Ship profile for the sailing ship: "Pudge"

Technical data of the sailing ship:

Name:Pudge
Registered port:Maldon, Essex
Nation:GBR
Type of rigging:BARGE
Type of ship:Thames Sailing Barge
Year built:1922
Yard:London & Rochester Trading Company, Strood, GBR
Overall length:25.12 m
Breadth:6.04 m
Draught:2.07 m

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 01 Mar 2008

  • built 1922 by London & Rochester Trading Company, Strood with a hull construction of pitch pine on oak, fitted with an engine (3 cyl. Bargus Co.) in 1935.
  • carried cargo until World War II.
  • requisitioned in May 1940 whilst in Tilbury, drafted to Dover and then to Dunkirk to aid the evacuation, then used on the river Clyde acting as a lighter and transport for military stores and as a mail boat for the Cunard liners QUEEN MARY & QUEEN ELIZABETH which were working as transatlantic troop ships.
  • after the war used as barge again.
  • 1968 bought as a twin hatched motor barge by the Thames Sailing Barge Trust, rerigged to her original design.
  • based at Maldon she runs charter trips over the Thames estuary and the rivers of Essex, Suffolk and Kent.
  • since 1997 subject to major rebuilding work, raising funds for her continuing restoration is the TrustÂ’s current priority.

Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Paul Brown
"Historic Sail. Britain's Surviving Working Craft"
The History Press 2013 ISBN: 978-0-7524-8581-2
(in Association with National Historic Ships UK)
Page: 121 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data