Thomas H is a Sheffield Class Humber Keel Barge.

She was built in 1940 by Richard Dunston Ltd., Thorne, Yorkshire.

She was one of two sister ships commissioned by the Hodgsons Tannery at Beverley Beck on the Humber, where she worked for many years. Her sister ship was called Richard after the other Hodgson bother.

She was never under sail, at the time she was built the government was subsidising the building of motor driven barges.

She is extra wide beam at 15.5 feet and she is 62.5 feet long.

We bought her in early 2006 through Alan Pease in Goole and roped him into emptying the various tanks and debris she had in her at the time, decking over her open hold, replacing the unusable Lister engine and generally get her onto working order for the trip down from Goole around the coast to the Thames. Then, we got him to pilot her down too.

This is a belated attempt to diary the ups and downs of our journey so far.

Tuesday 20 May 2008

Comparison of this year and last

Here are two videos of the boat. The first I did this
spring, the second I did last summer.

You can see the difference now we have insulation, and
walls.

What you can't see is the fact that it doesn't smell
like rust and diesel any more and that it's finally
clean. It took so, so long to get rid of all the
general dust that comes from years of it being a
working boat and from the metal dust from all the
angle grinding.


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2 comments:

nicky said...

Hi Simon glad to see your getting Thomas looking so well its looking real smart now wheel house looks really well keep up the good work keep posting those pictures too mate
Nicky

Fran said...

Love your barge, the Humber Keel is such a great shape. We have just started on our conversion of a barge that is a similar shape to yours. We have learnt a lot from your blog. Well done on the good work.