Attraction

We were entertained on our recent visit to Topsham by a Thames barge being restored in one of the docks - Topsham having been a quite serious boat building town until fairly recently.

We were told that this particular barge had been motored around from Essex under its own steam, although to judge by the frames now visible, hard to see how the thing was coast worthy never mind sea worthy. Also told that the barge cost the present owner around £8,000, caveat emptor naturally.

Barge now firmly aground on the Topsham mud. Rudder, main mast and top mast all present. Top mast lowered. Mizzen mast absent. Lee board absent, although the reinforced mounting hole on the starboard side was visible. From which we deduce that the steerboard and leeboard were mounted on the same side in the case that a boat had both. But why is it called a leeboard? I have always thought that a barge had just one but did it have two, lowering the one on the lee side and raising that on the weather side - which would have made tacking a bit of a palaver, but something that you would have to do when navigating in a river. Rigging mostly absent. Deck and cargo hatch present, although somewhat stressed.

Hull present, although also somewhat stressed.  A good part of the starboard planking had been stripped and the exposed frames, some of which were in poor condition, were being reinforced or replaced. Some of the planking had been replaced. Replacement from timber taken from the oak trees which had been delivered to the dockside, sawn up in-situ and stacked in the old way. Our informant alleged that locals declined to bid against the barge when the trees were auctioned once they knew about the barge, deemed to be a good cause. Don't know whether the trees were auctioned upright or horizontal, but I rather like the idea of the auctioneer tramping about damp fields followed by a motley crew of tree dealers, auctioning off the standing trees.

Presumably the plan is to get the barge back into sailing trim and then to take people for rides on it. But I imagine it will remain an expensive hobby even with rides. £100,000 to get the thing into trim? Then 10% a year to keep it in trim? About the same price as a small roller.

Our plan is to try to remember to visit the thing from time to time to see how it gets on.

And if you want to know more, the barge has an extensive web presence, although not, as far as I could see, its own web site. Maybe the owner ought to get the nipper onto the case.

PS 1: the DT clearly agrees about the importance of this attraction to the wealth and health of Topsham, giving it a mention on a recent property page. Or perhaps a holiday destination page.

PS 2: picture taken from Wikipedia on lee boards. The right sort of barge if not the barge in question.