Built 1922 by London & Rochester Trading Co., Pudge is a Thames sailing barge in parade of sail at Queens Jubilee
1922 by London & Rochester Trading Co., Pudge is a Thames sailing barge one of the last wooden barges to be built moored in parade of sail at Queens Jubilee. 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 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. Pudge is one of only four of the Dunkirk Spritsail Barges that survive. Pudge is a member of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships and is entitled to fly the flag of St. George. She then resumed her normal trade into and from London docks, Ipswich and the Medway ports with grain, cattle cake, fertilizer, etc. until her last freight of pineapple juice in 1968. The Thames Sailing Barge Trust
Size: 6048px × 3408px
Location: River Thames, Providence Tower, Bermondsey Wall, London
Photo credit: © Russell Bulley / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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