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Blue Mermaid

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Blue Mermaid after 2019 rebuild
General characteristics
TypeThames barge
Length87.84 feet (26.77 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planSpritsail with bowsprit

Blue Mermaid is a replica steel-hulled Thames sailing barge constructed between 2015 and 2019. She was built specifically to operate under sail and does not carry an engine. She is a replica of an older vessel of the same name, built in 1930 but sunk by enemy action during the Second World War.

Blue Mermaid (2015)

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Blue Mermaid was built to carry cargo, and in 2023 she received permission from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to carry cargoes of up to 110 tonnes, on the Thames and along the North Sea coast between Lowestoft and Sandwich. In 1900 there were around 4,000 such barges, each with a crew of two and using just the wind and the tide, but she is the first sailing barge built for trade in Britain since 1930 and the first since the 1970s to be authorised as a commercial cargo carrier.[1]

Blue Mermaid is 87 feet (27 m) long and has a hold that can carry 84 pallettes or 150 short tons (140 t) of loose cargo. She has a couple of cabins aft for skipper and mate and bunks forward for five or six more crew. The hold can also be used for accommodation when it is empty.[2][3]

Blue Mermaid was built at Toms shipyard in Polruan, near Fowey in Cornwall, and launched from there as a bare hull on 28 May 2016. The vessel was towed around the coast to Maldon where she was fitted out at the Downs Road Boatyard.[2][3][4] She will operate out of the Heybridge Basin.

Blue Mermaid belongs to the Maldon-based charity Sea Change Sailing Trust who have many years of experience taking all kinds of people sailing. Richard Titchener with his partner Hilary Halajko, runs both the barge and Sea Change Sailing Trust. They are also involved in training young people for a hands-on career in Maritime Heritage, supplying crew with heritage sail experience, essential for looking after and sailing the aging fleet of Britain's historic vessels.[citation needed]

Reminder (sister ship) from Gillingham Pier
History
United Kingdom
NameBlue Mermaid(1930–1942)
OwnerF W Horlock, Mistley
BuilderMistley Shipping Company [5]
Launched1930
FateDestroyed through enemy action
General characteristics
TypeThames barge
Tonnage108 GRT
Length87.84 feet (26.77 m)
Beam19.38 feet (5.91 m)
Draught6.49 feet (1.98 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planSpritsail with bowsprit

Blue Mermaid (1930)

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Blue Mermaid was one of seven Thames barges built between 1925 and 1930 for F W Horlock, Mistley.

In 1924 the Horlocks commissioned seven new steel Thames barges, of which Blue Mermaid was the sixth. Six of these 'seven sisters' are still afloat: Blue Mermaid was lost to a mine in World War II.[6] They were built at Mistley.

The Horlocks steel barges - the seven sisters
Name Active Built Tons Official no. Current owner
Repertor Yes 1924 69 145404 David Pollock
Portlight No 1925 68 145405 Landbreach Ltd
Xylonite Yes 1926 68 145408 Tim Kent
Reminder Yes 1929 79 161033 Topsail Charters Ltd
Adieu Yes 1929 79 161035 Iolo Brooks
Blue Mermaid No 1930 79 161038 (destroyed)
Resourceful No 1930 77 161039 I & R Stubbs
Ref[7] As of 2016

References

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  1. ^ "Sailing ship authorised for cargo deliveries in the Thames". ianVisits. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b Houston, Dan. "A new Thames Sailing Barge". Classic Sailor. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Thames Barge - C Toms & Son Ltd". C Toms & Son Ltd. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  4. ^ "C Toms & Son". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Specifications - XYLONITE". XYLONITE. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  6. ^ Benham 1986, p. 99.
  7. ^ Kent, Tim. "Xylonite and her sisters - XYLONITE". XYLONITE. Retrieved 22 March 2018. Ref:

Bibliography

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  • Benham, Hervey; Kershaw, Philip; Finch, Roger (1986). Down tops'l : the story of the East Coast sailing-barges (3rd ed.). London: Harrap. ISBN 0-245-54487-9.
  • Carr, Frank (1951). Sailing Barges (Revised ed.). Peter Davies Ltd.
  • March, Edgar (1948). "Spritsail barges of Thames and Medway". London: Percival Marshal.