Skipper David Westwood steers Thames sailing barge, Victor, back to Colchester, Essex, for the first time in 30 years

To mark the 120th anniversary of her first taking to the coastal waters of East Anglia, she sailed back into her former trading base, Colchester, from where she traded for many years.

It was the first time she had returned to the Hythe in 30 years.

Steering her on her special trip were long-serving skipper David Westwood, pictured, known to all as Wes, and her crew including shipmate Alex Willis.

Victor is one of only about 30 Thames barges still operating – in their heyday, asmany as 3,000 were at sea, carrying all manner of cargoes to riverside communities on the south and east coasts.

Alex says: “There are probably around 50 still afloat but only 30 that can be sailed. The rest are either in such a bad, dilapidated state they could not be sailed, or they are privately-owned or used as houseboats.

“The design of the barges is specific to the Thames estuary.

"They were never really based far from there because they have a shallowdraught. Their use was to feed people before roads and railways could transport goods.

"They had to be shallow in order to go right up to the seawalls for deliveries in Essex and Suffolk.”

Victor has enjoyed a long and varied history. Registered in 1895, after she was built by Horace Shrubsall at the Dock End Yard, in Ipswich for Colchester-based Owen Parry.

Until the Second WorldWar, she collected linseed from farms around the east Coast and took it to Parry’s Mill on Hythe Quay, Colchester.

Alex, from Wix, says: “She would then return to London with the oil in barrels. It’s thought this cargo may have contributed to her excellent condition.”

Thames barges were often sailed by two or three people, but a Alex says it’s common misconception that it was often “a man and a boy.”

He explains: “It would have mainly been twomen but the idea of aman and a boy may have come from the war, when there would have been fewermen because of conscription. Youmight have then have had an 18-year-old skipper and a 15-year-old mate.

“The Navy was desperate for skilled sailors, so, as you can imagine, the barge skippers got snapped up quickly.”

In 1926 renowned skipper Felix Mallet started on the Victor and six years later, the London & Rochester Shipping Company, owner of Felix’s previous barge, Greta, bought the Victor for £450 .

During the Second WorldWar she did vital war work, carriying munitions out of Chatham Dock, in Kent. Her cargo included torpedoes and shells for transfer to cruisers, corvettes and destroyers.

Alex says: “She was lucky to survive a bomb that directly hit and completely destroyed a lighter lying alongside her.”

Two years after the war ended, she became the last Thames sailing barge to be returned to civvy street. She was towed to Brightlingsea, with another Thames barge, Chieftain.

Alex says: “She was lucky then, too. The towwas too fast and Chieftain was towed under and lost.”

After that, Victor continued to trade for the London&Rochester Company on the Medway in the Fifties, by then under motor, her gaff rig having been removed.

She was sold again 1964 for £450 – the price she had fetched in 1926 and the next ten years would see here have three different owners and enjoy something of a chequered career.

With a smile, Alex says: “She even had a short career as a strip club, before being taken to Ramsgate.

“Luckwas on her side again.

She was abandoned in difficulties in the Channel. Ramsgate lifeboat picked up the crew from her barge boat and towed her to Ramsgate, where she lay unused for four years.”

She was then sold and taken back to the Medway to serve as a houseboat, until 1974 when she was bought by Owen Emerson, a navy trained shipwright, who rebuilt and re-rigged her.

Reborn as a classic Thames sailing barge, from 1995 she operated as a 40 passenger charter barge and floating office for a consultancy business, mainly based on the south coast and near Tower Bridge in London.

Then in 2005, she returned closer to her home waters with newowners Steve Godwin and Tony Chancellor. The pair brought her to HorlockOld Yard, Mistley after which she underwent major refits at Maldon and Mistley.

This included a new mast, sprit, running and standing rig, new electric, water and heating systems, water and fuel tanks, refurbished decks, saloon, cabins, galley and head.

Since 2010 Victor has been owned by Classic Yacht Charters and, working from the Old Customs House in Ipswich Dock, is hired out for events and passenger trips, carrying as many as 40 passengers.

Skipper Wes Westwood, from Ipswich has earned a living from the sea since he was 13.

Alex’s own his love affair with sailing also began at a young age – through dinghy racing.

He says the trip back to Colchester gave the crew a chance “to stretch her legs”, as these days, the barge only undertook short trips. He adds: “There is an amazing group of volunteers that keeps her in the condition she is in. It’s is a real labour of love, so this trip also gave us a chance to recognise them.”