Name Pudge

Built in 1922 by London & Rochester Trading Co. for the oilseed trade, PUDGE is a Thames sailing barge with a hull construction of pitch pine on oak with a flush deck, the steering wheel on a ‘short spindle’ without the usual raised cabin top. Originally spritsail rigged with bowsprit an auxiliary oil engine made by The Bergius Co. Ltd of Glasow was installed in 1932.

Her working life as a cargo carrier was interrupted in spectacular fashion by the Second World War when she was requisitioned in May 1940 whilst in Tilbury, drafted to Dover and thence to Dunkirk to aid the evacuation. Three barges, including PUDGE, were taken in tow by a tug and crossed the Channel under the cover of darkness. As they reached the beaches at Dunkirk an explosion lifted PUDGE out of the water and, in the words of her skipper, “she came down the right way up”. She took onboard survivors and set off for England, picking up a tow from a tug on the way, to arrive safely back at Ramsgate.

She then resumed her normal trade into and from London docks, Ipswich, and the Medway ports with oilseed, grain, cattle cake, fertilizer, etc. until her last freight of pineapple juice in 1968 when she was bought out of the trade as a twin hatched motor barge by the Thames Barge Sailing Club. She was re-rigged by members for summer weekend sailing, chartering, and winter maintenance based at Maldon. She was re-engined in 1990 and has undergone various stages of restoration since. PUDGE made the passage to Dunkirk for the 50th and 75th anniversary celebrations of Dunkirk and has also taken part in the Avenue of Sail for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in June 2012.

PUDGE is one of only four of the Dunkirk Spritsail Barges that survive, a member of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, and is entitled to fly the flag of St George.

The TSBC evolved into THE THAMES SAILING BARGE TRUST in 2003, and PUDGE continued to run charter trips with the aim of preserving and teaching the skills needed to sail and maintain the traditions of the working sailing barge. A staged programme of renewal began in 2005 at Maylandsea with a rebuild of the bows, progressing to the deck and stern as finances permitted with a return to sail in 2007. Restoration took place at Faversham in 2011 to maintain her fitness for charitable sailing work. 

In 2019 the Trust was awarded a grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund, and along with funds raised from other organisations and its members, the Trust embarked on a major programme of restoration and refitting at Kevin Finch Shipwrights at Fullbridge, Maldon, where in May 2020 work started on the replacement of her decks, coamings, ceilings, and upgrading her below deck accommodation. The accommodation now comprises 6 two-berth cabins, a shower, new galley, saloon, and digital media provision so that she can be used for meetings as well as charters. This work took 3 years to complete, with the aid of volunteers from the Trust, and continued during the pandemic.

PUDGE took her first sail in May 2023, coinciding with the Trust's 75th anniversary, and is now ready to sail for many years to come.

In September, 2023, The Thames Sailing Barge Trust was awarded a Restoration Award for PUDGE at the 2023 National Transport Trust Awards.