Category: Barges and wherries

Barges and wherries and other working boats originally for carrying cargoes

Judging distance at sea by eye – a how-to

Distance judging at sea 5

 

How far is the mudbank opposite? Half a mile? A mile and a half? On board sailing barge Lady of the Lea in the Swale

Each year I tell myself I will now memorise the ways old fashioned used to judge distances by eye to improve my ability to navigate by eye. Perhaps this will be the year I manage it.

Anyway, it would be a great skill for all of us to have and so when I found this little chapter in The Yachtsman’s Weekend Book  I thought should share it…

Distance judging at sea 1 Distance judging at sea 2 Distance judging at sea 3

Distance judging at sea 4

 

Some things I mean to try to remember are the following:

  • ‘For the man with his height of eye at 8ft, the sea level horizon will be about 3 1/4 miles.’
  • ‘Anything with its base just touching the horizon line, or a power vessel under way and showing her bow-wave just above the horizon – all these objects would be approximately 3 1/4 miles away.’
  • ‘Had his eye been between 5 and 6 feet above sea level, this distance would be about 2 1/2 miles.’
  • ‘At two miles distance (from the 8-foot observer) a large navigation buoy should be visible, in smooth water, but its shape and colour will as yet be indistinguishable to the naked eye’
  • ‘At a distance of 1 1/2 miles small-sized navigational buoys can be made out in smooth water.
  • ‘At a distance of 1 mile to 1 1/4 miles the shape of the smaller buoy can be made out… as also can the colour and markings of the large type of buoy.’
  • [At a distance 1 to 1 1/4 mile]’A man moving to and fro on board of a ship or on shore shows up… as a black mark but his limbs and features are, of course undistinguishable.’
  • ‘At 600 to 800 yards a moving man… resolves himself into a featurless vertical mark. At 400 to 500 yards distant the movement of a walking man’s legs are noticeable, and the rower’s arms in a dinghy can be seen working… ‘

 

 

 

 

Last chance to oppose the restaurant proposal for Standard Quay – and have your say on the future of Faversham Creek

 

Save Standard Quay and Faversham Creek

Standard Quay

Swale Borough Council planners meet on the 11th April to discuss the proposed conversion of Standard Quay’s listed ‘black building’ into a restaurant and gallery and function room.

This gives those of us who want to see Standard Quay reinstated as a functioning centre for sailing barges and other traditional and historic craft just a few days to make our objections.

I’m told the best hope now is likely to be to contact local councillors, focusing on how the proposal meets – or fails to meet – local planning criteria. Read all about that stuff on the Borough Council website. Contact details for each area’s council member can be found using the search gizmo on the site, and I gather we can also write to: grahamthomas@swale.gov.uk (the council keeps changing this, not me!).

Sadly, the area planning officer’s report recommends approval on the grounds that previous applications for marine use – sail-making, boat building and repairs – were approved by the council in the 1990s and not taken up, and that it is therefore reasonable to consider other uses for this building.

I think we can take that point, but surely a restaurant is not the only alternative. Further, I’d suggest that what happened 15-20 years ago may not be wholly relevant now, and that what Standard Quay and Faversham Creek as a whole now need is a plan or vision capable of bringing the Creek back to life – not yet more developments such as housing and restaurants that inevitably lead in the opposite direction, as has happened to many small ports around our coast.

(Yes – people really do buy homes next to boatyards, and then object to the work that takes place as a matter of routine. It may seem like bizarre behaviour to you, but I’ve seen it in action.)

Some might see this as a matter of culture and history pitted against profits and employment, but maritime industry can also bring prosperity and jobs.

Faversham Town Council opposes the application, which is great news, and I understand that many other people have declared their opposition to the development, which would effectively end any hope that Standard Quay will again become alive with traditional craft and the noise and bustle involved in their maintenance and use.

Readers may also wish to contact the area’s MP, the Rt Hon Hugh Robertson, about the issue.

There’s more information about the issue at the Visions of a Creek website, and at  standardquay.com.

On the subject of the future of Faversham Creek, Swale Borough Council has an online consultation on the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan – few people seem to know about this, so it would be well worth sending the Borough’s planners your views.

PS – This news story from a local newspaper website reports that the Faversham Society and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England also oppose the restaurant planning application.

PPS – The YouTube film below shows what Standard Quay used to be like – and could be again, so long as the vote goes the right way.

Also here’s an online video of a local historian talking about Standard Quay’s history.

PPPS – Here’s what the Medway and Swale Boating Association said in its letter to Swale Borough Council:

I am writing on behalf of over 4000 boaters on the Medway and Swale, including many who keep and use traditional craft in and around Faversham Creek and those like myself who have used the unique marine and leisure services provided there.

We are dismayed that the proposed development at Standard Quay will forever prevent the regeneration of the marine industries such as traditional barge-building, shipwrighting and rigging that have gone on here until very recently. There are many alternative sites for houses, restaurants and car parks but these threatened activities can only exist at the waterside. Traditional skills and employment may be lost, just when there is growing demand for them.

The traditional creekside environment is what gives Faversham its unique character, attracting many people who don’t necessarily engage in boating themselves. The irreversible damage that will be caused caused by this proposal may well have been underestimated.

We therefore strongly object to this proposed development.

Regards

Tony Lavelle
Secretary

Medway and Swale Boating Association

The life of Bob Roberts – a short article written for EDS magazine

Bob Roberts article

Here’s a piece I recently wrote for the folkies’ magazine English Dance and Song about the legendary and sometimes controversial barge skipper Bob Roberts, who was also a celebrated singer and melodeon player. Click on the image above to download a pdf file…

Old Bob’s barge Cambria has been brought back to life thanks to a Lottery grant and the hard work of volunteers – read all about it at the Cambria Trust website. (I included this link in the story but it had to be edited out!)

The photos below show Cambria leaving Faversham Creek on a high tide on the 29th March.

Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 1 Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 2 Cambria makes her way down Faversham Creek on a high tide 3