Issue 45 Summer 2023
IPSWICH MARITIME Matters
The Newsletter for members and friends of Ipswich Maritime Trust
Issue 45 Summer 2023 www.ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
Shefarers sail into Ipswich
Highlighting untold stories of women working at sea, page 7
Window Museum
Barges to the fore page 3
Meet the members
Introducing our new Chairman page 4
IMT Window Museum 24th Display
showing how barges were original built, and the timber used in their construction.
Large photographs from different eras show local scenes of barges under trade, and the bargemen who sailed them, together with images in more recent years of the annual Barge Matches.
On the right-hand window reveal there is a selection of model transoms (sterns)
For the latest exhibition, the Window Wizards team present a celebration of the Thames Sailing Barge. Today just a very few of these wonderful craft remain under sail, and even fewer in their original engine-less state. We are fortunate in Ipswich to have locally built Sailing Barge
Victor still under sail throughout the summer offering anyone the chance to enjoy a unique sailing experience. It is vital to ensure that these historic craft, and others like them can continue to berth safely at the Common Quay.
The exhibition contains a number of fine models of barges, often hand-crafted by the bargemen who originally traded on them. In the front of the window is the name-board from the locally owned
barge Pride of Ipswich, built in 1864 and skippered by George Wright (b.1853 at Chelmondiston) who unfortunately died in a drowning accident on the River Orwell in 1916.
Also on display is a model section showing that there was indeed an element of artistry in the construction of these robust work-horses of the East Coast.
Heritage Open Days (HOD)
Every September, thousands of places nationwide are open to the public in a celebration of our history and culture. In Ipswich, activity is concentrated on the week-end of 9th and 10th September, and is co-ordinated by the Ipswich Society. Ipswich Maritime Trust will be in St Clements (‘the sailors’ church’), with an exhibition on Ipswich’s maritime heritage since the seventh century.
Members will be on hand both days to chat about maritime matters.
Our 24-hour Window Museum on Albion Quay has a wonderful display on barges, curated by our Window Wizards; and we will also be on Cornhill to answer any questions, sharing a gazebo courtesy of the Ipswich Society.
Come along and say hello!
For more information see https://www. heritageopendays.org. uk/visiting/event/ ipswich-maritime-trust-window-museum
Contents
Heritage: celebrating Thames Barges, and Heritage Open Days page 3 News pages 4-7
A New Prospectus page 5
We Fought Them in Gunboats page 6
Meet the Members: Ben Good, IMT chairman pages 8-9
My life in boats: Irene Jarrett pages 10-11 IMT Talks for 2023 page 12
New life for old mast: update from HMS Ganges page 13
Talkback: reports by Geoffrey Dyball pages 14-15 Then ... and Now page 16
Women on Board page 16
From the Archives: selected by Stuart Grimwade page 17 Farewell to Alan Swann and Bob Malster pages 18-19 Book review by Peter Hesketh page 20
A colour palette for IMT page 21
IMT updates page 23 Diary dates page 24
A warm welcome to new members:
John and Linda Davey
Anthony Finbow and Jan Stephens Ian Montgomery
Andrew Robson and Katherine Norris Andy Smerdon
Jenny Taylor Julie Taylor Charles Trail
Thank you to new and existing members for your continuing support of the IMT.
Celia Waters, Membership Secretary
IMT Committee members
Chairman: Ben Good info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk Treasurer: Adam Rae treasurer@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk Membership Secretary: Celia Waters
membership@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk Minutes Secretary: Frances McGready
Newsletter Editor and Events Co-ordinator: Cathy Shelbourne editor@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk; events@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
Social media co-ordinators: Angela and Jon Cobbold info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
Volunteer co-ordinator: Helen Persighetti info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
Barge trips: John Warren info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
www.ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Cover photo by Caz Slota of Secret Agency artists invited by SPILL Festival for the Shefarers of Ipswich project, supported by Ipswich Maritime Trust
From the Editor
Oh that Summer is here. The East of England with its wide open skies, low rainfall, and coastal breezes is one of the best places to live.
There's a fair wind lowing through the Ipsiwch Maritime Trust too. We we working on lots of new initiatives ourselves (see page 5), responding to what's going on locally (page 4), and flying the flag at maritime and heritage events this Summer and Autumn (starting with the Old Gaffers Association's 60th anniversary in early August).
We are also setting up the ambitious programme of our own talks and events, culminating in a Shipwreck Season next Spring.
What does it feel like to dive a wreck? Find out in our talk next March when we will be joined by one of the divers who found the Gloucster off Great Yarmouth. (More details on page 12).
If you'd like to help promote IMP and maritime heritage, take a look at our website www.ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk, follow us on social media or contact us at info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk.
The newsletter will continue to be published twice-yearly, in the Winter and in the Summer.
Feedback and contributions are alwasy welcome: please email editor@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk.
Cathy Shelbourne
News
ABP’s proposed reorganisation of the Wet Dock - an update
Subsequent to ABP’s purchase of Neptune Marina, ABP has proposed a controversial reorganisation of the pontoons in the Wet Dock. A consultation meeting was held about this, primarily for Neptune customers, on 5th July. The proposal is, in effect, to move all of the Neptune berths to the other side of the Wet Dock. This means there will be no boats on the Neptune side, and access and services for all boats will be from teh Island side. The proposal requires planning permission, which ABP has not yet applied for. IMT's main concerns about this are:
Maritime heritage depends on Ipsiwch's residents and visitors feeling closer to nautical matters. That's not helped if all the boarts are moved to a more remote location, and the vitality of the waterfront is damaged.
The plans could make it too hard for large tradiitional boats to tie up the Common Quay by the Old Customs House, because they do not allow sufficient swing space, not only for SB Victor but also for any other visiting vessels.
The plans include a very tight bend where the new channel turns from a northerly heading to westerly, as it hugs the dock wall by the University of Suffolk building. This could also be a deterrent to potentially visiting skippers. IMT has been working in private to press for these concerns to be addressed We have had meetings with ABP senior management and have wirtten to them formally. We are also in contact with relevant Ipswich councillors and the planning department. We are hopeful that some level of compromise can be reached with ABP, but it is early days, and we will need to stay on top of it.
Princess Anne commissions Shrimper
During a visit to Ipswich on 28th March 2023, Princess Anne, as Centenary Patron of the Excelsior Trust, commissioned Horace & Hannah, a 1906 Yarmouth Shrimper restored by the Trust. She is seen here outside the Old Custom House, with Jamie Campbell, chair of Lowestoft-based Excelsior Trust. ABP regional director Andrew Harston acknowledged that Princess Anne's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, officially opened Ipswich Waterfront just over 20 years ago on 17th July 2002.
A New Prospectus, a new way forward
Our new prospectus outlines our ambitions and proposed activities for the coming years.
It has three parts:
Youth: We want to become the leading force for creating maritime opportunities for kids in the Ipswich area, to enrich their lives today, and to create the next cohort of enthusiasts for tomorrow.
Heritage: We plan to build on IMT's long history of heritage activities, spanning artefacts, documents, images, boats and the built environment.
Events: We want combine appealing to interested enthusiasts with getting the message to a wider public.
The psospectus is a blueprint for scaling up our impact, and establishing IMT as an organisation doing worthwhile things for the wider public good. It will be available for downloading from our website soon. We hope you want to be part of it.
Youth
Schools Programme
Teaching aids
Talks in schools
Victor school trips
Beginning sailing/rowing/paddling
The Young Adults Programme
Vocational bursaries
Lifechanging adventures
Grants for top flight competitions
Heritage
Waterfront Development
Gain Heritage Harbour status
Harbour status
Input to development plans
Floating Heritage
Attracting heritage boats
SB Victor a flagship for our maritime heritage
Support independent owners of old/interesting boats
Museum, displays, exhibitions
Enhance Window Museum
Pursue other display opportuntiies, work with the refurbished Ipswich Museum
Longer term: a place of our own
Collections, Archives and Research
Develop image archive, increase its accessibility
Contributions from local residents
Collaborate with others
Events
Eternal events
Explore a significant Maritime Festival, possibly 2025
Contribute to other local events
Talks and discussions
Specific themes, new maritime developments, aiming for more non-members
Specific interest workshops
Outings
Trips on Victor for specific heritage events and to new venues
Children's activity days
Children come aboard Victor, for an hour or two of maritime activities
Hush! Most Secret!
Did you know that a tarmac car park, sitting ignominiously between the
containers stacked at the Port of Felixstowe and the sixteenth century Landguard Fort, was once the site of HMS Beehive?
If you’ve never heard of HMS Beehive, take steps to remedy this omission now! Equip yourself with a copy of We Fought Them in Gunboats (WFTIG), the fully de-censored, HMS Beehive edition, and get over to Felixstowe Museum, housed in a former mine-assembly building next to the Fort and now home to the Beehive archives.
HMS Beehive was a Coastal Forces base during World War II, and it was from there, on the night of 12-13th April 1943, that its Senior Officer, Lieutenant-Commander Robert Peverell Hichens (‘Hitch’), was leading a unit of four motor gunboats (MGBs).
What happened next is part of the incredible story deciphered by author Julia Jones, and published at the Felixstowe Book Festival 2023.
Hitch was writing WFTIG when he was (spoiler alert) killed in action. He had been determined to record “as true a picture as possible of the life of a gunboat officer.” But the treatment of his manuscript, and the censored and edited editions that were subsequently published, despite the actions of the Admiralty, is the stuff of spy novels – and Julia has published a lively blog detailing her discoveries, at https://authorselectric.blogspot. com/2023/06/as-true-picture-as-possible.html
The HMS Beehive edition, 2023, includes everything from Hitch’s original manuscript, including passages that Julia admits makes her wince today. She says: ”WFTIG is special because it was written with commitment and passion by a man who didn’t expect to survive the war and didn’t. It’s written in the midst of action, untouched by personal afterthoughts, reputation management or the public expectations of heroism.”
We Fought Them in Gunboats (HMS Beehive edition) is available from Golden Duck Publishing for £12.99 https:// golden-duck.co.uk/shop/we-fought-them-in-gunboats-hms-beehive-edition
Guests at an event at Felixstowe Museum to commemorate Robert Hichens (held on the 80th anniversary of his death on 13th April 1943) included from left to right: Julia Jones, Golden Duck publisher of the HMS Beehive edition of We Fought Them in Gunboats, with the original manuscript; Kate Trelawny and Dimity Gosling, daughters of Ian Trelawny, Staff Officer Operations (SOO) at HMS Beehive when Robert Hichens was killed; and Michael Gotelee, whose father Allan [also an Ipswich solicitor] was one of the earliest RNVSR volunteers (joining in March 1937). Michael is holding a painting of his father’s gunboat MGB 65 (Hichens commanded MGB 64).
Women of the Seven Seas
Ipswich-based SPILL Festival have invited German artist collective Secret Agency to collaborate with local women and girls who work at sea, sharing their experiences of the maritime industries.
“It is wonderful to connect the Women of the Seven Seas project with our local maritime communities as part of SPILL Festival this year,” said Robin Deacon, Artistic Director of SPILL Festival. “The Shefarers of Ipswich will highlight untold stories of women working at sea, in a region with an incredibly rich maritime heritage. We are delighted The National Lottery Heritage Fund and many others have helped bring this project to life.”
The artists will be on board SB Victor (renamed Sailing Barge Victoria for the project!) at the Waterfront from 17th-20th October, and will be recording stories from shefarers, taking photographic portraits, and sharing their research in a public event.
Ipswich Maritime Trust is supporting this project in a bid to reach a wider audience and be involved in a
very different maritime heritage initiative; we will be assisting SPILL with the design of their project evaluation so we can learn more about the careers and experiences of women working in the maritime.
Girls and young women who might be interested in a maritime career and may not ordinarily have access to the water are also invited to join the shefarers for a special cruise on SB Victoria alongside a group of shefarers who are actively working with and on our local waters.
At the end of the weekend, shefarers will hand over a record of the stories and photos to the Suffolk Archives collection at The Hold. Some of this material will also be published in a commemorative tide calendar.
IMT is on the lookout for extraordinary stories of local shefarers – and we start with 90 year old Irene Jarrett, who possibly spent more of her married life on the water than on land. See page 10 for Irene’s story of her life in boats!
Hansa Trail
Last September we set up the Ipswich Hansa Group to promote our history as a Hanseatic port back in the 14th and 15th centuries. At that time Ipswich was a Headport, with a trade rivalling that of London in exporting wool and woollen cloth to northern Europe.
The group is affiliated to IMT and Ipswich is now a member of the modern Hanse movement, with links to over 180 Hanseatic towns in northern Europe as well as five other English towns: Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, Boston, Hull and Beverley.
The English towns have produced a visitor trail which is now online at the main Hanse website https://www.hanse. org/en/union-of-cities-the-hansa/cooperation-projects/hansa-england-route
The trail is aimed at visitors from home or abroad, and particularly many who might bring bikes or cars by ferry to Harwich and start the trail at Ipswich.
On the first page if you scroll down and click on Tourism > Hanseatic cities you can click on any flag and find visitor information about any of the towns and cities.
We’re really excited to have established this immediate link with some 180 towns with many potential tourism and economic benefits.
If you are interested in joining our Ipswich Hansa group mailing list please contact patgrimwade@supanet.com to hear about our future activities.
Pat Grimwade
The Hidden Fleet:
our floating heritage
For 40 years, IMT has worked for the preservation of our maritime heritage, with inputs to town planning matters, and through our Archives, talks and Window Museum. All these are intricately associated with boats and their role in our maritime story, but as yet, IMT hasn’t done much for the boats themselves.
We want to work with the individual, private owners of old boats, each working to look after their own piece of maritime history.
Such people do not get, or seek, publicity. But the objects of their attention comprise a fleet hidden in plain sight. It’s time to take stock of what is out there, and to celebrate the work being done by these enthusiasts. Hence the Hidden Fleet proposal.
We are looking for a volunteer(s) to take this forward. Step One is to find out who and what is out there, and what they want.
Overall, the aim is to build a community of independent owners of old boats. IMT would help provide the initial push to get the community going and to subsidise its services. In return we will access information about the Hidden Fleet and show that in Ipswich our maritime heritage is alive and thriving.
If you are interested, or know someone who should be involved, please contact us on
info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org. uk
Ripe for renovation? In the foreground, a Gipping barge; in the background, a Thames barge.
Meet the Members
Ben Good is the IMT’s new chairman. What’s his background?
Home is a houseboat on the river Orwell for the IMT’s new chairman
Top of the list of proposals IMT members wanted to see happening was more involvement with youth. New IMT chairman Ben Good is on a mission to make IMT a force for the good in the lives of young people.
Our children are our future
“I’ve always been attracted to water,” recalls Ben Good, leaning on the rails of his houseboat at Pin Mill. “Many of the houses I’ve lived in have been on or near the water – and when we go away on holiday it’s always to somewhere else by the water, to fish, to dive or to sail.”
As a child, he learnt to sail in a Mirror dinghy, moved on to Larks, and now has a Drascombe Dabber on a mooring at Pin Mill. Family holidays were spent on Drascombes and a Dart 14 catamaran, sailing round the Scilly Isles and south west Ireland.
He also has a lifelong interest in old boats, and sailed a Brixham trawler from Cowes to Cherbourg; a viking ship at Roskilde, and a barque around the Stockholm archipelagos, has rowed Cornish pilot gigs, and taken courses at Philadelphia’s maritime museum. During a year out, he and a friend walked around Greenland, travelling between settlements in a Danish coaster.
“Getting kids afloat is such a positive message,” advocates Ben. According to research he
presented recently at the IMT AGM, undertaken by the Association
of Sail Training Organisations, a sense of achievement was the outcome most young people (93%) experienced after being on the water in organised
programmes. Group leaders also reported improved wellbeing and confidence, and aspirations and motivation. “And,” he says, “we need to recruit the enthusiasts who will be carrying the torch for maritime heritage in 40 years’ time.”
Was an early proclivity for messing about in boats the key to Ben’s own successful career? A degree in engineering at Oxford was followed by management consultancy work, before joining Anglian Water, ending up as Commercial Director, before becoming CEO of a listed renewable energy business.
After a postgraduate course in international development, he was headhunted to run a charity which became known as Energy 4 Impact, helping small businesses in Africa to profit from selling and employing renewable energy solutions. Ten years on, and they had offices in
five African countries and about 80 staff. “My father retired aged 55 and I always had the aim of retiring early. At 57, I didn’t quite beat him!” But having worked for a charity whose operations helped over 18 million people, he is keen to bring his skills to benefit voluntary organisations locally. He has joined the Felixstowe Coast Patrol and Rescue, which sends out patrols in RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) throughout the summer.
He contacted the Ipswich Maritime Trust after attending an IMT talk by Sarah Curtis from the Pin Mill-based Harry King boatyard. Initially he wanted to know more about researching maritime history. “I had a very personal interest, in that two of my ancestors survived the General Grant shipwreck
disaster in 1866 in the Auckland Islands off New Zealand. They spent 18 months on a deserted island, but the ship’s valuable cargo was never retrieved, despite much intrigue and many books on the subject.”
Fortunately, the IMT realised that Ben could be put to more effective use, and he was swiftly voted in as Chairman! The new committee’s prospectus for the future will be available in September, and many
members have already shared in presentations and discussions on its contents, which focus on youth, heritage and events.
Ben believes passionately in connecting the next generation with their maritime heritage to gain vital life skills.
“The IMT has the opportunity to make lives better in a much more community-based way. Getting kids afloat is great for them, and good for us too.”
A youthful Ben Good,
messing about in a Mirror dinghy with his father
Sailing a skipjack, traditionally used for oyster dredging in Chesapeake Bay, USA
My life in boats
Meet Irene Jarrett: Ipswich resident, nurse, wife, mother – and transatlantic yachtswoman!
When Irene Cole bumped into Dick Jarrett in a passageway at the hospital they were both working at, and he swept her off her feet, she never imagined that she would spend much of her married life actually afloat. But by the time they met, Dick had already built his own Cadet, at the age of 16, which he launched on the Medway in 1947 – and went on to build three more boats. “I didn’t know a thing about sailing,” recalls Irene. “But sailing was Dick’s first love, and I had to take it or leave it. He had saltwater in his veins.”
When they married in 1956 she understood that her entry into the Jarrett family meant in effect learning a whole new language in order to join in their conversation, and a new set of skills to keep up with the action. “I had to be as keen as my husband.”
Fortunately, Irene embraced sailing wholeheartedly, and only put her foot down a couple of times and refused to entertain his plans for trips beyond her comfort zone.
After the Cadet, Dick’s next boat was Mouette, a 16-foot centreboarder, launched in 1952. She was followed by Samphire in 1967, but with a growing family of three children they needed something bigger. Dick built his fourth and last boat, a Bermudan sloop named Woodwind, 34 feet, which was launched in 1984.
All these boats were built in his spare time from his work as a probation officer.
In their early days together, Dick would pick up Irene and they’d drive down by motorbike to the Medway. “I remember an occasion when we arrived at Mouette on her mooring. The tide was about halfway in. Dick decided he needed to return to the clubhouse to get some missing bags. The tide came in, he was on land, I was on the boat.
He shouted instructions to me to bring the fo’c’s’le round and pick him up. He was testing me, but I passed with flying colours!”
Her greatest test though came in 1989 when Dick decided they should take two years off to sail the Atlantic. In fact, he wanted to go on into the Pacific and continue round the world, but she didn’t want to be away from home for so long, and he conceded that he didn’t want
to sail through the Panama Canal and beyond singlehanded. Nonetheless, sailing the Atlantic, and then up the east coast of America and returning from Bermuda via the Azores was a wonderful experience. “We went to some amazing places – and even anchored in the Hudson
River within sight of the Statue of Liberty!”
It wasn’t without trials and tribulations for both yacht and crew. They noted afterwards that they endured “an eight-hour terrifying ordeal in March 1990 on one of the Caicos Islands’ nastier reefs – in fact, the same as is reputed to have put paid to the Pinta, one of the Santa Maria’s consorts during Columbus’ voyages of discovery. We were luckier than they and survived. The resilience of sound timber and its ability to give without disintegrating despite the shattering blows truly amazed us, and many times in that eternity of darkness and fear we had expected the worst.”
But in fact worse times were to follow for Irene. They were sailing in Portugal in 1995, again in Woodwind. This account is by their crew member.
“I was alerted by a shout to a single wave of about four metres high breaking close to the port side of the yacht. This wave turned us over almost 180 degrees with the mast breaking on the sand below. When the boat came upright Dick was in the cockpit with Irene lying over the lifelines … the top of the mast had broken off and the engine had stalled.”
Irene had been swept off the boat and temporarily knocked unconscious. Fortunately her harness pulled her back onto the boat and she landed hard on the life rail. The impact caused her to take a deep intake of breath, and she came to, but was suffering from extreme cold, a broken finger and lots of bruises.
They were all soaking wet and shocked, but survival instincts kicked in: Dick threw out an anchor and called for help, and lowered an inflatable - which was dashed away by the high seas.
Some surfboarders attempted to reach them from the beach. But eventually they drifted in on the tide, and were taken off to hospital to be kept in overnight under observation.
Woodwind was hauled along the beach by a construction company working locally who were demolishing a mountain (as one does!), a local restaurant gave them a free evening meal while repairs were being made, and eventually Irene found a shipping line that could transport Woodwind back to Felixstowe.
Was she traumatised by this disaster? “No! You don’t have time to think, and you can’t allow yourself to be exhausted.” Ever the professional nurse, she firmly believes in looking after herself, and treating her body as she would a patient’s.
Dick and Irene spent many happy times cruising the Atlantic and the North Sea, and going south to Spain and Portugal, as well as a two year trip around Britain visiting Celtic sites. Sadly, Dick died in 2009 and Irene no longer sails. But Woodwind is in Woodbridge, “proudly owned by our eldest son, and his son now owns Samphire.”
The saltwater continues to flow in the Jarrett veins.
IMT Talks and Events for 2023-4
Talks take place at the University of Suffolk Waterfront Building in Ipswich at 7.30pm. Entry is £4.50 (£3.50 for members) and includes the opportunity to chat to the speaker over refreshments afterwards.
Wednesday 4th October 2023 Richard Smith Memorial Award presentation by The Worshipful Mayor of Ipswich, Councillor Lynne Mortimer
This will take place at 7.30pm, immediately before Des’ talk.
The Richard Smith Memorial Award is given annually to
a member of the Ipswich Maritime Trust who has contributed in a significant way to the understanding of local maritime culture or heritage.
Previous recipients include David (Wes) Westwood, skipper of SB Victor; and Bob Malster, renowned historian (see obituary on page 19).
Richard Smith, a founder member of IMT, was an author, photographer and great contributor to the appreciation of local maritime history and heritage. He died in 2017.
Wednesday 4th October 2023:
Artists in the Rigging by Des Pawson MBE.
Des is a world authority on knots and sailors’ ropework. He was co-founder of the International Guild of Knot Tyers, and in his talk he will give an overview of the wide range of decorative sailors’ ropework created by the ‘artists in the rigging' Guaranteed to amaze!
Above: Des’ first article on knots, in the Events Guide for Maritime Ipswich 1982; and below, his latest book, Des Pawson’s Knot Craft and Rope Mats, published by Bloomsbury
Wednesday 1st November 2023 We need to talk about the Vikings, by Dr Keith Ruiter, University of Suffolk
It may surprise you to learn just how much Viking-Age history is all around us here in Ipswich, Suffolk, and East Anglia generally. It may also come as a shock to realise how topical some of that history is today. From migration, to rapid urbanisation, and from infrastructural projects, to international law and diplomacy,
Dr Ruiter will be highlighting the connections, hybridity, and complexity of Viking-Age peoples in this region, as well as some of the ways that their societies laid the foundations for important developments like the later medieval Hanseatic League.
SHIPWRECK SEASON
Wednesday 6th March 2024
The discovery of the wreck of the Gloucester, originally lost in May 1682 off Great Yarmouth, has attracted huge international attention. Hear about who – and what – was on board, and its significance today.
Claire Jowitt, Professor of Renaissance Studies at University of East Anglia, and Co-Curator of The
Last Voyage of the Gloucester: Norfolk’s Royal Shipwreck, 1682, at Norwich Castle, will put it into context for us. And Julian Barnwell, one of the divers who found the shipwreck, will talk about Our Journey on Finding the Gloucester: 1682 & Beyond.
NB The Last Voyage of the Gloucester exhibition at Norwich Castle ends on 10th September 2023
Brothers Lincoln Barnwell and Julian Barnwell hold a bronze ship’s bell, recovered in 2012 from the wreckage of the Gloucester. Copyright: Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks Ltd
HMS Ganges’ mast to rise again
HMS Ganges mast in 1973, at Shotley, overlooking the
confluence of the rivers Orwell and Stour
After what seems like decades (and probably is!), the original planning requirement that the Ganges ‘listed’ mast be fully restored is finally happening at last, carried out by the current developers of the site, Wavensmere Homes, as part of their comprehensive redevelopment of the whole site.
Through my old planner colleague who first negotiated this, I was invited to visit the site and see progress before the newly restored mast is set up, with due ceremony, this Summer. The site’s company senior surveyor, David Watson, kindly invited my brother Mark and myself to take a look at progress at the end of May.
Using Canadian hardwood (very much heavier than the original) the various new elements make an impressive sight currently being prepared by carpenters in the old Ganges Drill Hall, itself due to be
restored and used as a museum, café and community cinema once the redevelopment is complete, alongside the original parade ground where the mast will be re-erected. We were told that the mast restoration has cost around £0.25m once the rigging, by Cutty Sark specialist riggers, TS Rigging, is added in. I stood on the original metal plate with its short wrought iron spike which had to be gripped between the ‘Button Boy’s’ knees, after he’d shinned up the last 10 feet or so of the mast, and then climbed up, over, and on to the tiny platform before standing upright for the salute. Just as well it was still on the ground as the mere thought of that made me feel dizzy. Try writing the risk assessment for that! I can’t see it ever again being re-enacted in today’s world.
In the photograph the various elements can be seen painted white, and in the background, painted green, is the lower spar, itself weighing not far short of 10 tons. In the foreground is part of the lower platform (seen holding six cadets in the 1973 colour photograph of the manned mast). Again, of massive weight in itself.
David told us all kinds of interesting facts being discovered as work progresses, including the discovery of underground rainwater tanks installed as the site’s original water supply. Huge quantities of topsoil were apparently moved around on site to obtain perfectly level ground, with typically Edwardian Royal Navy precision, giving fine views over Harwich Harbour beyond. Apparently this is causing all kinds of complications for the new housing foundations!
So once more the mast will be a welcome, and for some of us older sailors, a familiar sight each time we enter and leave the Orwell.
Stuart Grimwade
Talkback
Around the world on a container ship
Wednesday 1st February 2023 by Peter Hesketh
The first talk of the IMT Spring series was given by Peter Hesketh, and was an account of his round the world trip on container ships. A very different proposition from the Magellan/Elcano 1519-1522 circumnavigation, the subject of Cathy Shelbourne’s talk last December.
Peter celebrated his 60th birthday by sailing to the USA on a container ship. The seed was sown, and the sudden death of a close friend was the deciding factor.
The trip was to be split into three legs, with a different ship for each leg. First up was the CMA CGM Thalassa, of 128,600 tonnes gross and a length of 347 metres. At full speed, the ship consumes 220 tonnes of fuel per day, at a cost of some £116,000. Loaded, the air draft is 198 feet; looking dead ahead from the bridge, the nearest sea is a half mile in front of the ship. A serious ship, but with a total crew of just 22. Peter was given the opportunity to stay on the bridge albeit tucked into a corner
while the ship was entering and leaving harbour, and was also able to see and photograph the loading and unloading of containers. Watching Felixstowe Dock from the river or from Shotley as we may do gives only a limited perception of the precision required and the work involved.
The Suez Canal has no locks; it is a single very large cutting largely through featureless desert. Beyond, the Red Sea, Somalian pirates are a well-known hazard, but mainly for ships such as tankers with a much lower freeboard. Still, razor wire was put around the side, fire hoses laid out, and a constant watch kept. On to the port of Shanghai; huge beyond comparison with anything in Europe.
A change of ship to the Georgia, and across a cold and windy Pacific. The Panama Canal is an experience in itself. The new locks will be wider, but the present locks at 33.6 m wide need tractors, known as mules in a nod to earlier days, to keep ships away from the sides. Ships are however under their own power. Savannah saw the final change of ship to the Ilona, and a voyage to Antwerp. Thence to Felixstowe, and the end of a four-months round trip.
Smuggling on the East Coast Wednesday 1st March 2023 by Andy Beharrel
he March talk was on the history and extent of smuggling in our patch.
Smuggling was rife; partly through greed, but partly also for survival. Lord Orford is said to have lamented that “the only man in Orford who is not a smuggler is the parson” - and that may have been optimistic.
What was being smuggled? Essentially, almost everything which was taxed. Gin from Belgium, tea from the Netherlands, tobacco from most of the Continent, brandy and wine from France. Towards
the end of the eighteenth century, it was estimated that some 4,000,000 lbs of tea were consumed, but on only some 800,000 lbs had duty been paid. At the height, some 60 cutters were constantly running from Flushing and Middelburg. Tea also came in via the permitted private trades of the officers of the East India Company; China tea, traded for opium. English wool was smuggled out, prized for its strength and long staple.
A Parliamentary Commission in 1745 found that Robert Harning was making some £4,000 per annum from his smuggling operations. Captain Joseph Cockburn had five cutters, smuggling five tons of tea and 2,000 barrels of brandy each week - a value of some £5,000 per week.
Taxation of goods had begun in 1275, and by 1337 was usually on a tonnage basis. In 1671, customs duties were split as between tonnage and pondage, with excise duties being levied on domestic consumption. By 1810, more than 2,000 different goods were taxed. Most Custom Houses had a Long Room, which became the centre for trade in that town. The bureaucracy became huge, with prevention being particularly fragmented and poorly organised. It was often a very dangerous business, sometimes faced by armed gangs of up to a hundred men.
Andy spoke of the many ingenious means of concealing the contraband once landed, and of Clumpy Bowles' exploits at Sizewell Gap and Leiston. The cellars and tunnels at The Anchor at Walberswick were legendary.
Generally, the smugglers stayed ahead of the game. It was economics that pretty much changed things; the rate of duty was cut from 129% to 12.5% so smuggling ceased to be profitable.
In conversation with Wes Wednesday 5th April
he final talk in the Spring series was given by Dave ‘Wes’ Westwood (centre in photo), whose account of his connection with barges, especially Victor, was introduced by John Warren (left in photo).
Born and brought up in Ipswich, his early experience was on dredgers in and around Felixstowe Dock. Not all work; one anecdote was of water-skiing off Levington on an old door. But bargemen were in his family, on both his mother and father’s side, so barges inevitably became his main interest. Trips and barge matches on Ardwina, and a voyage to Maastricht on Ena all cement Wes’s
future. Working his way up to experienced mate, he gained his skipper’s ticket in 2000, passing an extremely rigorous grilling by a panel of eight seasoned bargemen.
The life of a bargeman had never been easy. Mainly trade with London; often hay and farm produce going down, ‘London mixture’ coming back. Heavily dependent on winds and tides, and all the year round. Just a skipper and a mate/boy, and of course no engine. The last war saw major changes. Many barges were sold out of trade, and most of the remainder were de-rigged and fitted with engines. Some were used for storage, and many were just beached and left to rot.
Victor was built at Shrubsall’s Dock End yard in 1895. Within a couple of years she had been
sold to Owen Parry of Colchester for use in the linseed oil trade.
She suffered bomb damage in the war, and in the 1950s had an engine fitted. She was sold out of trade in 1963, and became a houseboat.
The present owner took possession in 2005, with Wes as in effect the sole operator. The barge was extensively renovated.
Even at that time, the new topmast cost £2,000. Wes now has a small local team to help keep Victor in shape. The cost of major work is a concern; the renovation of one of the Maldon barges, Centaur, is believed to have cost of the order of £1,000,000.
From a fleet of some 3,000, now just 30 barges remain. Long may Victor retain her iconic position on Ipswich’s waterfront. Wes’s talk was very much appreciated, albeit with the suspicion that there could be rather more to come.
Legacy Giving
Would you consider making provison for Ipswich Maritime Trust in your will?
When you look back over your life and your achievements, on or off the water, and the enjoyment you experienced, and what our maritime history has meant to you, how can you ensure that the next generation can benefit too?
Ipswich Maritime Turst is launching a series of initiatives for young people to get involved in maritime activities and careers. At the same time, we will continue to promote our maritime heritage and run events for all ages.
Can you help us help them, by giving a legacy to Ipswich Maritime Trust?
For more information contact info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org. We can point you towards sources of advice in making your will if you need it. If you want to discuss a non-pecuniary givt, for example of old documents or artefacts potentially of interest to IMT, we would be pleased to talk to you as well. Many thanks.
Dragon boat racing at Ipswich Waterfront on 3rd June 2023.
Then and Now
Continuing our series on pub names and their maritime connections
Dolphins are generally liked by ancient mariners because apparently they would twine themselves around the anchor cable in a storm to prevent the anchor dragging, according to Suffolk Camra’s pub guide. So perhaps it’s no surprise that this friendly mammal should be rewarded by a pub named in its honour.
The photo shows the Dolphin pub on St Peter’s Dock, Ipswich, which closed on 19th June 1909. However, as a pub name, the dolphin has had more success in Felixstowe. The newly restored Dolphin pub is due to open in August 2023, run by the same landlord as at The Dooley.
It originally opened in late Victorian times as the Station Hotel, opposite the long-gone Beach Station where thousands of families came and went in summers past.
Acknowledging the dolphin’s association with anchors, the photo shows the Anchor Inn, which became a reading room in the 1890s (not to be confused with The Last Anchor, in the Haven Marina).
Where is it?
Women on board ship
learly, as our photo from the IMT Archives shows on page 17, women were on board ships, yachts, boats and barges throughout history. But they were seldom mentioned in narratives (by men)
nor did they write anything significant themselves (with notable exceptions: see the booklist below).
Was this because women were not officially allowed on board? Or was it that they were legitimately present but were not entered in the ships’ musters?
Apart from anecdotes, one place where they were acknowledged was in surgeons’ records. Here’s an example of both:
Samuel Jackson Pratt records in volume II of his Gleanings in England (1806) that during the Battle of Camperdown (1797), “There were several women onboard the Venerable while in action; among these
a sailor’s wife was shot at the side of her husband, while at his gun. Another young woman had her lanthorn bottle shot from her hand, while she was holding it for the surgeon to dress her father’s wounds, and perceiving him look terrified, she ran to her father and cried, “If you have not received any more hurt, never mind the lanthorn, – I am safe and sound thank God – but how are you, O father! how are you?”
Booklist
This is a selection of useful books which also include seafarers and pirates who disguised themselves as boys or men (such as Anne Bonney and Mary Read), but not the first female to sail around the world: Frenchwoman Jeanne Baret, who travelled as the valet to the botanist M Commerson during Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s expedition, 1766–1769.
A Voyage on the Sunbeam, Our Home on the Ocean for 11 Months, by Annie Brassey, 1879
I saw a ship a’sailing, by Mary Hay, 1981
Female Tars: Women aboard ship in the age of sail by Suzanne Stark, 1996
Heroines and Harlots: Women at sea in the great age of sail, by David Cordingly, 2001
Naval Wives and Mistressess, by Margarette Lincoln, 2007
From Cabin ‘Boys’ to Captains: 250 years of women at sea, by Jo Stanley, 2016
Re-writing Women into Maritime History
he Heritage and Education Centre (HEC) of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation have set up this project to re-write women into maritime history. Their website features a series of blogs exploring
the experience of women who worked in maritime. These are often untold stories, and their aim is to rebuild the narrative of maritime history and contribute to ‘herstory’ – the re-telling of history from a feminist perspective. https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/whats-on/ building-on-the-narrative
SHE_SEES is the contemporary element of Rewriting Women into Maritime History with Lloyd’s Register Foundation. SHE_SEES will retell the stories of current women in the maritime industry through a conceptual visual approach. SHE_SEES is creatively led Re-writing
Women into Maritime History by portrait photographer and visual artist Emilie Sandy, who is gathering and recording stories as well as creating portraits to represent visually an aspect of their stories. The project will be exhibited during London International Shipping Week (LISW) in September 2023.
From the Archives
or the second of my reports from the Image Archive, I have chosen another favourite
image of mine, this time taken from the Kim Shaw Collection. As well as some lovely images, the collection, now safely in our container store, includes a huge file of articles, letters and other memorabilia of the early 20th century life of Sailing Barge Ena.
This choice of image was partly prompted by a request from Emily Shepperson, The Hold’s exhibition manager, who had been asked to assist with a display on local ‘female maritime heroes’ (or should that be ‘maritime heroines’?). Emily had sought the Trust’s help with suitable examples. While talking to Wes, skipper of the Victor, about this, he quite rightly reminded me that in the early days of the Thames barge and before the crew could consist of the skipper and his son (and dog), the natural order of things required that the crew would consist of the bargeman and his wife, the latter often being the skipper and owner.
This is therefore the background to the wonderful Victorian London river scene we have here, with a thumbnail enlargement of the lady in question to emphasise the point. As we know, sailing a barge up and down the Thames, shooting every bridge on the tide required huge skill, not to mention strength, and there can be no doubt who was 'wearing the trousers' in this photo, even if she wasn't
Stuart Grimwade, IMT Archivist
IMT Collect and Archive
The IMT's amazing image archive is available online to members of the Trust. Contact image-archive@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk.
Our collection of maritime artefacts is gradually being digitised by a team of volunteers, and can be accessed via eHive, a web-based cataloguing syste. If you can help with looking after these collections, or would like to submit photos or objects relating to Ipswich's maritime heritage, please contact us.
www.ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk/collection-and-archive.
Farewell to Alan Swann (1944-2023)
first encountered Alan back in the 1960s when he, as a young RN officer at HMS Ganges, lectured me as a very green amateur sailor on the art of navigation at the old Ipswich Civic College. Strict naval discipline was not to my youthful taste at the time, and I’m afraid to admit I was soon exposed
by him as a less than suitable student! It was to be another forty years before I got to know him again, this time to purchase our boat offered for sale in his marina yard, and it was then that I learned of his role in the establishment of IMT and his love of maritime Ipswich.
Alan Swann: early Chairman of IMT and Waterfront mover and shaker
Bob Malster, recipient of the first IMT Richard Smith Memorial Award
Des Pawson was active alongside him during the IMT’s early years and writes, “We, bin the Trust, have a great deal to thank Alan for; in fact we probably owe our existence to him. Back in 1982 the Wet Dock was virtually redundant and there was talk of filling in a large part of it to make way for a lorry park.
The team that was to become Ipswich Maritime Trust shared a vision to find ways of rejuvenating the port, and when their original chairman moved away Alan took the helm, and under his influence and determination, saved it.
Their first step was to persuade the then owners of the Home Warehouse, yet another redundant building, to lease it to them for a year.Aided by Alan’s efficient naval organisational skills, the small team of volunteers set about creating a pub and exhibition space in a matter of weeks, which turned out to be hugely popular and financially successful.
Shortly after the 1982 festival he showed his belief of a proper future for the wet dock by convincing the port owners to lease him a large section of Neptune Quay to place floating pontoons in the dock to create a marina. It thrived so successfully that it was soon copied by the new port owners, ABP, on the other side of the dock.
As the years went by Alan, together with his wife Angela, were a driving force behind all kinds of events and initiatives to celebrate the town’s maritime heritage. He was Chairman at the time of the major festival in 1997 which cemented that vision from 1982, and again it was a success giving IMT much needed financial security.”
In more recent years, Alan turned his attention to property development, successfully constructing the Neptune Marina apartments building in Coprolite Street, as well as offices, the Coffeelink café and his marina office, together with his operational yard alongside, on the former Ransomes Quay.
At his memorial service in May, St. Mary-le-Tower church was filled with his friends and fellow Rotarians to celebrate his life, including many marina berth-holders. Among them was Ronnie Roberts who had come under Alan’s influence some twenty years ago and who felt moved to write a unique poem to him, and this is reproduced below. To those who knew him well, and for those who did not, all those attending agreed that it rather neatly summed up the person who was Alan.
Stuart Grimwade
Valete Bob Malster (1932-2023)
Robert Malster, known to all as Bob, died on 16th April at the age of 90, after a short spell in hospital, so ending a lifetime of contributing to the knowledge of East Anglian history and heritage, especially maritime and transport matters. Ipswich Maritime Trust honoured him as the first recipient of IMT’s Richard W Smith Memorial Award.
Born in Norwich to supportive parents, who encouraged his interests in things transport and maritime, he worked for many years as a journalist for amongst others the Lowestoft Journal, Eastern Daily Press and the East Anglian. He lived in Colchester, Ipswich and lastly in Holbrook.
He was a leading supporter, often taking an active role, in many local history societies. Whenever a question of local maritime history arose, the answer would be “ask Bob Malster,” and when asked, he was always helpful, frequently going beyond a simple answer and providing information in depth.
Not only did he write and speak on many aspects of East Anglian local history and was active in many societies but, less obviously, he was for many years instrumental in getting
large numbers of other people to put their researches into writing, championing them and helping them to be published. It is not just the books that bear his name, but many, many others that have been published on East Anglian local history in the last 50 years, who owe something to Bob. Indeed,
at times, he has provided his editorial services freely in order to get an important work of local history before the public. Recent examples would be his work
on RW Smith & J Freestone’s important book The Port of Ipswich, its Shipping and Trades (2011) as well as H Moffat’s Ships and Shipyards of Ipswich 1700-1970 (2002). An earlier example would be Ted Frost’s From Tree to Sea (1985). These important works of local history would been accepted by his publishers, Poppyland Publishing.
No more “Ask Bob” nor his cheery “Right ho, be seeing you.” We will miss him, but all the books he was involved with will certainly be a memorial and help for generations to come.
Des Pawson
Peter Stibbons adds:
A search on the Web will show the full range of Bob’s works, his own publications and his contributions to other works. I was particularly pleased and greatly enjoyed working with Bob for the publication of the titles mentioned above for Poppyland Publishing, before I passed the business over to
new ownership. We made short videos to promote the titles which meant visits to locations around the region and it was
a constant process of learning for me. We first met after his publication of the first edition of Saved from the Sea in the 1970s and have collaborated on and off ever since. One particular memory is sitting at our beach hut when I had to leave abruptly - the lifeboat bleeper had gone off. Perhaps this was the only way of quickly finishing a conversation between us!
Book review
Our February 2023 speaker
was Peter Hesketh, who travelled around the world on container ships. (See Talkback on page 14). We asked him to review this new book from Manchester University Press.
Trade Winds by Christiaan de Beukelaer
‘Between 1750 and 1990 (240 years) humanity emitted 793 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. In the 30 years between 1990 and 2020, we emitted the same amount again’. This statement, more than any other in this fact-filled book, made me think more seriously about the issue of global warming.
So much is written and spoken about carbon emissions that, whilst it reinforces the
enormity of the problem and the catastrophic consequences, there is a danger of being swamped
by information to such a degree that inaction, rather than action is a result. When I set out to review this book, I did so with a sceptical mind that thought, ‘OK, what could someone on a very small cargo-carrying sailing vessel have to say about the current-day global supply chain?’
The subplot here was this was a futile read, but, for the sake of this review, I would read the whole book.
In the mid 1960s I joined the Merchant Navy, leaving six years later as too often the ships I served on returned to the UK to be sold for scrap or converted to ferries, ro-ro vessels etc. I didn’t know then that this was a direct result of containerisation.
Forty years later, and still with an element of salt water in my blood, I undertook to see what life at sea is about now, by circumnavigating the world on container ships, but this time as a passenger. I can, without fear of contradiction, state that conditions have changed enormously, albeit that some elements of seafaring (whether pre or post containerisation or even on a small commercial sailing vessel) are the same.
The author of Trade Winds is an academic and his journey on the sailing vessel Avontuur was to discover what life was like on a small cargo-carrying sailing vessel and to assess the viability of a greener method of propulsion for sea-going cargo
vessels. What started as a three-week stint of field work aboard the ship, turned into a five-month journey as the pandemic forced shut all borders, preventing the crew from stepping ashore for months on end.
The book has several themes: the role played by shipping in contributing to global warming, the conditions at sea for seafarers and the tensions on board ship, exacerbated by working and living in close proximity to others – heightened enormously by the enforced incarceration of not being allowed to get off the vessel even if it was allowed into port. There are many parallels here, some of which I
have experienced on my circumnavigation (often unable to leave the ship), and others I have been told about (crews on containerships having their contracts arbitrarily extended during the pandemic). Even on massive container ships, the number of people on board is often roughly the same as those on the Avontuur. Christiaan did not cope well with the enforced regime and confinement on board, and details his concerns with remarkable candour.
He comments early in the book, referring to current day seafarers, ‘They are essential workers in global supply chains, but their wellbeing is seldom noticed by the world’s consumers.’ Little did he know at the beginning of his study that he too would become one of many seafarers who would feel ignored by the world, shunned by the ports they were scheduled to visit. The irony here was that on the vessel, they were certain they were covid free, having not been in contact with the virus, but were treated as ‘infected’ by ports that would not allow them in. One comment that Christiaan makes that I concur with, but which I can also see is a massive negative, is the lack of connectivity at sea, ie no internet or television or mobile signal. He writes, “The lack of internet connection was not something I missed at all. If anything, digital disconnection is a boon of being at sea.” I suspect this is a view from a person (which included me!) who is ‘playing’ at being a seafarer. It is a different perspective from ‘full-time’ seafarers who are so grateful for the internet provided by the seafarers’ centres around the world, enabling contact with home as well as catching up with news and world events.
To conclude, I recommend this book, as a well-researched factual and insightful read. It pleases me to say that it was a far from a futile read, frequently challenging my perspective and providing me with an insight into the global supply chain that I hadn't previously considered
Peter Hesketh The Mission to Seafarers
A colour palette for IMT
What is your
favourite colour? A YouGov survey in 2015 found that blue was the world’s favourite colour.
It is certainly the colour most associated with the sea and all things maritime: aquamarine, ultramarine, and of course, Navy blue spring to mind. Apparently Picasso’s last paint order, in November 1943, was for ‘white, permanent; white, silver; and blue, cerulean’ – the last named after the Mediterranean Sea.
Coming closer to home, the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) has its own palette of colours, available to architects and developers, “using nature’s colours to help buildings blend into Suffolk’s best landscapes.”
Suffolk Archives have gone one step further and commissioned their own colour palette. It includes Beach Hut Pastel (for the sun-kissed colours of our coastal towns), Raedwald Gold (for an Anglo-Saxon King and the precious Sutton Hoo helmet) and Britten Red (after Benjamin Britten’s home, the Red House).
Maybe an IMT palette of colours might feature:
Wet Dock blues (when planning issues get you down)
Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St Clements
Wolsey Watergate black/ yellow (for cardinal buoys marking the deep waters of maritime heritage…)
Send in your suggestions - and, even better, photos or sketches - to editor@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk and we’ll share the best in the next IMT Matters.
Facelift for Thomas Cavendish
Trimley St Martin's most illustrious son has had a facelift. The village signs have been replaced by new images of the seafarer who was the second Englishman to sail around the world (not once like his predecessor Drake, but tiwce). Born in Trimley, Suffolk on 19th September 1560, Thomas Cavendies died at sea in May 1592.
The Chianti Raiders
IMT member Brian Lay shares a World War II memory:
My home was in Gatacre Road, close to the River Gipping, which feeds into the River Orwell and the Ipswich Docks.
At that time the rivers were used by enemy aircraft as an aid to navigation and we often saw planes overhead. In November 1940 [aged five] I witnessed an aerial dog-fight over the town, between RAF planes and aircraft of the Italian Air Force. The Italian force had taken off from Belgium at midday to attack Harwich, but as a result of heavy cloud and poor visibility, the aircraft had scattered into small groups over a very wide area.
I was alerted to the raid by the sound of loud cheering and shouting from the neighbours outside in their gardens. I rushed outside to see the dogfight, which was in full flow in the skies above the town. To a small boy it was terrifically exciting to witness.
The RAF Fighters were from 257 Squadron, based at Martlesham Heath. The Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader Stanford ‘Lucky’ Tuck set off by car to inspect a downed Italian bomber, and found in the wreckage two large straw baskets – one of which contained over a dozen bottles of Chianti wine – which has led to the Italian missions becoming known in military history as the ‘Chianti Raiders’!
I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed a small part of the action on that day which was part of a little-known chapter of Britain’s wartime history.
Saving Saxonia
axonia LO32 is a Leigh bawley, currently residing at Harry King’s at Pin Mill. She has a beam of 12 feet, a draft of 4’ 6”, and she’s 93 years old. Jamie Bellamy Booth is 20 years old, from Mersea, and he fell for her when he was just 15.
He passed her every day, lying on the mud, and eventually contacted the National Historic Ships UK register to find out who owned her – and discovered that she had been built by Aldous & Sons, Brightlingsea, for Youngs Seafood!
She was commissioned by William Joseph Young in 1930 to fish for whitebait, continuing the tradition of William’s great great aunt and Young’s Seafood founder, Elizabeth Young, who first started selling whitebait on the banks of the river Thames in 1805.
Youngs is now sponsoring the restoration of Saxonia and also supporting Jamie through training courses, so that he can achieve his goal of taking visitors out on Saxonia.
Jamie now co-owns Saxonia with Peter Gilder, a furniture business owner, both equally passionate about boat restoration.
Wolsey 550
Tudor statesman Thomas Wolsey was born and raised in Ipswich. A programme of events and activities this summer celebrates the 550th anniversary of his birth, and includes the Wolsey’s Ipswich exhibition (until 29th October 2023) in The Hold, Suffolk Archives’ premises on Fore Street, Ipswich.
Although Wolsey has no obvious link to maritime Ipswich, the Watergate to the college he founded still stands (just) on College Street. Caen stone for the construction and dismantling probably came through the dock (perhaps via St Peter’s Wharf) around 1529-30. This activity caused the Headmaster to complain to Wolsey about the noise and the difficulties of teaching in such circumstances.
Revd Prof Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch gave a talk on Wolsey and Cromwell at the opening of the John Blatchly Local Studies Library. Dr Blatchly was Headmaster of Ipswich School (whose forerunner Wolsey possibly attended) from 1972-1993.
IMT News in brief
Ben Good, IMT
Chairman
Schools update
As part of our new Youth Programme, we are developing a series of offerings to local schools to help kids get the maritime message.
These will be delivered both on-site at the schools, and off-site, with school groups spending a few hours on the water.
On-site, we will develop ‘Ipswich maritime materials’ that can be incorporated into teachers’ lesson plans, as well offering talks by us to school assemblies. Off-site, we are looking for organisations that
can deliver introductions to sailing/paddling, and looking to design, with a partner, a combined introduction to Ipswich docks and to SB Victor.
So far, the schools we have met have all been very enthusiastic about this concept - and, with their and others’ feedback, we plan to put together a compelling fundraising proposal that will enable us to put these plans into action.
As ever, though, our ability to move quickly is constrained by the time we have - so if you are willing to help, especially if you have experience of working in schools, then please let us know. To preserve our maritime heritage we need to enthuse the next generation! Thank you.
Helping Ipswich to become a Heritage Harbour
hree national organisations: Historic England,
National Historic Ships and the Maritime Heritage Trust have recently launched the Heritage Harbours initiative.
This is intended to help preserve the heritage infrastructure of old ports, both old boats and the shore-based buildings and services that look after them, and to promote associated public heritage information initiatives, training, education and cultural events. All of this is done at the local level, with local organisations working together on relevant projects and initiatives, and taking advantage of a national network of qualifying ports, (the “Heritage Harbours”), all doing the same thing.
IMT is taking the lead in organising Ipswich’s response to this challenge; we have convened a group of relevant organisations, which includes, and will rely on the support of, the Borough Council, ABP and others, which we hope will become a driving force for supporting the programme that we have outlined in the new IMT prospectus.
Watch this space!
A more maritime Maritime Festival?
In recent years, some have felt that Ipswich’s annual event has been ‘dragging its anchor’, and drifting away from its maritime origins.
After a couple of meetings with the Borough Council’s events team, we are optimistic that this can change. It is very early days, and the process is complicated, given long lead times for things like scheduling tall ships, the time it takes to raise funds, and the constraints on the Council’s flexibility to plan events expenditure more than one year in advance.
However, the Council seems keen to tackle this, and with the right combination of local partners, and IMT playing a significant role, we believe there is a good chance that we can pull it off.
We are probably talking about 2025, so don’t expect instant results, but if you have any ideas or want to help, let us know!
Thanks.
Ipswich Maritime Matters is written and designed by Sea Shell Communications, published by Ipswich
Maritime Trust and printed by Tuddenham Press.
editor@ipswichmaritimetrust. org.uk
Come on board!
New members are always welcome: individual membership is £5 pa, joint adult membership
£7.50 pa.
Your subscription includes: reduced price access to our talks, regular e-mail updates, twice-yearly IMT Matters newsletter, plus the opportunity to get involved in our projects and campaigns.
We are always looking for volunteers to help with our Window Museum (‘the Window Wizards’), front of house at talks and events, talking to the public on our stands at heritage and maritime events, and assisting with our schools initiatives (see page 23).
To join, please contact membership@
ipswichmaritimetrust.org. uk or write to us at Ipswich Maritime Trust, 32 Cowper Street, Ipswich IP4 5JB.
Diary dates 2023
Please check all dates and venues before setting out!
2nd-6th August
Old Gaffers Association 60th anniversary celebrations
Thursday 7th September
An IMT day out on SB Victor info@ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th September
Heritage Open Days, Ipswich: chat with us in St Clements and on Cornhill; see the IMT Window Museum on Albion Quay (more details on page 3)
Until 10th September 2023
Gloucester shipwreck exhibition, Castle Museum, Norwich (see page 12 for details of IMT Talk in March 2024)
30th September
The Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT) Challenger yacht Open Day
Sunday 1st October
Meet the Men who Built The Bridge (3.5 hour river trip on board Orwell Lady with a talk by two of the men who built the Orwell bridge)
Wednesday 4th October
Presentation of Richard Smith Memorial Award; and IMT Talk: Artists in the Rigging by Des Pawson (see page 12 for details)
13th-15th October
Harwich Shanty Festival https://harwichshantyfestival.co.uk
21st-22nd October
SPILL Festival and Shefarers of Ipswich on board SB Victor(ia) (more information on page 7)
Wednesday 1st November
IMT Talk: We need to talk about the Vikings, IMT Talk by Dr Keith Ruiter
(see page 12 for details)
About the Trust
Ipswich Maritime Trust (IMT) is a charity formed in 1983 with the objective of educating and informing the public of the long maritime history of Ipswich and the River Orwell which dates back to before the 7th century.
IMT undertakes a wide range of activities, including commenting on maritime issues, running a series of talks on maritime-related themes and outings on Sailing Barge Victor, curating our Window Museum on Albion Wharf, maintaining an Archive, and supporting young people in maritime projects.
We have over 300 members, and a dedicated committee. Volunteers are always welcome, to help with the Window Museum, assist with marketing, and generally furthering the aims of the Trust.