SB ''Lady Daphne'' is a wooden

Thames sailing barge A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges, with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and na ...

, built in Rochester, England in 1923. She was used to carry various cargoes such as bricks and

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

and along the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. She is infamous for sailing unaided from

The Lizard The Lizard () is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The southernmost point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; The Lizard, also known as Lizard village, is the most southerly region on the ...

Tresco Tresco may refer to: * Tresco, Elizabeth Bay, a historic residence in New South Wales, Australia * Tresco, Isles of Scilly, an island off Cornwall, England, United Kingdom * Tresco, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia * a nickname referring t ...

in the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the souther ...

, and safety beaching herself in two feet of water on shelving sand. Lady Daphne- Historic Ships UK
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History

Lady Daphne was commissioned for building in 1921 by David J Bradley of Thomas Watson (Shipping), a prominent barge owning company in Rochester, Kent. She was built by Short Bros. She was one of the last sailing barges to be built from wood, but was built from a plan, (from lines) rather than laying off a half hull model. Lady Daphne was launched in 1923, and Bradley named it after his new-born daughter, Daphne. She had two sister ships, the SB Lady Jean and the SB Lord Haig. On Boxing Day 1927, Lady Daphne's skipper was washed overboard and the two remaining crew members abandoned her off the Cornish coast. However Lady Daphne, with only the skipper's canary on board, sailed herself through the rocks of the Scilly Isles onto a few tens of yards of safe sand. On the death of Bradley in 1928, she passed to his widow who transferred her in 1937 to R & W Paul, the

maltster Malting is the process of steeping, Germination, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of t ...

s from

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. She had an auxiliary engine installed 1936 and assisted in the salvage of the Herzogin Cecile which was beached off

Salcombe Salcombe is a resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area of Outstand ...

. Lady Daphne remained with R & W Paul, and had her rigging removed becoming a motor-barge. She was sold to

Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival housebuilder George Wimpey ...

in 1973 and re-rigged, then took a berth at St Katharine's Yacht Haven in 1973. She was sold to Elisabeth and

Michael Mainelli Michael Raymond Mainelli (born 19 December 1958) is an American-born British scientist, economist, and accountant, known for being Chairman of Z/Yen, Sheriff of the City of London for 2019–21, and the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London ...

in 1996. and later sold to Samantha Howe and Andrew Taylor in 2017.

Related Companies

Thomas Watson (Shipping)

Thomas Watson (Shipping) named their vessels prefaced by "Lady". Thomas Watson (Shipping) ultimately owned 55 sailing barges and 39 coasters along the Medway and Thames. Brothers David J Bradley and Stanley Bradley joined the company as partners. The firm closed in 2000.

R & W Paul

R & W Paul were

s based in

Ipswich, Suffolk Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

where in the 1880s, they had 4 maltings and ten barges.

Maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

were imported from America and eastern Europe, and malt, barley and smaller quantities of wheat and oats were shipped outwards. Using the tides,

s could reliably do the Ipswich-London run in 12 hours and 14 hours to return. Of the 16 barges that sailed to the beaches of

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

in 1940, 6 were owned by R & W Paul.

Media

She has appeared in BBC's ‘Britain Afloat’ television show which was broadcast in September 2017. She has appeared in BBC's 'Heir Hunters' television show, Series 9, Episode 5 (of 20), “Morris/Evans” which was broadcast on 27 February 2015.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Daphne Thames sailing barges 1923 ships Individual sailing vessels Ships built in Rochester, Kent Transport on the River Thames Sailing ships of the United Kingdom Ships and vessels of the National Historic Fleet