Category: Working boats

A fine collection of interesting boats for sale on Ebay tonight

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Go to our Ebay bargains page for this little lot: http://intheboatshed.net/boats-and-stuff-on-ebay/

•Flood-damaged 50ft narrowboat may be going cheap somewhere in the North East of England

•1963 (approx.) 33ft Windboats wooden motor cruiser for sale at Windsor

•16ft GRP Yorkshire coble for sale somewhere in Scotland

•Broom speedboat for sale at Peterborough

•26ft lifeboat ripe for conversion at Kirkwall, Orkney

•28ft 1939 Harry Felpham drop keel cutter for sale at Littlehampton, West Sussex

From the Thames to the Solent by Una boat, an account from 1868

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From the Thames to the Solent by Una boat, by JB Dashwood 1868

Una, from Dixon Kemp’s legendary Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing

Steve Taylor was kind enough to alert me to this one – a readable pdf of a charming little book of 1868 about a canal and sea trip by an example of the Una boat, which was then fashionable in the UK.

http://www.weyandarun.co.uk/thames.pdf

Dixon Kemp describes the Una boat here: http://www.friend.ly.net/~dadadata/kemp/dictUV.html

The scans of the engravings including the author JB Dashwood’s Una boat are unclear, so I’ve included a scan of the original Una boat from Dixon Kemp’s Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing. The original Una boat was an imported North American cat boat of the era, with a centreboard, characteristic widish beam and a single gaff-rigged mast and sail. Cat boats were originally working fishing boats, but they have long been adopted for pleasure boating, and so have evolved in many ways in the intervening 140 years. They are still an interesting type, particularly for sheltered coastal cruising.

In searching the web for references, I found this online account of sailing small boats of the 19th century: http://www.thamessailingclub.co.uk/…/Our_History.pdf

There were just a few copies of Dixon Kemp’s Manual available at ABE when I looked, and several copies of his other classics also. Check now:
AbeBooks

Famous Thames sailing barge Cambria comes to Faversham for restoration

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Famous Thames sailing barge Cambria comes to Faversham for restoration

Famous

The Thames sailing barge Cambria arriving at Faversham for restoration. Photos by Bob Telford

Thames sailing barge Cambria has been brought to Standard Quay in Faversham for restoration and rebuilding, and from these photos there’s clearly going to be a lot of work to do.

The Cambria is arguably the most famous of all the Thames barges, partly because she was the last British registered vessel to carry a commercial cargo under sail. In fact, she worked under sail without any kind of engine right up until 1970, and so forms a unique part of our industrial and maritime heritage. But that’s only part of her story, for the Cambria’s skipper was also a national treasure for his collection of songs and his way of singing them. See this very nice article about him by members of his family: http://www.eatmt.org.uk/bob_roberts.htm

Cambria is a wooden Thames sailing barge built at Greenhithe, Kent in 1906. Her National Lottery-funded restoration will cost Continue reading “Famous Thames sailing barge Cambria comes to Faversham for restoration”