SB Centaur
Centaur at the Pool of London in 2017
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Centaur |
Owner |
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Builder | J & H Cann (Harwich) |
Commissioned | 1895 |
Status | Private use and private charter ship |
Notes | 99460 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 61 |
Length | 85.6 ft (26.1 m) |
Beam | 19.55 ft (5.96 m) |
Height | 80 ft (24 m) to top of topmast |
Draught | 6.2 ft (1.9 m) distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel) |
Propulsion | Sails and auxiliary diesel engine |
Notes | Wood |
SB Centaur is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Harwich, Essex, England in 1895. She was used to carry various cargoes, mainly grain, for the next 60 years. During the First World War she carried food and coal to the French Channel ports. During the Second World War Centaur was damaged when sailing to assist with the Dunkirk Evacuation. She did war work for the duration of the conflict.
In 1945 she returned to the
Description
The barges were wooden hulled, between 80–90 ft (24–27 m) long with a beam of around 20 ft (6.1 m). The hull form was flat-bottomed with a degree of flare to the sides and plumb ends. To prevent unwanted (sideways) passage to the lee, there was a massive pivoted, retractable, winch operated leeboard on each side.[3] On the Centaur each weighed 1.5 long tons (1.5 t).[4] The stern was a transom, fitted with a large rudder. The hull was mainly a hold with two small living areas in the bow and stern, and access was through two large hatchways, the smaller before the main mast and a much larger aperture behind. These barges required no ballast. No auxiliary power was used originally but many barges were fitted with engines in later years. When no wharf was available, the barge could use the ebbing tide to stand on the mud close to shore, and offload its cargo into carts.[5] A barge with no topsail – or top mast – sailing stumpy-rigged required a smaller crew. With a shallow draught, they could penetrate deep into the back waters. Not needing ballast reduced their turn-round time. They could be berthed on a flat mud bank, against a camp-shed, on a barge bed or in a held tide dock.[2][6]
In good conditions, sailing barges could attain speeds of over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), and their leeboards allowed them to be highly effective windward performers. The unusual spritsail rig allowed any combination of sails to be set: even the topsail on its own could be effective in some conditions.[2]
Uses
History
Early life
SB Centaur, wood built, probably
In 1898 Centaur won the Harwich Barge Race.[13] In 1899 an "SB Centaur", probably her Rochester-based namesake, won the Medway Barge Race, passing over the finishing line at Upnor 2+1⁄2 minutes ahead of second placed SB Giralda.[14] The Mistley barges worked the ports of north east France, Belgium and the Netherlands, from most of the English ports between Southampton and Goole.[11] There are records of her carrying wheat, hydrochloric acid, sugar, linseed oil and raw linseed. In April 1902 her steering gear was damaged while sailing from Shoreham and she was towed into Newhaven. In January 1905 she had to be towed into Portland. Both anchors were lost off the Netherlands in December 1906.[9]
Her sailing qualities have been described as:
Centaur was a satisfying barge to sail. She went well to windward and was quite handy in narrow waters. Until the last year or two of her trading days, unlike today, she carried a bowsprit. As a result she was better balanced, needing very little helm. She sailed best on the sheet, with a freeish sprit. On the bowsprit, she could carry both a jib and a topmast staysail, but it was usual only to set the former. She-would carry full sail (i.e. without the staysail) in a Force 5 wind, although in associated sea conditions offshore the skipper would be looking for shelter if deep-laden. When reducing sail due to weather the jib came in first, followed by the topsail and then if necessary the first few cloths of the mainsail. A Force 6 wind was generally considered to be the overall limiting condition.
— Peter Thomson[2]
World War I
In the
Inter-war years
After the war, Centaur resumed the coastal trade. She made a number of voyages to France and Belgium carrying pitch and coal.[9] Ephraim Cripps was her skipper for twenty years and kept records of each voyage. Colchester was her main port from 1928 to 1930, and she worked the East Anglian coast.[11] In 1933 she joined Francis and Gilders Ltd which managed a large fleet of sailing barges out of Colchester, transporting grain from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex into London.[2]
World War II
The first major civilian maritime event of the
Post-war
After the war Centaur returned to working the grain trade. In January 1952, in force 6–7 winds with seas breaking across her hatches, her rudder broke and she was towed into Colne by the SB Saxon. Francis and Gilders Ltd were the last "seeker barges", barges that sought any cargo; the London and Rochester Trading Company merged with them in 1951. The new owners were intent on selling on these barges, and Centaur took her last cargo in 1955. During her last year in the carrying trade, as well as grain she transported timber, sugar beet, ballast, cement and oil drums. Centaur and the other three remaining working sailing barges, George Smeed, Kitty and Mirosa were deregistered and disposed of to Brown & Son of Chelmsford. There they were de-masted, de-registered and used as timber lighters. Between 1955 and 1966 she was used as a lighter to tranship timber from ships in the Blackwater estuary to canal lighters headed for Chelmsford.[9]
In 1966 she was purchased by Richard Duke and re-rigged as a charter barge with four four-berth cabins. In 1968 she was class winner at the Blackwater Sailing Barge Match.
Owners
- 1895 Charles Stone.
- c. 1900 Dolly Rogers.
- 1911 Ted Hibbs.
- 1915 John Sawyer.
- 1933 Francis & Gilders.
- 1951 London and Rochester Trading Company.
- 1955 Brown & Co. Derigged for use as a timber lighter.
- 1965 Richard Duke Used as a charter barge.
- 1973 Thames Barge Sailing Club,[9] now the Thames Sailing Barge Trust.
The dates are when Centaur came into ownership of its various owners.
See also
Notes
- Foulness Point, Essex: Admiralty Chart SC5606, April 2004
- ^ The staysail and the jib are white, not red-brown, because they were stowed below deck and so did not require the ultra-violet protection provided by adding ochre to the waterproofing solution which results in the distinctive colour of the other sails.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Underhill 1955.
- ^ a b c d e f Thomson 1995.
- ^ Thames Sailing Barge Trust 2013.
- ^ a b c Lusher 2013.
- ^ March 1948, p. 15.
- ^ March 1948, p. 11.
- ^ March 1948, p. 1.
- ^ Benham 1986, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Thames Sailing Barge Trust 2017.
- ^ a b Carr 1951, p. 245.
- ^ a b c d e WW1 Survivor 2017.
- ^ March 1948, p. 170.
- ^ a b c National Historic Ships 2018.
- ^ March 1948, p. 153.
- ^ National Historic Ships UK 2018.
References
- Benham, Hervey; Kershaw, Philip; Finch, Roger (1986). Down Tops'l: Story of the East Coast Sailing Barges (3rd ed.). London: Harrap. ISBN 978-0-245-54487-3.
- Carr, Frank (1951). Sailing Barges. London: Peter Davies. OCLC 906638925.
- "Centaur, National Historic Ships". www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- March, Edgar (1948). Spritsail barges of Thames and Medway. London: Percival Marshall. OCLC 474835836.
- "Centaur". Thames Sailing Barge Trust. 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
- Thomson, Peter (November 1995). "Working a Thames Sailing Barge circa 1950". The Mariner's Mirror. 81 (4): 457–462. ISSN 0025-3359.
- "Centaur: History". National Historic Ships UK. 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
- Underhill, Harold A. (1955) [1938]. Sailing Ship Rigs and Rigging (2nd ed.). Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson. OCLC 503848667.
- "Centaur -delivering the goods". First World War: Britain’s surviving vessels. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
- Lusher, Adam (24 August 2013). "Sailing barge racing: a slow boat to a past century". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- "Development of Sailing Barges". Thames Sailing Barge Trust. 24 December 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- This article incorporates text taken from the article Thames sailing barge.
External links
- Centaur's page on the Thames Sailing Barge Trust's site (current owners)
- Centaur's entry in the National Historic Shipsregister