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Sailing
Barge Venta (Stack barge or "stackie") 70 tons, Reg. No. 86486 Originally built as the "JACHIN" in 1893 by Howard at Maldon, Essex. The Jachin was damaged when blown ashore onto a groyne near Newhaven. She was bought by Shrubsalls, rebuilt and was renamed "VENTA". She was sold out of trade to become a house-boat, and survived into the 1980's before being hulked on the Medway, and finally burnt in 1995. |
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model was built by Mick Martin and won a silver medal at the International
Model Engineering Exhibition in 1989. It is scratch built from drawings,
plank on frame construction with single channel radio control on the rudder.
The stack is made from a Greengrocer's display mat. At the turn of the century, before the widespread use of the internal combustion engine and the motor car, London saw the bustle of a variety of horse-drawn vehicles. The power source of this means of transport was hay for the horses, and large quantities had to be brought into the capital. The most convenient way of doing this at the time was the Thames sailing barge. Often built with a broad beam, and wide decks, craft carrying out this trade would want to load as much ahy as possible as being a light load, payment for freight by weight meant that it was best to load as much hay as possible, and this could be achieved by loading it on top of the decks as well as below. The mainsail needed to be reefed in order to clear the top of the stack, and it may have been necessary to clear a gap in the celtre of the stack if the load was required above any of the London bridges, so the mast and gear could be lowered. The skipper at the wheel would have been unable to see where the barge was heading, so it was then up to the mate to stand on top of the stack (or on a ladder as on this model) and tell him how to steer the barge. The Thames barge with its shallow draught and flat bottom could go up the narrow East coast creeks and rivers at high water, as far as possible, and thereby reach the edge of many of the farms growing hay by the water side. When the tide receeded, they could then happily sit on a flat bottom whilst the hay was loaded, in time for the next high tide to take them away with the load. Once the load of hay was unlaoded in London, a return freight would normally have been sought to make he most economic use of the barge. What better load than the by-product of the hay - horse manure? A load of this could be taken back to be spread on the fields to fertilise the next crop. This is, of course, a good example of how things could be recycled even so many years ago. |
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