I have a special interest in exploring shipwrecks and in particular, clusters of wrecks, or “ship graveyards”. I have managed to find abut 15 of these locations across the UK that I am slowly working my way through when I get a chance. I have already written up two of these visits on this site at Fort Hoo and Lake Lothing.
This visit was to what is locally referred to as the “Hoo Sailing Barge Graveyard” by Port Werburgh on the north bank of the River Medway. There are somewhere between 30 and 40 wrecks here of different shapes and sizes, some still above the high tide line and some nearly completely lost to the mud with just the odd beam sticking up. At low tide, these wrecks could be accessed by foot, but it’s far more fun to kayak around over and inside them. The picture below is a still taken from some drone footage I found on the internet and shows the wrecks at about the mid tide.
The wrecks are a mix of WW2 concrete barges (bottom left), fishing vessels (bottom right), a floating drydock (bottom centre), small pleasure and commercial crafts (middle) and most interestingly, a collection of 9 Thames Barges (across the top), of which 3 are recorded to have been involved in the Dunkirk evacuations.
This one has been on my list for years so one very cold winters morning I inflated my sea kayak and launched into the River Medway about 5km away from the site.
After about an hour of paddling I came across a line of sunken concrete barges along the edge of Hoo island, as shown below, with a huge murmuration of birds in the background. It was a very beautiful sight seeing thousands of birds suddenly rise up out of the marshes en masse.
I continued on to the main wrecks which took a further 15 mins. The first hull I could see were two WW2 concrete barges (on the left below), one of which was actually still floating. In the middle of the picture below, the top of a sunken “floating” dry dock can be seen, with two smaller boats inside, then a large wooden huller fishing vessel on the right.
The most famous wreck here is the Ena which is a Thames Barge built in Harwich in 1906, featured in both world wars, is on the National Register of Historic Ships and even featured on the TV on an episode of “Salvage Squad”. In her day she was a magnificent looking vessel (see below).
Ena served in the First World War, delivering supplies across the Channel to troops in France. Her shallow draught allowed her to operate in waters too shallow for the enemy U-boats. In the Second World War, Ena was one of 13 Thames sailing barges that made the crossing as part of the Dunkirk Evacuation (the little ships).
After landing on the beaches of Dunkirk, her crew abandoned her as the Germans closed in and the ship was beached. However, she was found by Lt Colonel W G Mc Kay and 36 men of the 19th Field Regiment, who refloated her, and despite having no sailing experience between the, sailed her back to Kent. When the owner got the barge back he noted "They had taken the sweeps, mooring lines, fenders and even my false teeth which I had left behind in a glass of water by my bunk! You can't trust these men of Kent!"
After the war she continued to operate as a barge before being sold into private ownership. In 2001 she went through a significant restoration (filmed as part of Salvage Squad) but has since gone into decline. In 2016 she sank at her moorings on the Medway and shortly after she was moved to the edge of the marsh were she remains, slowly sinking further into the mud. Sadly, despite many attempts to raise funding to restore this vessel, it seems likely that this piece of history will just be left to rot into the mud.
There are 8 Thames Barges hulked here, not including the Ena above. The others are the Sailing Barge (SB) Alan, Remercie, Spinaway C, Ethel Ada, Adriatic, Felix, Scotsman and Dannebrog. In the picture below of the Ena, the wreck of the Dannebrog (middle) and I believe Spinaway C (left).
The SB Dannebrog was built at Harwich in 1901 and was a working barge until the mid 70s, after which she was used as accommodation in St Katherine’s Dock. She was sold in 1992 for restoration at Hoo which does not appear to have gone to plan. She is pictured below left in happier times. The SB Spinaway C was at one time one of the last Ipswich barges still working. She was built in Ipswich in 1899, winning the 1963 Thames barge race. She was converted into a yacht in 1967 and at a later date into living accommodation before ending up buried deep in the mud, barely visible above the water. She is pictured in her glory below right. The Spinaway C is also listed on the register of “little ships” (i.e. those involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk) albeit I have not been able to determine what role she played.
The next barge I came across was the SB Felix, easily identifiable by her name still clearly legible on the bow above the waterline (see below).
The SB Felix was built in 1893 in Harwich, Suffolk. Like many other Thames barges she later became a motor barge and was sold out of trade in 1972 and became a yacht barge. The photos below show how she used to look.
Next to the Felix were three other barges, SB Alan (I think), the Ethel Ada and the Remercie. All three of these were much lower in the water with either only the odd bits sticking above the high tide.
I have not been able to find out any information on the history of these three vessels other than that the SB Alan is also listed on the register of “little ships” (i.e. those involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk) albeit I have not been able to determine what role she played. Below are photos of the Ethel Ada (left) and Remercie (right) in action.
Although my research shows that the SB Adriatic is also located here, I did not see any physical trace of her, therefore I assume she was under the water or buried in the mud. The final of the thames barges is the Scotsman, immediately behind the sunken fishing boat in the foreground. If you zoom in you can just make out the name in the centre of the picture.
The SB Scotsman was built at Sittingbourne in 1899, became a motor barge in 1953 and was later converted into a houseboat at Faversham Creek. It was later moved to Hoo for restoration purposes. The picture below shows it heavily laden (sitting low in the water) on the River Thames at Teddington in the 1920s
Moving back around the other wrecks, there are a number of larger wooden fishing vessels, pleasure cruisers and barges in various stages of falling apart, though I was unable to read any of the names of these.
Another fishing boat below, mounted on top of what looks like a small pleasure cruiser and barge. I found the rather exposed toilet location on the foredeck rather amusing (bottom right)
After poking around the wrecks for a while I headed over to the marina just to the west of the graveyard as I could see what looked like a sunken tug. On closed inspection (below) I found this was indeed the case, a rather nice looking Tyne Tug called Marsden that despite a significant recent renovation had sunk.
Some research afterwards showed that it was built in 1956 in Appledore, Devon, and spent 30 years working as a harbour tug up in Newcastle (see below) followed by a further 15 years on the River Medway before being converted into houseboat in 2002.
I found an advert online from 2 years ago showing the ship as having been sold at £110,000 as a 4 bed houseboat – the photos look very nice inside, however I suspect this has all been ruined now.
Continued......
