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Name: Cambria

Certificate number: 245

Status:

Designated Vessel

Function:

Cargo Vessel

Sub Functional Area:

Barge

Type:

Spritsail Barge

Location:

Sheerness, Kent, England

Current use:

Laid up

  • Length Overall:

    27.74 metres (90.95 feet)

  • Gross Tonnage:

    109.00

  • Depth Not Known:

    0.00 (0.00 )

  • Maximum Breadth:

    6.71 metres (22.00 feet)
Cambria - Cambria waiting for restoration

Web address

http://www.cambriatrust.org.uk

Builder

History

F T Everard of Greenhithe gave each of his sons a project to build a sailing barge at the end of their apprenticeships as shipwrights with Fellowes of Great Yarmouth. They would keep separate accounts and would not compare them until the vessels had been launched. William Everard built CAMBRIA for £1,895 and Frederick HIBERNIA for £10 more. The craft were launched on the same day.

HIBERNIA was lost in 1938 in a gale off the Norfolk coast. CAMBRIA sailed in and out of London and the Medway to harbours all the way from the Humber to Cornwall, and across the Channel to Rotterdam and Antwerp, Dunkirk, Calais and Treport.

At 91ft long and 109 gt, she could take 170 tons of cargo. Her maximum sea loadline was 11 1/2 inches from her deck. When built, she spread 5,000 sq ft (464.5 sq m) of canvas. One of her most frequent cargoes was coal, transported from Keadby on the River Trent to Harwich, Colchester and Margate, and to gasworks on the Thames.

CAMBRIA came second of the coasting class entries in the Thames and Medway barge matches soon after her launching. In the 1927 and 1928 contests, the first to be held after the 1914-18 war, she was her class winner. She is the representative of hundreds of similar craft (there were about 2,100 from 1885 to 1910, and 1,650 in 1918).

These brief histories are compiled from details supplied by vessel owners and enthusiasts and from various reference works. National Historic Ships would be grateful for any corrections of facts or additional information for inclusion. Please contact ron.ellis@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

Subsequent developments

1 March 2007 - the South East Regional Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund agreed to award £990,000 towards the restoration of CAMBRIA. She will be used for sail training and educational purposes. giving a new and young audience practical experience of how she traded under sail alone. CAMBRIA will operate as a floating classroom at a variety of locations throughout the Thames, Medway and Swale estuaries, offering environmental training and education in social and economic history for junior school children, in conjunction with charities, local and port authorities and the RSPB. CAMBRIA will also operate as a floating interpretative centre explaining the past, present and future of London River and encouraging interest and support from the public. Young people and apprentices will undergo sail training aboard the barge and the general public will also be able to charter CAMBRIA. She will be rebuilt using timber from sustainable sources. The project is due to start in the summer of 2007 and will take around 2.5 years to complete. CAMBRIA has never had an engine and will continue to operate under sail alone. However, she will be supported by an electric launch. Source; Tim Parr, Committee Member 9 December 2008: Since September 2007 the Cambria has been under restoration at Standard Quay, Faversham and we are making excellent progress in rebuilding. The Cambria Trust has opened a visitor centre on Standard Quay, and visits to the barge restoration are available on most Sundays of the year. Further details are available at www.cambriatrustorg.uk. Souce: David Walsh, Cambria Trust Member

Previous names

Bibliography