S.B.Thistle
- Medway Barge Match, 21.5.1994. |
History Eighty-six feet long and twenty feet wide, she could carry a cargo approaching 200 tons. Without an engine through two world wars she traded all round the coast of the United Kingdom, carrying general cargo to and from the then great Port of London. A 66 hp engine was installed in 1946 and some years later she was de-rigged and turned into a pure motor barge, until she was sold out of trade in 1972. The next 15 years she spent as a house barge on the River Medway and in Battersea. In 1987 her most recent refit was begun at Greenwich. Her first charter was in the summer of 1988. Most vessels the age of
Thistle have long been scrapped or built into museums as part of our
maritime heritage. |
