Category: Steam power

Rivers of the South – The Thames

Rochester Castle and Cathedral from the River Medway

These pages about the Thames past and present come from are from Rivers of the South by AB Austin with photographs by J Dixon Scott, published in 1938.

It starts off rather dreamy, historical and angry about the changes the author sees in the landscape of the Thames, but changes in style as it proceeds.

There’s an outstandingly bonkers and dated passage that reads:

‘Until recently the paradox of the richest river in England, and possibly in the world, has been its shunning of those things which bring quick wealth. It has been a trading river, an argosy-bearing river, the river of the merchant-adventurer, not of mass-production, lighting-profit manufacturer. Now its lower valley shelters our light luxury plants, the monotonous assemblers of motor cars, wireless sets and every kind of glossy, brittle synthetic substance, even bakelite insulating boxes to make fool-proof the intestines of cinema organs.’

No quick wealth? What about spice traders, the slave trade and the City of London? The man was a dreamer but he could write a resounding paragraph…

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Medway Queen back home in the Medway

Despite the controversy, there’s something that touches the soul about seeing the newly re-hulled paddle steamer Medway Queen on her home river again.

I only hope some kind of regulatory miracle can be achieved that will make it possible for her to carry passengers. Her new riveted hull may be an accurate reproduction of the original, but I gather there is a big question over whether she will be able to work as a pleasure steamer under the rules – and over whether she would be viable if she did.

Read more about her here and at the Medway Queen Preservation Trust website.

My thanks to cruising sailor, bargeman, singer and melodeonist Mick Nolan of the Thames Sailing Barge Trust for the photos! (Why not like the TSBT’s very popular Facebook page?)

Shipwreck photograph collection for sale by Sotheby’s

Shipwreck

Sotheby’s is auctioning a remarkable archive of 1000 negatives of shipwreck images taken a period of nearly 130 years by the Gibson family of photographers over four generations – see a gallery of the shots here.

Do read the notes with each one – some of them are as vivid as the shots themselves – check out the fate of the Granite Slate and the Horsa. My thanks to Griselda Mussett for spotting this one.