Barge Match

[Stephen]

Barge Match Race on the River Medway 2013, Fuji neg, scanned, Braun Paxette with 85mm F5.6 Staeble Telon lens.

Stephen

[Doug T.]

Hi Stephen!

That's a nice photo with good color. Not bad for an old camera
Those barges don't look like anything I've ever seen, not that I've seen a lot of barges.

Doug

[Stephen]

Traditional Thames and Medway barges, sail (modern, some times fitted with auxiliary diesels), racing on the Medway, the shot was from another boat, so sharpness none to good. Weather was just break form very overcast, and quite windy, but with little choppy water.

Stephen.

[mickeyobe]

Jul 29, 2013 10:45:34 GMT -5 Stephen said:

Traditional Thames and Medway barges, sail (modern, some times fitted with auxiliary diesels), racing on the Medway, the shot was from another boat, so sharpness none to good. Weather was just break form very overcast, and quite windy, but with little choppy water.

Stephen.

I have always thought of barges as square shaped vessels designed to be rowed or towed.

These are beautiful boats.

Mickey

[Stephen]

They are quite fine lined, but flat bottomed, ballasted with stone and pig iron, they sail reasonably fast, and were fully seaworthy. Huge "barge" lee boards hang on the sides, these can be lowered to act as a extra rudders when heading windwards. Sails are nearly always red, traditionally stained with red ochre and boiled cod oil.
They were used on the Thames and Medway, North sea to carry "coals from Newcastle"(where the expression comes from), and over to Holland and the continent.
Only two crew in the days they worked, they are used for holiday homes and sail training etc., the cargo holds converted to accommodation. An off set propeller powered by a diesel is fitted to power them with the sails down, this is only in the last few years.

Stephen

[SidW]

Jul 29, 2013 16:09:22 GMT -5 Stephen said:

They are quite fine lined, but flat bottomed, ballasted with stone and pig iron, they sail reasonably fast, and were fully seaworthy. Huge "barge" lee boards hang on the sides, these can be lowered to act as a extra rudders when heading windwards. Sails are nearly always red, traditionally stained with red ochre and boiled cod oil.....

Further to Stephen's description. Their working life came to an end with WW2, most were abandoned and left to rot on the mudflats and side creeks along the rivers. Some were saved by enthusiasts and restored, like those in Stephen's dramatic photo. Here's one at work, in the 1920s, taken by my mother with a box camera, out in the Thames estuary off Sheppey. This could be a unique example, apparently only a handful had the massive diagonal boom located on the port side like this one (the barges on Stephen's photo have the boom on the starboard side). Alternatively, the neg was printed wrong way round.

]


Even earlier, late 19th c., (nearly 150 years ago) several Thames barges moored in the Medway off the Chatham RN Dockyard.




Edit: Second thoughts, the red buildings on the left might be the RN barracks, so taken after 1905.

[Stephen]

The second shot is across Rat's bay looking towards the Admirals house and Dockyard Roppery, taken on the pier that is still there.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

The view today, it does nearly match if you look closely, some buildings are the same, but the main clue is the Church, neatly hidden behind the barge!!
Rat's bay was once known as Battery Bay.

Stephen.

[mickeyobe]

Stephen,

I see the church but the barge must have left port.

Mickey

[Stephen]

Aug 5, 2013 14:04:38 GMT -5 mickeyobe said:

Stephen,

I see the church but the barge must have left port.

Mickey

I was referring to the previous posting coloured photograph!!..as I am sure you knew......

Stephen.

[mickeyobe]

Aug 5, 2013 14:11:26 GMT -5 Stephen said:

Aug 5, 2013 14:04:38 GMT -5 mickeyobe said:

Stephen,

I see the church but the barge must have left port.

Mickey

I was referring to the previous posting coloured photograph!!..as I am sure you knew......

Stephen.

If I know an answer I wont ask a question except, perhaps, a rhetorical question.

I know you are very busy.

I am sorry I bothered you with such trivia.

I'll keep out of your way from now on.

Cheers.

Mickey

[mickeyobe]

Cancelled.

Too nasty.

[Stephen]

Don't worry, I just wondered about which shot, the Church was difficult to see in the Victorian view....too many of the Medway barges have gone now, although a small steady stream were restored to use over the last few years. There is a Barge Museum near Faversham in North Kent, that maintains some, and some others are on the National Ships registry. A couple of barges are moored on the River Medway, one at the Old Naval Dockyard at Chatham, till recently at least. Trips are organised during races etc.

Another boating and barge centre is the town of Malden, in Essex, on the Northern coast of the Thames Estuary, where a couple of restorations are being done at the moment.

Stephen.

[mickeyobe]

Aug 4, 2013 18:58:42 GMT -5 SidW said:

[quote source="/post/65113 This could be a unique example, apparently only a handful had the massive diagonal boom located on the port side like this one (the barges on Stephen's photo have the boom on the starboard side). Alternatively, the neg was printed wrong way round.

Sid,

The booms in the coloured photo look to me to be attached to the port side as well as the barge in your photo.
They seem to have been swung in front of the main mast and mainsail to starboard but appear to still be fastened at their bases to the port side. Although it is difficult to tell for certain in the photo if they are, indeed, in front of or behind the mast.

Or are my eyes not as sharp as they used to be.

Mickey

[Stephen]

The booms appear to usually be on the Starboard, they attach on a ring around the mast, and the bottom goes past the ring. However it seems logical that the whole end could be set on the other side just as easily. The boom can be further raised up the mast to vertical, and at that point the base could go around the ring, then the boom lowered to the normal angle.
Stephen.