Tag: London

Barge skipper Derek ‘Spearo’ Ling talks about his life on the water

Derek 'Spearo' Ling barge skipper

 

 

Derek ‘Spearo’ Ling has a fund of great stories from a life that has included working as mate and skipper on board sailing barges, and which has seen him progress from schoolboy to Freeman of the City of London and Freeman of the Waterways. He was born in 1927, and seems to have known some real characters.

This series of three YouTube clips were filmed by his son in law, Chris Rudland, who has made a beautiful job of both filming and editing three hours worth of material over different sessions.

Chris says: ‘Spearo describes the life, love, loss, experience and many humorous stories. He describes the war years, cargos, gifts and much more… I have so often listened to his stories over the years but thought now is the time to catch them on tape for prosperity so I had a go, knowing Spearo wouldn’t disappoint me.’

Spearo certainly doesn’t disappoint! See video 1, video 2 and video 3.

Port of London Authority archives to be catalogued and made available

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Access to the Port of London Authority archive – said to be one of the most significant in London – is set to be unlocked in a three-year cataloguing programme.

The archive covering 250 years of London’s water-borne history is to be catalogued by Museum of London Docklands staff. The work is expected to take at least three years and will give historians, river lovers and members of the public easy access to the archive.

The PLA was created through an Act of Parliament overseen by Lloyd George and Winston Churchill to bring order to the chaos of the busy and congested port of the early 1900s. It came into existence on 31 March 1909.

The archive includes 30 boxes of documents relating to the 19th century dock companies; 120 boxes of documents relating to the early years of the PLA; 140 boxes of documents relating to post-war PLA activities; 50 boxes of post-war PLA personnel documents; architectural drawings relating to all aspects of the docks; and a range of PLA river charts. It adds up to a lot of material.l

An entertaining historical presentation telling the story of the PLA is already available can be found on the organisation’s website at www.pla.co.uk.

London to Istanbul Ness Yawl is built online

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It’s peaceful as I write at 7.30 in the evening – but you should see it during the day!

Giacomo de Stefano is building one of Iain Oughtred’s Ness Yawls online this week – but you may have to be quick to catch it judging by the speed he and his friends were working working at when I looked earlier today. Click on the image to see what’s going on.

I should explain that Mr de Stefano plans to row and sail this boat from London (he’s leaving on the 15th April by the way) to Istanbul in a kind of new-age bid to forge a new relationship between man and nature. It’s a big ask, but then so is his target of sailing and rowing his way to Istanbul in the space of six months with little or no financial backing.

Anyway, he plans to have his boat built in four weeks, and from what I’ve seen he’s likely to make that target. Click on the photo above to catch a little of the action. See his Man on the River project website here: http://www.manontheriver.com

For many more intheboatshed.net posts about boats built from Iain Oughtred’s plans, click here.

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