SB ETHEL ADA

ETHEL ADA was built as a speculation by the Shuttlewood brothers of Paglesham, Essex, one brother building the port side and the other the starboard side, each assisted by one boy; and they named the barge after the ladies in their lives. Construction, in oak with a single skin, started on 15 October 1903 and the barge was launched on 30 July 1904. She was a snug fit in the building shed and to launch her the brothers took the tie-beams out of the roof so that one end of the barge could be jacked up to get the ways under her on a slope.

Whilst under construction she found her first owner in G & A Underwood, coal and corn merchants of Southend, and under their colours won the 1904 Southend match despite an enormous racing spinnaker pulling the topmast out of her during the race. 

For wooden boats carrying combustible fuels was potentially hazardous, with fires a constant risk. One such incident occurred on board Ethel Ada in 1910, and was particularly prescient given its future cargo in the Second World War.

The process of loading ETHEL ADA with coke began on Thursday 4 January 1910. A fire in the hold was discovered at 10.30pm the same night, by E. Lankester, the load runner. He told several stokers and the foreman, who sent them to quench the fire with pails and shovels. The foreman also sent for the captain of the barge, who in turn sent for the manager. 

 A large number of firemen were present on the Quay with pumps, and some were set to removing part of the coke in the hold. The fire was judged to have been extinguished by 12.30am, and the firemen left at 1.30am. The manager then put 5 men of board to cut out any hot places they could find, the men subsequently being paid by the captain.

ETHEL ADA was inspected on Friday morning 4 January 1910 and the all clear was given to resume loading the same afternoon. Loading was finished on Saturday. The owners subsequently sued the coke supplier for the damage caused by the fire. The sum of £80 was finally paid in settlement of the damage caused by the solicitors of the Ipswich Gaslight Company.

This is believed to have been the last Southend match for working barges, although they have more recently been revived. ETHEL ADA was subsequently owned by Samuel West Ltd from 1915, TF Wood Ltd, of Gravesend - carrying gunpowder - from 1938, the Successors to TF Wood Ltd, and finally ICI, before ending trading in 1957.  She never had an engine fitted during her trading days, and was sold to private owners in 1958 for a yacht conversion.

Geoff Mellor purchased her in 1969 and lived on board for ten years at Pin Mill whilst also carrying out essential repairs and restoration. During the 1980s, after further restoration work and the installation of a diesel engine, she started a new working life as a cruise barge with accommodation for twelve passengers in four cabins, as well as her skipper, mate and cook, and was based at Snape on the River Alde, Suffolk. Ownership passed to Jed Green, with whom she was a regular competitor in barge matches during the 1990s. In 1999 she was sold to Oliver Price and was refitted and repaired by Webb’s of Pin Mill, leaving there on 1 September 2001 for Maldon to be re-rigged with new running rigging and a new mainsail and mizzen. Ethel Ada left Maldon on 22 October 2001 and arrived at St Saviour’s Dock, London, two days later. She is now based at Hermitage Wharf, Wapping, and charters from Tower Bridge or the east coast ports to sail between the Swale and the Alde. She regularly races in the barge matches: in 2009 she won the Thames coasting class. 

Source: Paul Brown, Historic Sail, The History Press.