Registration number 224
Status Registered
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Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Barge
Location Maldon
Vessel type Spritsail Barge
Current use Commercial Activity
Available to hire Yes
Available for excursions Yes
Web address www.bargetrust.org

Construction

Builder London & Rochester Barge Co, Rochester
Built in 1922
Hull material Wood
Rig Spritsail
Number of decks 1
Number of masts 2
Propulsion Motor
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Inboard
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
20.98 feet (6.40m)
Depth
6.79 feet (2.07m)
Length: Overall
82.36 feet (25.12m)

History

Built in 1922 by London & Rochester Trading Co. for the oil seed trade, PUDGE is a Thames sailing barge with a hull construction of pitch pine on oak with a flush deck, the steering wheel on a ‘short spindle’ without the usual raised cabin top. Originally spritsail rigged with bowsprit an auxiliary oil engine made by The Bergius Co.Ltd of Glasow was installed in 1932.

Her working life as a cargo carrier was interrupted in spectacular fashion by the Second World War when she was requisitioned in May 1940 whilst in Tilbury, drafted to Dover and thence to Dunkirk to aid the evacuation. Three barges including PUDGE were taken in tow by a tug and crossed the Channel under cover of darkness. As they reached the beaches at Dunkirk an explosion lifted PUDGE out of the water and, in the words of her skipper, “she came down the right way up”. She took onboard survivors and set off for England, picking up a tow from a tug on the way, to arrive safely back at Ramsgate.

She then resumed her normal trade into and from London docks, Ipswich and the Medway ports with oilseed, grain, cattle cake, fertilizer, etc. until her last freight of pineapple juice in 1968 when she was bought out of the trade as a twin hatched motor barge by the Thames Barge Sailing Club. Rerigged by members for summer weekend sailing and chartering and winter maintenance based at Maldon she was re-engined in 1990 and has undergone various stages of restoration since. Pudge made the passage to Dunkirk for the 50th and 75th anniversary of Dunkirk and has also took part in the Avenue of Sail for the Queens Diamond Jubilee Pageant.

The TSBC evolved into THE THAMES SAILING BARGE TRUST in 2003, and PUDGE continued to run charter trips with the aim of preserving and teaching the skills needed to sail and maintain the traditions of the working sailing barge. A staged programme of renewal began in 2005 at Maylandsea with a rebuild of the bows, progressing to the deck and stern as finances permitted with a return to sail in 2007. Restoration took place at Faversham in 2011 to maintain her fitness for charitable sailing work. 

In 2019 the Trust was awarded a grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund and along with funds raised  from other organisations and its members the Trust embarked on a major programme of restoration at Kevin Finch Shipwrights at Fullbridge, Maldon where in May 2020 work started on the replacement of her decks, coamings, ceilings and upgrading her below deck accommodation. The accommodation now comprises 6 two berth cabins, a shower, new galley and saloon and digital media so that she can be used for meetings as well as charters. This work took 3 years to complete, with the aid of volunteers from the Trust and continued during the pandemic.

PUDGE took her first sail in May 2023 and is now ready to sail for many years to come.

In September, 2023, The Thames Sailing Barge Trust was awarded a Restoration Award for PUDGE at the 2023 National Transport Trust Awards.

Key dates

  • 1922 Vessel built by London & Rochester Trading Co
  • 1932 An auxiliary oil engine made by The Bergius Co. Ltd of Glasgow was installed
  • 1935

    A larger Kelvin engine was fitted

  • 1940

    Requistioned in May whilst in Tilbury, drafted to Dover and to Dunkirk to aid the evacuation

  • 1968

    Bought out of the trade as a twin hatched motor barge by the Thames Barge Sailing Club

  • 1990

    Vessel re-rigged and re-engined after her passage to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dunkirk

  • 2005

    Staged programme of restoration begins at Maylandsea with a rebuild of the bows, progressing to the deck and stern

  • 2007

    Vessel returns to sail

  • 2011

    Restoration work continuing at Faversham to maintain vessel's fitness for charitable sailing work.

  • 2012

    Took part in the Avenue of Sail as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant

  • 2015

    Pudge was one of two Thames sailing barges which went to Dunkirk to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation of the BEF. 

  • 2020

    Restoration work starts on a major programme of restoration to replace her decks, coamings, carlings, below deck accommodation and other upgrades

  • 2023

    Restoration work completed and Pudge sails for the first time since 2018

Grants

  • 23 June 2016

    £355,600 awarded to the Thames Sailing Barge Trust from the Heritage Lottery Fund

Sources

Centaur: Commemoration of a Centenary, Thames Barge Sailing Club, 1995
Brouwer, Norman J, International Register of Historic Ships, Anthony Nelson, Edition 2, 1993
Sullivan, Dick, Old Ships, Boats and Maritime Museums, Coracle Books, 1978
Carr, Frank, Sailing Barges, 1971
Hugh Perks, Richard, Sprts'l: A Portrait of Sailing Barges and Sailormen, Conway Maritime Press, 1975
The Last Berth of the Sailorman, Society for Spritsail Barge Research, 1978
Brann, Christian, The Little Ships of Dunkirk: 1940-1990, Collectors Books Ltd, 1989
Wood, D G, Barges Sailing Today: Sailing Barge Information Pamplet No: 1, Society for Spritsail Barge Research, 1995
Ships Monthly: Pudge wins HLF grant, November 2018

Pudge, .A Survivor 2022 Thames Sailing Barge Trust. Published by Thames Sailing Barge Trust and Chaffcutter Books

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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