Registration number 832
Status National Historic Fleet
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Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Barge
Location Gillingham
Vessel type Spritsail Barge
Current use None
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No

Construction

Builder Gill & Sons, Rochester
Built in 1901
Hull material Wood
Rig Spritsail
Number of decks 1
Number of masts 1
Propulsion Sail
Primary engine type None
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
13.08 feet (3.99m)
Depth
4.79 feet (1.46m)
Length: Overall
43.18 feet (13.17m)

History

SEAGULL II, Thames barge, was built in 1901 by Gill & Sons, Rochester, for the War Department. She is half the size of normal craft of her type and her purpose was to carry ordnance and stores in Pembroke dockyard. She did this until 1930 when she was sold and became a private yacht back in the Thames Estuary before becoming an architectural feature on Free Trade Wharf Wapping in 1988. Sold in 1999 for restoration at Gillingham to her current owner, this was estimated to be continuing until 2010. In 2008, she moved to the dry dock at The Medway Cruising Club to undergo a major rebuild, during which everything was being replaced except the flat bottom. She came out of the dry dock in 2014 and her rebuild was completed in 2021.

Key dates

  • 1901

    Built by Gill & Sons, Rochester, for the War Department

  • 1901-30

    Carried ordinance and stores in Pembroke Dockyard

  • 1930

    Sold to Gil Winfield to become a private yacht

  • 1959-60

    Sailed to the Mediterranean via Paris and French canals

  • 1988

    Became an architectural feature on Free Trade Wharf, Wapping

  • 1999

    Sold to private owner for restoration at Gillingham 

  • 2008

    Moved to the dry dock at The Medway Cruising Club for a major rebuild

  • 2014

    'Re-launched' from dry dock to a mud birth for continued fitting out

  • 2021

    Re-build completed.

Sources

Old Gaffer's Association Member's Handbook and Boat Archive, 1993
World Ship Society British Armed Forces Small Craft Historical Society, Survivors Register, 1998

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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