Steam Tug Brent Trust

www.steamtugbrent.org
Email: info@steamtugbrent.org

Steam Tug Brent of 1945

Steam Tug Brent (@steamtugbrent)

NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2019

‘Maldon’s beloved Steam Tug,’ as she is described in a walk guide I saw!

Dear Brent Supporters

These late summer days of hazy mornings followed by
calm clear days are perfect for completing the year’s
painting and for our late summer open days. In truth, we
had hoped to have had all our painting finished by now,
but time and weather have not allowed us to. The lovely
weather in July was largely too hot and the month of
August started with plenty of sun, but beset with showers
and strong winds, it was not until the second half of the
month that we could achieve much. We are fortunate to
have two skilled painters,
Mark who has been with the Trust since its first days in
2011
and newly joining us is
Doug who has been a
professional painter all
his working life.
Painting for us since
the end of July, he has
moved at an amazing
pace, and primers,
undercoats and
topcoats have been
applied to Brent’s rails,
casing, light boxes and
the grating aft, all in
less than three weeks!

The manhole covers to the empty fuel tanks

need to be removed before the guys from
Adler and Allen come back to clean the tanks
for us.
The two Tony’s have had to use heat to
loosen the nuts as the covers have not been
off for some 50 years!
 Our decision to have the mast repaired was not
before time; fixtures and fittings were only just
holding together!

In a lull between the ever present repair work for

the sailing barges, Ralph found time in June to
make the repairs to the mast. Painting is now
underway , but we still need to repair the lights
before we rehang them. With new wire strops
and rope halyards it will look very well.

We can’t say it hasn’t cost us a penny, but it

hasn’t cost much more. The donation from the
Mayor’s fund which we received in March was
just £1.00 short of the amount on the invoice
from Ralph!!

London River Connections

On the
London River
River Thames,
Connections
until the second half
of the last century, at
every curve or point
and from the
bridges, one would
see steam tugs, often
with loaded or empty
lighter barges towing
behind.
This evocative
painting is by Maldon
artist, Barry Pearce.
 As a student in the late 1960s, this was
one of my favourite London River
photos.

Taken by Ron Hall in 1967, he gave me

a large print which I had on my wall in
my college room; I never considered
what other students thought of my
choice of ‘pin-ups’!!

Little did I know then, that later my life

would become inherently linked to
another London based tug! We
purchased Brent in 1971 and owned
her until she was placed under the care
of the Steam Tug Brent Trust in 2011.

In recent years two steam vessels seen

on the Thames are the Steam Tug
Portwey and the Paddle Steamer
Waverley.
However, this year neither
has been seen steaming on the
river.
Both are out of commission.

Portwey is in the dry dock;

shafts and bearings have been
removed for refurbishment.
Hopefully we will see her back
in steam, before too long.

Waverley has more serious problems. She needs two new boilers at an estimated cost of £1m each
From the archive

James has been adding more artefacts to our storage facility at the Essex Record Office. The items
taken and recorded include Brent’s original shipyard drawing printed on linen.

On the drawing, Brent has four lights on the mast. The two original electric lights are undergoing
refurbishment at present. We do not have the original paraffin lamps shown and, indeed, maybe
she was never issued with them. However, we do have her original ‘Not under command’ lamps,
which can be seen below doing service as part of the Boat Show
stand in January, 2015.

The Colregs
Rule 27 (a) (Vessels not under command
or restricted in their ability to manoeuvre),
a vessel not under command shall exhibit:
i two all-round red lights in a vertical line
ii where they can be seen best

You may recognise some of the motley

crew at the wheel!
Open Days and Events

May saw the first of our Open Days; it also

saw the last of our fo’c’stle padlock. We
have had in excess of 10,000 visitors come
on board over the past four years and this is
the only item we have had taken!

The Maldon Mud Race draws enormous crowds

to Maldon. As you can see, by far the best
viewing point for the start of the race is from
the Brent’s foredeck

Maldon History Week

Organised by the Maldon Town Council
for the Maldon Heritage Group, Maldon
History Week runs in the school half term
break. This is the third History Week with
which we have been involved, but the first
where we have had specific days solely for
children and their families. It was
delightful to see the pleasure that it gave
as well as, hopefully, fostering an interest
in our heritage in young people. The
experience of being on Brent, when she
was free from crowds was very different
from being on board
on a busy open
day.
At the Blackwater
Show we had the
company of The
Maldon Riverside
Association, who had
an exhibition in half of
our tent.

On the waterfront

The Blue Mermaid is a new build

barge. The original Blue Mermaid,
one of the very last sailing barges,
built in the 1930s, was lost in the
Second World War.

The new barge is a replica of her,

even down to the paint colours. She
was launched in 2016 and Sea
Change Sailing Trust had a
celebration of her commissioning in
July this year.

We are very fortunate that much of the waterfront at Maldon has retained its old quays, buildings
and boatyards. However there is, as with many other shore side towns, the threat of
unsympathetic development and the keen eye of the developer looks closely at our waterside sites
with several areas at the head of the river under threat. The various organisations involved with
the waterfront community are working together to see how we can protect the living legacy of
maritime Maldon, which is so important to us all.

Plans for the future

In the April issue of the Newsletter we outlined our plans to make provision for the Brent to be
berthed nearer the navigable channel in readiness for when she is in steam again.
 Once we have all the necessary permissions we will start to prepare for putting a bid in for
Heritage Lottery funding.
At this stage are seeking grant funds locally, aiming first to find £12K for a feasibility study. We
await the result of our first grant application. We will hear whether we have been successful in
October.

Forthcoming events
Our last three open days of 2019. We
hope you will be able to visit us in
September.

Maldon Town Regatta 2019

Saturday 21st September

Wishing you good sailing and all the best from Steam Tug Brent Trust,

Janet
Trustees: Richard Albanese, Janet Hall, Chairman, Andrea Raiker, Mari Riva, Mark Heard, Ian Chapman

Volunteer Team: Janet Hall, Amelia Hall, Tony Kirk, Penny Kirk, Tony Seaman, James Morgan, Richard Cooper,
Mark Watsham, Ian Chapman, Ray Binning, Sue Stewart, Mari Riva, Sheelagh Swain, Mark Heard, Vicky Heard, Alec
Hopkins, Roger Pond, Reece Dalsania and Doug North

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company. 07404307