Jan29
The River Thames in 1935, and oyster fishing at Whitstable
Colour on the Thames – footage from the Thames dating back to 1935
Here’s a sweet piece of film of the River Thames years ago spotted by ‘Carl’, who belongs to the Dinghy Cruising Association’s splendid Openboat YahooGroup. If you’re a small boat sailor I recommend it for all sorts of practical reasons, and this kind of thing is a real bonus.
But back to the film, which has been put up by the British Film Institute. Check it out for steam ships and tugs, busy bridges, some nice old footage of sailing barges motoring and under canvas in the Pool of London, and some very coolly-dressed up-stream watermen in suits and hats working some small steam boats.
PS - Do have a look this splendid footage of oyster fishing at Whitstable in 1920 that I’ve just found: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v8pFfqfL4D8 Isn’t YouTube fun? It’s certainly better than the telly is most evenngs.
2 Comments »Barges and wherries, Cruising yachts, Culture: songs, stories, photography and art, Events, Locations, River boats, Small boats, Steam power, Traditional carvel, Traditional clinker, Working boats
Salizanda Jan 31st 2009 at 10:52 am 1
I liked this video so much that I copied the link to my blog and of course gave you accreditation.Your blog is one of my favorites and I have a RRS feed to it
peter radclyffe Feb 1st 2009 at 07:57 am 2
River Thames, 1935, in 1979 I worked on the Thames as the deckhand on the 1927, 450 h.p British Polar diesel, ex steam tug Sheen, it may be her in the film with the Ham,she was one of 6 tugs named after London boroughs, Putney, Barnes & 2others, my sister Sas was the engineer on the bridge telegraph controls, it was owned byAndy her boyfriend, we spent a fun summer dodging the violent deranged licensed watermen who claimed the river as their own, a policy which destroyed trade on the beautiful river, the only way I could survive London was to be on the river, the Thames River police are the nicest cops in the world, it chills them out, we did one job oxy-gas cutting up a first world war german munitions steam barge lifting derrick 150 foot high at Grays ,various towing jobs, & some boatbuilding in steel & wood,before I started a shipwrights apprenticeship with John Woolley who rebuilt Irene, Marigold, Aello Beta, etc.
Peter Radclyffe