Archive

2011

  • In 2009 the Garner 6LW was removed, overhauled and fitted with a PRM hydraulic gearbox. At the same time a new prop shaft, drive flange and cutlass bearing were installed and the exhaust and cooling systems also renewed.

    There were discussions at the time as to whether a better option might be to fit a more modern engine. More power and less weight were on the side of change. But the Gardner 6LW, with it’s reputation as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of marine diesels, still cannot be beaten where reliability is concerned and even holds up well when it comes to fuel efficiency – just a gallon an hour at working load! And with the rigging also being renewed to the original lofty size it was time to think of the engine as ‘ancilliary’ again and no longer Raybel’s primary source of propulsion. On top of that an original marine version of a 6LW is now a rarity itself as well as being an important part of the barge’s history.

    All work was carried out with Raybel moored at Standard Quay, Faversham, Kent.

    Raybel was fitted with her first engine, a Kelvin 88, at the outbreak of WWII for her work out of the Clyde as a naval supply ship. In 1962 a new, fully marinised, Gardner 6LW and gearbox were delivered to the barge.

    L. Gardner & Son of Patricroft, Manchester were, for many years, the world leaders in diesel engines for commercial use. Throughout the 50s 60s & 70s, most of the British made trucks and buses relied on Gardner power, and they were certainly engines of legend. In the latter part of the company history, Brothers Hugh & John Gardner designed some of the longest lasting and fuel efficient commercial diesels of the 20th century and a huge proportion of their output is still in daily use, if not for the original purpose it was designed for. What made Gardner quite unique in the world of engine building was the fact that most of the components involved, even parts of the fuel pumps, were all cast or fabricated in house to standards of utmost quality. This high quality soon earned their engines a reputation for unmatched reliability – the most important factor in a marine engine as failure at sea can have catastrophic consequences.

    For over 45 years only regular maintenance had been carried out on the engine and it was thought best to carry out a full inspection as even the finest engines cannot go on for ever. As the gearbox was to be changed the engine beds required lowering and so the engine was removed from the barge. The main bearings were discovered to have so little wear that no work was necessary. The cylinder heads needed their fresh water cooling ways cleaning and the oil cooler was also fully refurbished. The gearbox was in good order but, due to it’s great weight, it had been decided to exchange it for a much lighter hydraulic equivalent. It is well known that wooden barges ‘hog’ over time. The centre is more buoyant than the ends and so the barge develops a curved or ‘hogged’ bottom which, apart from the strain on timbers and fastenings, does not exactly help with speed through the water either. Good practice in maintaining a wooden barge is to keep as much weight as possible amid ships and as little weight as possible forward and aft. Hence the decision to fit the far lighter gearbox. Also the two huge steel fuel tanks were removed and replaced with a single smaller stainless steel tank.

    When originally fitted the engine exhaust was led through a large silencer mounted on deck by the wheelhouse. Because the intention had long been to return Raybel to the appearance she had when built it made sense to change the design to a ‘wet’ system where both exhaust and cooling water are discharged through the side of the barge. The fresh water cooling was also changed completely from a hull mounted cooler to a salt water cooled heat exchanger mounted on the engine. The intake strainer, gearbox cooler and all pipework were also renewed. Dennis Honey, a local engineer with great skill and experience, machined the engine flywheel to fit the new gearbox casing and also turned a new prop shaft from marine grade stainless steel. His son, Brendon Honey, also a fine engineer with broad experience, then worked with Matthew Houston in fashioning the many new pipes and other details to complete the conversion. After a days work on the rebuilding of Cambria, shipwright Tim Goldsack spent a long evening working on the necessary adjustment to the engine beds to exactly match the new gearbox take off. And in spring of 2011 the restored engine was craned back into place by Mack, who had been the last mate of Raybel under Sully ownership, with Steve Barry as skipper.

    Over several weeks the engine was given test runs for as long as was possible on the tides. A winter berth had been offered by Jonathan Webb at Pin Mill, Suffolk and Raybel left Faversham in the Autumn of 2011. The crew were Nick Eade skipper, Matthew Houston mate, Brendon Honey engineer, and Dinah May and Ray Walton were in charge of both fishing and cooking the catch. Off Shoebury three good sized bass were caught, one each by Ray, Dinah and Brendon and cooked to perfection once at anchor at Butterman’s Bay near Pin Mill, Suffolk.

2008

Raybel in The St.Katharine Docks, London

1999

Raybel in The St.Katharine Docks, London

1980’s

  • Note the wooden sprit – no longer seen today but once normal on sailing barges.

    Copyright M.Houston.

1975

  • The re-rigging of Raybel was carried out in 1975 by Reuben Webb of F.A.Webb & Sons, Pin Mill, Suffolk.

    When Ian and Angela Houston bought Raybel in spring of 1974 the first trip was from Silvertown on the Thames to Pin Mill on the river Orwell in Suffolk. Reuben Webb was skipper and on arrival put Raybel alongside his own barge, the once famous racer, Reminder. Like Raybel the Reminder had become a ‘motor barge’ and, with the sailing deck removed, worked in the ballast trade.

    When Raybel’s work for Cresent Shipping ended in 1975 Reuben set to work transferring winches, rigging and other gear from Asphodel, a beautiful barge but one that was, realistically, beyond repair. Leaboards were sourced from Sailing Barge Gipping and a main horse and chocks were made new from oak. Reuben was a shipwright of the old school and rarely used power tools. The main horse was made using only a handsaw and adze and fixing holes through deck and beams, for fastening winches and other fittings, were all made with a hand auger.

    Whitmores of Ipswich made the sails – in flax. It was to be the last suit of barge sails made by this once very busy loft.

    It was not until September 1975 that all was finally completed. Reuben Webb together with Ian and Matthew Houston had planned to take the barge away for a week. The engine on Raybel had developed a starter motor fault and refused to start when needed. But there was something right about that as, with the help of a fresh south westerly breeze, Raybel sailed from her mooring on Pin Mill Hard, her first time under sail for some twenty five years.

1975

  • It was on Reuben Webb’s advice that Ian Houston had waited for Raybel to be sold by G.F.Sully. Not only did Reuben Webb say of Raybel “she’s the best around and probably the strongest ever built” but also, as can be seen in the documentary ‘Portrait of a Village’, he says ‘there’s something about the wood they put into this one’. His older brother Albert was one of the longest serving skippers of Raybel.

    When Raybel was being returned to sail there were two generations of Webb’s running the barge yard – Reuben and his son Fred, sometimes joined by his other son Billy. Reuben’s oldest grandsons Johnathon and Richard were soon to be added to the team. Reuben Webb, one of twelve children, grew up on sailing barges, his father being a skipper. As a teenager during WWII he became a barge master and worked as a skipper until his retirement from the sea in the early ’70s. For most of his life in barges he worked for Sullies and clearly a mutual respect existed between owners and skipper. The income of both depended on swift and safe passages being made. Reuben had a reputation for very fine seamanship and for finding windows in the weather where other skippers might remain waiting at anchor. And he managed to do this without jeopardising safety. This skill ensured he was entrusted with the biggest and best barges in the Sully fleet. When Trilby was given an extraordinary rebuild by Wills and Packham and made longer, wider and higher in the sides, it was Reuben who became the skipper of this, effectively, new barge. And worth noting that Henry Harvey, foreman during the building of Raybel, also masterminded the re-build of Trilby.

    Reuben’s last work in freight was in Reminder under his own ownership. He knew of a regular run between Ipswich Docks and Mistley, delivering ballast, and bought the ‘ironpot’ Reminder for the purpose.

    He had already set up his son Fred at the yard he had bought in Pin Mill on the Orwell. When ballast work in Reminder came to a close he began work ashore at F.A.Webb and Sons. There were many wooden barges still around and in need of repairs and some were being bought privately and the holds converted into further accommodation. Reuben worked on barges such as Pretoria, which was converted into a restaurant to be moored in London. A film was made by British Pathe in 1964 and Reuben can be seen at the wheel talking to Sir Alan Herbert. Other barges of particular note they restored to sail include Kathleen and Venture.

1974

  • In the late 1960s and early ‘70s the artist Ian Houston had got to know barge skipper Reuben Webb who ran a sailing barge repair yard, F.A.Webb and sons, in Pin Mill Suffolk. Ian had seen sailing barges as a child, growing up in Gravesend and on the south coast. As a painter of maritime subjects as well as landscapes he had looked into the possibility of owning one, so he could experience being fully immersed in the drama of the sea as well as getting to know the craft that had captured his imagination as a child and often appeared in his paintings.

    Reuben Webb came from a ‘barging’ family and had been a full-time skipper from his late teens until taking on barge repair work in his late fifties. Most of his working life was in Sullies barges and he knew the Wills and Packham built barges especially well. And, like most other skippers, he knew the history and condition of all the remaining sailing barges in great detail. His advice to Ian was to wait until either Raybel or Phoenician came up for sale. He said they were the youngest and also the strongest built barges remaining. Phoenician was less heavily built than Raybel and had the edge in speed but of Raybel he said “she’s the best one around and probably the strongest ever built”. His brother Albert had been skipper of Raybel for several long stints and Reuben had heard many stories of passages made and often been on board. And his opinion didn’t change when he got to know Raybel in the ‘70s. In the television documentary ‘Portrait of a Village’ he can be seen saying of Raybel ‘there’s something about the wood they put into this one’.

    When Raymond Sully decided to sell Raybel Reuben was first to know. The sale was quickly agreed and in spring of 1974 Reuben Webb, Ian Houston and his son Matthew (then aged 12) climbed down the long ladder at Silvertown quay where Raybel was moored.

    The plan had always been that Reuben would refit Raybel as a sailing barge. It was decided that the best option was to buy another sailing barge, the Asphodel, which had fallen beyond repair in terms of seaworthiness, and from there the winches, spars and other rigging could be gleaned. But first one of the ‘coincidences’ that seem to surround Raybel came into play. Crescent Shipping, owners of barges and coasters, had made it known that there was work for Raybel if it was wanted. An adjusted plan dropped into place! Asphodel was owned by Doug and Eileen Bridges. Doug was a barge skipper and they had lived on and chartered Asphodel for a number of years. Ian and Angela Houston bought Asphodel and Doug and Eileen moved onto Raybel as skipper and mate, together with their Alsatian and standard poodle. After a lick of tar and paint Raybel was back to work, now under Raybel Charters, set up by the Houston’s, and with orders now coming from Crescent Shipping. Over the next year Raybel was kept busy with freights including starch, wheat and haricot beans, the beans that become ‘baked beans’.

1969

Raybel, Woolwich

1962

  • In 1962 Raybel was fitted with a new engine – a more powerful and efficient, Gardner 6LW to replace the Kelvin 88. This is the engine that is still on board today.

    Into the 1960s the Raybel had still retained her main mast but no sprit or other spars. The main sail was cut down in size and could still be set when working down wind. These reduced sails became known as ‘leg o’ mutton’ because of their shape. Toward the end of the ‘60s even the main mast was removed and replaced with a small steel mast and derrick from which to show lights and provide a hoist for bargeboat, gangways etc.

    Still owned by GF Sully, Raybel continued to ply the cargo trade on into the early ‘70s when freight transport had become almost completely dominated by the diesel engine. The slow, nature- powered energy of sail transport was no longer seen as ‘efficient’ enough although this, of course, was ignoring the costs of pollution and environmental damage that comes hand-in-hand with oil burning.

    With the increase in size and number of diesel powered ships the remaining timber-built sailing barges were having an increasingly rough time. The Raybel was no exception and repairing the damage done to the bow planking and frames through those years has formed a significant part of the work that had to be undertaken in the current restoration.

1960’s

S.B.Gravelines and Raybel,
Ipswich Dock

1960’s

  • Repairs in the early 1960s led to Raybel’s bow rails being removed and replaced. The sections of the rails bearing the carved name scrolls were rescued by barge skipper Barry Pearce and stored in his shed in Maldon, Essex for nearly 60 years. Barry is a barge skipper of huge experience and has an extensive collection of photographs as well as a tremendous memory. He also ran Cook’s Yard in Maldon from 1959 to 1992 and skippered Raybel as a motor barge at various times in the 1960s. His nickname ‘Binns’ can still be seen carved into a beam in the after cabin.

    During the early days of the restoration project contact was made with both Barry and his friend David Patience – a barge shipwright of long standing. David retrieved the rail sections from the shed and tracings of the name scrolls were made. The originals have also been donated to the project. It is very fortunate that there are people like Barry Pearce who appreciate the value of preserving these kinds of things. Attention to such details is of course a vital part of any good restoration. A big thank you to him.

1959

  • This photograph shows Raybel next to the blocks at Cook’s Yard. Note the fors’l still in use and another sail rigged on a gaff to act as a mains’l. Despite the swift take-over of diesel power it was common for barge skippers to be inventive with jury-rigged sails. They would shorten passage times when working down wind and, especially if it meant catching a tide that would otherwise be lost, the time saving was significant. Also these sails could sometimes make life a little more comfortable in rough seas – the pressure of the wind in them helping to reduce the pitching and rolling.

1950’s

  • Taken in Rotherhithe, London by photographer Norman Parkinson. The model is Birgitte Thurman aka ‘Nena’ and mother of the actress Uma Thurman.

1956

Ipswich Docks

1953

  • On 28th January 1953 Raybel was run down by steamship Swift in the Thames off Greenhithe. Both skipper and mate survived and, through quick work, Raybel was towed into shallow water and saved. Raybel was repaired at St. Clements Yard, Ipswich where a new transom was fitted.

    Jim Lovegrove was mate with Albert Webb although not on board at the time. His account of the event was published in an article by the Thames Barge Sailing Club – see opposite.

1950’s

  • By the close of WWII many barges, like Raybel, had been fitted with an auxiliary diesel engine. Barge owners showed less interest in maintaining the sails and rigging of their craft and, as time moved on, spars and sails were removed rather than being repaired or replaced. By the end of the 1950s Raybel still carried her mains’l but top mast, mizzen and bow sprit were gone.

1949

  • In 1949, Jim Lovegrove, a talented artist studying at The Royal College of Art, made occasional passages on Raybel as trainee hand. Albert Webb was skipper and in 1951 Jim was taken on as mate. He kept journals and notes of the freights carried as well as making drawings and paintings. However, on 28th January 1953 Raybel was run down by steamship Swiftsure in the Thames off Greenhithe. Jim Lovegrove was on shore-leave through this frightening incident and, although skipper, mate and barge survived to sail again, some of the journals and artworks kept in the after cabin were ruined. Fortunately some detailed records of cargoes delivered in the early ‘50s were among the things saved.

    While Raybel was repaired at St. Clements Yard near the Ipswich docks, Jim went on to new adventures and a few years later was sailing with the now legendary explorer Major H.W.Tilman. In 1957 he had answered an advert in the Times which read ‘Hands wanted for long voyage in small boat: no pay, no prospects, not much pleasure’. He joined the crew of “Mischief”, a 40ft Bristol Channel Cutter built in 1908.

    His colourful life showed him to be a man of many talents – soldier, sailor, archives researcher, artist and key figure in the success of the Mary Rose Trust. Major Norman Hearson, Vice Chariman of The Mary Rose Trust, said of him “Jim’s part in the on-going success story of the Mary Rose was a major one indeed and his friends from the trust feel such a significant and freely given contribution should take its place alongside the abundance of talent which comprised the full life of this very special character.”

1940’s

S.B. Raybel, Lady Jean & Tollesbury

1939

  • This is the replacement for the original Certificate of British Registry – issued in 1939 when Raybel was first engined with a Kelvin 88 and commandeered by the Admiralty for work on the Clyde. The call sign has been pasted top right – Mike, Whisky, Zulu, Quebec.

1920’s

  • A vital early photograph as it shows so much original detail – mizzen rigging, after skylight, cabin scuttle, scroll-work, quarter badges etc.

1920’s

  • With thanks to Ian and Tony Jacobs, grandsons of Harry Lucas, for the following account of those times:

    Harry’s son Alfred was a mate on the Raybel before joining the Royal Navy in 1940. We do not know the exact dates when Harry Lucas was captain, but since Alfred sailed with him he must have been captain at least until the late 30s, by which time he would have been in his early 60s. We also don’t know why Harry Lucas moved from the Orford area nor how he became a seaman. His grandfather Bennett had been a mariner, so there was sailing in the family, and there was an active port at Orford where he spent his childhood. His “Rank or Profession” was recorded as “seaman” on his marriage certificate of 9 May 1905. Our mother’s birth certificate of 16 May 1919 records Harry’s occupation as “Mariner (Merchant Service)” and eventually he became the captain of a sailing barge, the Raybel. Our mother and our brother David saw the Raybel moored at Pin Mill in the mid-1970s.

    Our mother recalls visiting the offices of Sully & Co. with her father and her sister Dorothy in their offices in Mark Lane in East London. According to our mother, Harry was captain of the Raybel ever since she could remember. He would have been 41 years old when the Raybel was built, so perhaps he was her first captain. He must have sailed in other vessels for quite a number of years before taking command of the Raybel but we know nothing about those years. When he retired from barge work he worked in Cranfield’s flour mill in Ipswich. When our mother was a child Harry would take her and her sister Dorothy along with him on voyages. He sailed from Ipswich to London and Yarmouth. At Yarmouth he would moor by a timber yard where our mother and Dorothy played with local children. The two sisters would sometimes stay with the family of a Mr. Durrant who operated the bridge at Yarmouth. Harry’s cargos included cattle cake, tiger nuts and “lucapip”. When the barge sailed empty the girls could play in the hold. One of their duties was to wash the deck with water brought up in buckets from the river or the sea. The Raybel did not have a wheelhouse – the wheel was exposed to the elements – but it did have a comfortable captain’s cabin, with a glass roof for light, a water storage tank, a small cabin with a single bed (where our mother and Dorothy slept), another cabin with a double bed, and a dining area with a table and two bench seats. The galley was at the other end of the barge where the mate had a small cabin. The children did not go there because it was reached by steep steps. Although Alice and Dorothy (and on occasion their mother) sailed with their father, none of them could swim.

    Harry must have been reasonably prosperous. He owned Mill House in Knodishall, but Ellen refused to live in the countryside because the only work available to her daughters would have been domestic service. Harry’s sister Alice and her husband Charles (“Charlie”) Thorpe lived in the house where they ran a village shop selling sweets and vegetables. Alice and Charlie married in the December quarter of 1894. Charlie was born in Wattisham around 1864 and was a foundry labourer. They had two sons, Clifford (aged 8 months in the 1901 census) and George (aged 5 in 1901). Their house in Knodishall still stands. Harry later also bought a house in Alan Road, paying cash. Harry was a member of St Luke’s Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, No. 225. The Lodge met at the Ipswich Lodge, 8-10 Soane Street. According to information supplied by Peter Gotts, Secretary of the Lodge, Harry was initiated into the Lodge on 14 February 1923. He was 43 years old at the time and a Master Mariner by trade and lived at 37 Alan Road. He was passed to the 2nd Degree on 14 March 1923 and raised to the 3rd Degree on 10 October 1923. He never held any rank in the Lodge and resigned on 1 April 1952. Once a year he would dress formally for a dinner at the Lodge and Alice would help him with his tie. He also belonged to a workingmen’s club and would take Alice and Dorothy there on occasion. They learned to play darts there. On Saturdays the club showed films and on Sundays concerts of religious music were held. Harry Lucas was a musical man: when he died he left behind an accordion and our mother recalls him singing to her this sentimental song:

    If those lips could only speak
    And those eyes could only see
    If those beautiful golden tresses
    Were there in reality
    Could I only take your hand
    As I did when you took my name
    But it’s only a beautiful picture
    In a beautiful golden frame.

1920’s

  • Raybel in Ferry Dock, Woodbridge, early 1920s. Discharging Barley in sacks which would be taken by horse and cart to Crown Maltings.

1920’s

  • Raybel on the Wills & Packham yard. This is the earliest known photograph showing all gear set. It might be her first return to the yard to have any necessary adjustments made to the new sails as they can be seen here to be dressed.

    This was the main reference photograph used by Matthew Houston to obtain dimensions, and other details, for restoration of the original rigging plan. The mainmast was made to this height, but in steel, and the topmast made a few feet more lofty. The photograph also shows the detail of the mizzen – a sprit rig but forward of the wheel – not very common on Thames sailing barges.

1920’s

  • Thames Sailing Barge Raybel was launched on 17th August 1920 at the Wills & Packham yard, Milton Creek.

    Commissioned by barge owners G.F. Sully, the name Raybel derived from Raymond and Isabel – born the same year to the Sully family. Raybel was used by the family for summer holidays during the 1920s and 30s and is known to have been the pride of the fleet.

    This series of photographs shows the launch of Olive May and then Raybel – on the same day. Olive May was the largest wooden barge built and was launched with engine beds in place and fully ready to be motorised. Launch days were important and exciting events for the local community where sailing barges and brick making were central to so lives of so many families.

1918

  • The plaque pictured above reads “Presented to Henry Packham Esq. By the members of staff of Wills & Packham (Brick Manufacturers & Shipbuilders) to congratulate him upon his having attained the age of 80 years and also to commemorate the 58th year of the foundation of the firm of which he is one of the founders and senior director.

    This testimonial places on record our appreciation of the kindly interest and sympathy shewn to the staff during the many years of his long and honourable career.

    December 1918″

    The names of those appearing as a group are included below the text, with Henry Harvey, foreman shipwright, seated in the middle of the group. The individual portraits are of (from left to right) Earnest Packham, his father Henry, Daniel Wills and his son Jabez Wills. The other photographs are of the Crown Quay brickfields, their sailing barge Unique – built with all iron frames, a Royal Navy motor pinnace and a 40 foot Coastal Motor Torpedo Boat – forerunner to the MTBs.