History of the Sailing Barge CAMBRIA
Cambria on her launch 1906
Cambria
Hibernia
Bob Roberts aboard the Cambria
Bert Fry, Bob Roberts and Penny, the third hand
The Everard family began barge building at Greenhithe in 1889. William and Frederick Everard served their apprenticeships at Fellowes yard in Yarmouth and were given the challenge of each building a barge. William built the “Welsh” barge Cambria and Frederick the “Irish” Hibernia. Keeping faith with their father, they submitted separate secret accounts after a year of trading in 1907. The Cambria cost £1895 and the Hibernia, at £1905, cost just £10 more. They were identical barges, and at sea it was impossible to tell them apart.
Hibernia had a profitable working life of 32 years but met her end near Cromer in a terrible north east gale in 1938.
Despite their similar construction, Cambria was slightly faster than her sister, and came second in the Thames and Medway barge match in 1907.
Cambria’s working life began as a river and coastal cargo carrier, regularly sailing the London river to the Medway, and across the channel to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Calais and Treport. Cambria’s cross channel cargoes were pitch, coke, wheat and oil cake.Her home ports were any harbours between the Humber and Cornwall. One of the most frequent routes was carrying coal from Keadby on the river Trent to Harwich, Colchester and Margate. Fully laden, Cambria could carry 170 tons, enough to fill seventeen railway trucks; this weight put her down to her sea load line, 11.5 inches from deck level. With less than a foot of freeboard and with 5000 square feet of canvas, the decks were frequently awash, making a hazardous working environment in the often foul weather of the North Sea and the channel.
The first barge matches after the 1914-18 War took place in 1927, when Cambria had the honour of flying the championship pennant in the coasting class for the Thames and Medway barge matches. In 1928 Cambria repeated the success by winning the Medway match.
The first skipper of the Cambria was “Brusher” Milton. Bob Roberts had his share of adventures as a deep water sailor before becoming captain of the Cambria in 1954. At the age of 14, he left his home in Dorset and went to sea in the Waterwitch, a barquentine that was the last square rigged merchant ship to trade out of a home port in Britain. He joined Everard’s after sailing as mate and master of various barges belonging to Goldsmith’s and G F Sully Ltd. With Everard’s he skippered the Martinet and the Greenhithe. Under Bob Roberts’ command Cambria continued normal trade but it became increasingly difficult to carry on the coastal trade and he had to be content with only a young mate as crew. Ginger Latham became the crew, after working as a clerk in city office. The last mate of the Cambria was Dick Durham who now is a journalist with Yachting Monthly. The third hand was “Penny”, a Welsh collie dog who barked a warning in foggy weather when the barge came near any floating object.
In the late fifties and early sixties, Everard’s laid off their sailing barges and most were broken up or converted to houseboats. Bob Roberts was given the opportunity to take over Cambria as owner, which he ran successfully from 1966 to 1970. However, not even the Cambria could continue for very much longer in the face of a revolution affecting the freight and haulage industry on land and at sea. Click to read the continuing story >>
