Hulk of Thames sailing barge, 'Gillman of Rochester', Northey Island (EHER 13738)

The remains of hulked Thames barge, Gillman of Rochester, and part of the Northey Island hulk assemblage. It is the eastern barge of two on the western side of Northey Island, facing the River Blackwater, and is seen to be located in the inter-tidal zone on saltmarsh. She lies to the landward of a more substantial hulk, the MISTLEY (EHER 13740). Constructed of wood in 1865, the Gillman was originally a sailing vessel, before becoming a lighter. She was hulked and abandoned by at least 1977. The vessel was revisited in 2015 and observed to be in considerably poor condition.

Gillman of Rochester, Official No. 49846, 43 ton. Built at Lambeth in 1865 and owned by Butcher Gillman and Co., Parker and Brown for lighterage. Hulked on Northey Island. <1> <2> <3> 1997. Field survey. Gillman was built in Lambeth, probably by John Barnard, by certificate, and was completed on 25th February 1865. Second hand materials may have been used in her construction. She was built for Webster, Gillman, Butcher and Co., manure merchants of London, to carry manure. She would probably have served a dual function carrying manure down river away from London and haystacks upriver. She would probably have carried about 75 tons. She would have measured about 72.8 feet by 16 feet by 4.7 feet (depth of hold at the shallowest part). She was sold in 1891 to Wakeley's of Bankside who were manure merchants in Rainham, Kent. In 1911 she was registered as belonging to Victor Parker of Bradwell, son of Clement Parker who worked for Wakeley's. In 1923 she became the property of Violet Parker. During this period she would have been used for carriage of local produce between the Deben and the Thames. Like the Mistley (EHER 13740), she was also sold eventually to Brown's of Chelmsford but the date is not known. She was not shown on the register before 1930. The Gillman is known to have been put on Northey island in 1937 by Frank Thompson and his cousin Frank Clark after Brown's had finished with her. He recorded this in a letter: 'we put her there on a hot sunny day with a big spring tide. After getting her through the breach into the island the tide took charge and she roared up one of the rills at the rate of knots, ran her head up clear of the water on the saltings, went athwart the rill with the tide building up against her side, lay over but at last came off as the tide rose and we pulled and shoved her up to her last berth on the high water'. The Gillman may be confused with another barge, possibly the 'Gipping', in some historic accounts. Sir Norman Angell, who bought the island in 1921 (some records say 1923) wrote in his biography that included in the purchase was 'a large barge abandoned on the beach and past its prime and half loaded with coke'. He goes on to say that after taking up residence on the island the barge was emptied of coke, hauled up on the beach and used as a houseboat which provided 'summertime housing for children and friends and relatives'. This could not have been the Gillman which was not hulked on the island until 1937. In a later part of the autobiography Sir Norman talks of building an extension: 'By the side of the cottage therefore / built a house completely of my own design using for much of the interior woodwork beams, joists - the timbers of a derelict sailing barge which had been part of the property of the island'. The date of this is not given and it is not clear whether the timbers used came from the coke barge used as a houseboat or another barge. There is mention of a neighbour visiting the island during a long period when the Angell's were away from the island and seeing the 'ark' as the houseboat was called 'derelict, decayed and lopsided'. The aspect of the Gillman today, however, appears flat and Frank Thompson's account would seem to suggest they berthed her flat. From comparison of the 1960 and 1970 aerial photographs it would seem as though the Gillman deteriorated substantially during this period. It is thought that Sir Norman Angell rebuilt the property with barge timbers after the bombing in the Second World War and prior to 1960 and it is therefore less likely that it was the Gillman's timbers that were used. This is at odds with the National Trust Coast and Country leaflet which portrays the Gillman as the initial coke barge. When surveyed, it was observed that virtually everything above the floor ribs and outer planking, apart from the rudder and rudder post, had completely disappeared. (This might corroborate the story that some of the timbers had been taken to build a nearby house. The hulk was surrounded by debris from Mistley (EHER 13740). Forward from the rudder post some of the stern outer planking was still visible, with the stern most ribs protruding up some 20-30cm, with the port and starboard sides generally standing some 10cm proud of the surrounding marsh. Though there was no clear indication of the location of the point of the bow. <4> September 2015. Field survey. This vessel was almost entirely covered by salt marsh, only the rudder, sternpost and two extremely degraded frames being visible. The observed length was 2.85m and observed height 2.60m. The sternpost was moulded at the head 0.23m and sided at the head 0.15m. The rudder fan was studded with iron nails and a square iron collar measuring 0.34m by 0.33m was recorded on the rudder head. The rudder was not attached to the sternpost by the usual gudgeon and pintle system but by straps from both sternpost and rudder around a vertical iron post. The two observed frames were too degraded to make any accurate measurements of their original dimensions but appeared to be spaced, centre to centre, 0.40m. It had been previously identified as the Gillman, and was recorded as in considerably worse condition than the Mistley (EHER 13740), only the floor timbers and some outer planking, along with the sternpost and rudder being visible IN 1997. Only the sternpost, rudder and ends of two extremely degraded floor timbers were observed during this survey. It is, however, likely that more of the bottom of the vessel survives under the salt marsh. This vessel is likely to continue to disintegrate. <5> Note: This record was previously mapped at the NGR TL 8780 0670 but has been remapped to the current position using Sketchmap A in source <4> which is believed to be correct. NRHE data transfer: Wreck Site and Archaeological Remains: Recorded as hulked in this report of 1986. <2> Photograph of these two hulks. The seaward hulk identifiable as MISTLEY (EHER 13740); this one to the landward therefore identifiable as the GILLMAN. Sternpost visible, the remainder presumably well embedded in the mud. <6> Recognisably depicted and identified as the hulk visible in source <6> as 'remains of a barge at Northey Island' by a local artist, 1998. <7> Wreck Event and Documentary Evidence: GILLMAN, registered at Rochester, 43 tons; built 1865. Became a lighter, then a hulk, but dates not specified. <2> Built: 1865 <2> Where Built: Lambeth <2> Official Number: 49846 <2> Owners: Gillman & Co.; Parker; Browns <2> Date of Loss Qualifier: Approximate date of loss