A VANISHING CALLING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4234, 22 January 1940, Page 3

A VANISHING CALLING

THE SAIL SEAMEN OF LONDON RIVER.

(By F. C. BoWen in P.L.A. Monthly.) With the trading' schooners and the fishing smacks which were formerly so numerous now reduced almost to the disappearing point, or fitted with engines, it is difficult to find a real sail seaman in British waters, except in the picturesque red-sailed barges which, although greatly reduced in numbers, are still sufficiently numerous to delight the eye in the Thames and Medway and along a considerable stretch of the East Coast. In their way the bargemen are as picturesque as their Craft and are a magnificent breed whose gradual extinction is a great loss to the country.

There is no doubt that their days are numerous and that the sailing barge must inevitably give way before the übiquitous motor. Even long after the barge was popularly condemned to extinction there was still a steady stream of youngsters anxious to serve in them, but this stream has now almost dried up and in spite of the decreased number of barges there is often a difficulty in getting hands ■for them. The shortage is not so serious in Essex as it is on the Kentish side, perhaps because the men there have better chances of sailing as yacht hands in the summer, but it is in evidence everywhere. There has always been the temptation of better berths in the motor coasters when a young barge hand has learnt his job, but nowadays the majority want to go into power direct and it is comparatively few who take up barge service with the idea of staying in it until they are fully qualified and then doubling their money by going as lightermen.

The sailing barge with her small crew demands a tremendously high standard of efficiency. Scores of yachtmen who enjoy the races for the championships of the Thames and Medway are apt to think that these have a special standard. It is true that the racing barges have picked crews, often composed entirely of skippers, but the general level is so high that the job of picking them is not by any means easy. A barge hand has to be particularly nippy about the deck, far more so than in any big ship, on account of the constant tacking which is necessary in confined waters, while neither the design nor the size of the barge permits the gear being collected in handy positions. Only in the fact that he is seldom called upon to go aloft, all the normal work being done from the deck, does the barge hand have any easier job than the man in a squarerigger. His smartness at the helm has to be equal to that of a yacht skipper, for the task of working a barge up the crowded Thames, especially on a Saturday when the rush of traffic is greatest, is equal to that of working a yacht to her moorings through a crowded anchorage, or handling her in a keen race.

The only possible standard of such seamanship is by performance, and no class is as keenly critical as the bargeman. On the other hand it is difficult to find any who are more generous with their praise for real ability, and although they can offer infinite amusement by sharp Cockney wit, or by the slower Essex expressions which are just as telling, there is never the slightest jealousy for a man who has contrived to improve his position if it has been done by ability. The senior skippers of the different barge-owning firms they really deserve the rank of commodore have remarkable influence in the barge world, although it is not so many years ago that the majority of them were quite illiterate. It is not so much in the open sailing exhibited in the barge races that these skippers made their reputations among their fellows, although, of course, that counted for a lot, but in their knowledge of the tides and how to take the greatest advantage of them in making a fast run, which is particularly important to a barge skipper and his mate on account of the systems of payment. Their knowledge of the intricate tides of the Thames and its estuary is astounding and can only be obtained by long experience. There are many parts where there is a constant ebb or flow irrespective of the tide, and to get full advantage of these the skipper has to work in feet rather than yards. Along the edges of the sandbanks in the estuary there are innumerable irregularities of current to be learned, while hours may be cut off a coastal passage by an intimate knowledge of the water over the sandbanks; if it is not quite intimate enough it may mean broken leeboards or trouble with the anchor. The number of accidents through skippers cutting it too fine is really surprisingly small when the number of risks which they seem to take is considered.

Very few who had not been brought up to the business since boyhood were ever appointed skippers to barges. A few came into the business irr>m schooners and billy-boys, but they very seldom lasted long, for although they were good at making passages along the coast, often extremely good, they were no use in the “fiddling ’ work of the river and lost all tno 1-xme that they had made outside. There was too much in a barge skipper’s job to learn at an age when the man’s Ways were set; yet quite a number of the sinartest and best khoWn got their

commands before they were twenty years of age, sometimes as young as eighteen.

This is the more extraordinary when bile considers that, until recently, the skipper not only sailed his barge but found her work, spending hours sitting in a broker’s office, or in bne of the riverside taverns which was the acknowledged rendezvous for such business. It is to be feared that one or two particularly keen brokers took good care to have on their staff at least one specially hard drinker who could keep his head through a long and alcoholic discussion and finally see the skipper into such a condition that he would accept the poorest freights on the poorest terms. That was why so many of the more ambitious young skippers were teetotallers; With some of the older ones the brokers had a job to find men with sufficient qualification. The position of mate differed with the class of barge; in river barges, including the old stumpies, he was the only other hand. Although he had just left school he had generally been knocking about in barges a good deal as a boy with father, uncle or elder brother, and had practical knowledge of their handling, although, naturally, he had not the weight to do useful work. Included in the position of mate was the job of cook—provided the skipper ‘would let him undertake it; but many skippers had such a care for their creature comfort that they would not. The granting of mate’s rank to a first voyager may seem to be illogical, but it has to be remembered that the dignity and discipline of the bargemen are very real affairs, and it was no slight to the captain’s dignity to have a mate sharing the after cabin with him, although in seagoing barges, in which a boy was carried and the mate had some experience, the two hands always messed together forward and the skipper lived in solitary state aft. The boy is carried as a third hand in sea-going barges only and is technically the cook. He will stay in that capacity, if he can stand the life, until his skipper will recommend him to a brother captain as being capable of acting as mate. The traditional test is whether he has enough weight and strength to set the topsail, but his general ability is naturally a major consideration before he is recommended.

The only additional rank in a Thames or Medway barge is the huffier, whose name may or may not be connected with the hoveller of other waters. He was originally the freelance waterman, often formerly a barge captain, who waited in his boat at Rochester Bridge on the Medway or Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale and boarded the barges to assist in lowering and raising the mast and gear. It demanded very great skill and judgment to get them through and away on the other side without having to anchor and without leaving the topmast on the bridge, and these hufflers were so smart that they would often contrive to help six barges a tide. On the London River they boarded to help the crew with what was known as the “bridge sail,” but barges going above bridges now generally do so in tow. At first sight the accommodation of a sailing barge appears to be very small and cramped, but it is always cosy and in most of the bigger coastal types it is quite large. Some firms, notably Messrs Everard, of Greenhithe, have paid particular attention to this for many years and the cabins in their bigger barges are a revelation to most people. In practically every case care has been taken to balance the size of the forecastle and the cabin in order to maintain the trim of the barge with a full hold- The cooking range is always placed in the forecastle, which in the river barges only contains gear, racks being fitted for the sails and ropes, as the mate messes aft with the skipper. In the coasting classes it is used for its proper function and the gear is carried in a special locker abaft the bulkhead. The hands of a barge always victual themselves. The skipper carries his purchases on board in the traditional “white bag.” In the early days this was no doubt a bread bag such as was in general use, but nowadays it is. almost invariably a pillowcase looted from the household stores. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that barge hands usually feed very well indeed, although there is a big variation Tn the standard of cooking.

The rather peculiar but traditional system of payment makes it necessary for the crew to feed themselves, for they are not on regular wages. Instead of that the skipper draws half the freight received, less running expenses, but nothing towards the maintenance of the ship or her supplies. Those are all the owner’s business, right down to the oil in the side lights. Of his half the skipper keeps two-thirds for himself and pays his mate one-third on the river, but for coasting or sea voyages, when the crew consists of three, he pays his mate and boy by the month. In addition the merchants pay the master a guinea for every river or coasting cargo and two guineas for every one that goes overseas.

Even though the captain and crew draw nothing while the ship is standing by idle, it is obvious that when tithes are good and freights are high they can earn very considerable sums.