailing barges, their names, official numbers, tonnage, Ports of Registry, ownership and final fates. The price is £20 plus £5 P+P and you are invited to post off this form along with your cheque. This does not seem to be up on SSBR’s website yet, so if you can’t use the one here, comment me and I will email you the original I have from William.

 

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