Charles
Darwin would have been proud of the Thames Sailing
Barge. The Thames barge has gradually evolved from
the Middle Ages up to the present day and is even
continuing to evolve now, albeit slowly. The Middle
Ages forerunner of the Thames Barge was a medium-sized
seagoing vessel rigged with a single mast and one
large square sail. She was no great sailer but was
a useful cargo carrier. The evolution of this vessel
from the Middle Ages until the end of the eighteenth
century was slow and certainly not dramatic. Time
was of no consequence to people in these early days
and crews were cheap, thus there was no incentive
to improve the speed or reduce the crews of these
vessels. The greatest and most significant developments
in the history of these fascinating and unique vessels
have taken place during the last 130 years. The
major contributing factor in this more recent and
rapid development was. Paradoxically, the coming
of the Age of Steam! This Age of Steam, whilst sounding
the death knell of all other sailing cargo carriers,
in fact ushered in the Golden Years for the Thames
Sailing Barge.
In
1863 the fertile mind of a Mr Henry Dodd thought
up the idea which has done more to speed the development
of the Thames Barge to its present high state of
evolution than anything else. In that year Mr Dodd,
known as the Golden Dustman in recognition of the
business which made his fortune, founded the Annual
Sailing Barge Match.
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This
encouraged the building of ever faster and more
effective vessels and a fast sailing cargo ship
with a minimal crew and no fuel costs became more
that a match for the Age of Steam. This single event
was the catalyst which enabled Thames Barges to
trade successfully under sail alone right up to
the mid 1970's. Thus it is that the Barge Matches
were, and still are, a very important part of the
life of the Thames Sailing Barges.
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