Hulk of Thames sailing barge, 'Mistley of Ipswich', Northey Island (EHER 13740)

The remains of a hulked Thames barge, Mistley of Ipswich; the westernmost of two barges (which make up the Northey Island Hulk Assemblage) on the western side of Northey Island, facing the River Blackwater, and seen to be located in the inter-tidal zone on saltmarsh. She lies to the seaward of the Gillman (EHER 13738), a similar, but more decayed, hulk. Constructed of wood in 1891, she was originally a sailing vessel, before becoming a lighter in the 1940s. She was abandoned and hulked by the 1960s, and was the subject of investigations by the Nautical Archaeology Society in 1997-2000. The vessel was visited again in 2015 as part of a field survey where it was found to be in considerably poor condition. Part of the deck was recorded to the south-east, presumably having broken away and moved with the tide.

Mistley of Ipswich, Official No. 91336, 64 ton. Built by Cann at Harwich in 1891 and owned by Horlock, Pauls and Brown as a lighter from 1940. Hulked in the 1960s on Northey Island. <1> <2> <3> See photo <4>. 1997. Field survey. The Mistley was built to carry wheat and would have carried about 135 tons (600 quarters). She would have returned with flour and would also have carried malt and barley for Horlock. She was built as a Topsail Thames Barge with a double skin, rebated oak on oak. Her dimensions were about 85 to 86 feet long by about 19.5 feet wide by about 6.3 feet (depth of hold). Today she measures from stem to rudder post approximately 82' 4". This excludes the rudder which would add approximately 7' 3". In 1899 she was sold to George & Frederick Clarke of Water Lane in the City of London. In 1912 she was sold to R & W Paul flour millers of Ipswich for £500.00. During the Second World War she was requisitioned to help in the defence of Harwich. In December 1940, while anchored to the west of the W. Shoebury buoy she dragged her anchor and in a westerly gale was driven onto the Shoebury sands where she sank. The wreck was raised, declared un-seaworthy and she was sold to Brown & Son of Chelmsford as a timber lighter. Brown's were timber importers at Heybridge Basin, west of Northey Island and owned a fleet of barges stripped down to lighters which fetched timber from ships anchored off Osea Island to canal barges inside the lock. She may have been hulked on Northey Island in 1960. Over the years she was allowed to decay and broke loose from her mooring in a big storm and broke her back or hogged on the saltings where she lies today. The name 'Mistley' can still be just discerned on her stern painted and carved on the distinctive ribbon draped over a spear insignia typical of Cann boats. On the starboard side the port of registration, Ipswich, can just be seen. The only access to the outer hull was by a ladder from the stern onto a small island of salt marsh. The rest of the hull was completely surrounded by mud which was flooded at high tide. The interior ceiling was also flooded, necessitating careful access. The bow section had split away from the stern post. The fore deck has collapsed and the main windlass and fittings has fallen down. The deck is rotting and only certain access routes were found over it. By and large the iron knee deck carlings were supportive but considerable corrosion is in evidence. The afterdeck has collapsed on the port side, and was almost inaccessible. The timbers internally and externally still allow an excellent examination of the shipwrights art. Internally, evidence was found of animal hair and tar caulking. No leeboards were in evidence and there were no masts or rigging of any sort. A number of fittings are still in evidence, including the pumps (one in each corner of the hold). The forward starboard pump is still roughly in situ. Debris from the Mistley surrounds the nearby hulk of the Gillman (EHER 13738). <5> September 2015. Field survey. This vessel was identified as a carvel-planked barge with a length of 27.20m (including rudder), a length of 25.00m (stempost to sternpost), a beam of 6.02m and an estimated visible height of 2.50m (site conditions precluded accurate measurement). The interior of the vessel had largely silted up and comprised saltmarsh. It was in a very degraded condition but the stempost, sternpost and rudder were substantially intact, some of the vessel sides were intact to deck level but the majority had collapsed to some degree or other. Most of the deck and the hold coaming had collapsed inboard and only some deck planking was visible. The screw steering gear was observed although it had fallen from the rudder head. It had a name plate inscribed ‘Taylor-Neath Rochester’, presumably the manufacturer. Three chain plates for standing rigging were observed midships on the upper port strakes. Two iron bilge pump tubes were observed forward of the hold, the starboard one appeared to still be in situ and had an 0.18m external diameter and 0.12m internal diameter. Observed closer to the bow and considerably obscured by the saltmarsh was the anchor windlass. To the south-east a vessel fragment was recorded and comprised six planks fastened to a deck beam with hold coaming attached above. The planks were 0.10-0.20m wide and 0.08m to 0.10m thick, the deck beam was moulded 0.18m and sided 0.20m, while the coaming comprised two planks, the lower one being 0.30m wide and 0.10m thick, the upper being 0.10m wide and 0.10m thick. The lower part of the coaming was studded with copper nails. This vessel had been previously been identified as the Mistley, launched in 1891 at Harwich, by the NAS survey undertaken in 1997. That survey demonstrated that the hull was largely intact except for considerable damage at the bow, and that the deck was largely still in situ. It also demonstrated that the vessel had two openings to the hold. The vessel has now deteriorated to such an extent that this was not discernible, although it explains the presence of the athwartship beam recorded above the area of the hold. It seems highly likely that this beam was one of the deck beams of the forward hold opening. The vessel fragment is almost certainly part of the Mistley’s deck, possibly from either forward or aft of the after hold opening. It is highly likely, once the deck had collapsed inboard, that the rate of degradation and disintegration increased, and that this increased rate of destruction will continue. <6> NRHE data transfer: Wreck Site and Archaeological Remains: Recorded as hulked in this report of 1986. <2> The wreck now lies on the foreshore at Northey Island on the River Blackwater estuary east of Maldon. The wreck was adopted by Janet and Robin Witheridge and the London Maritime Archaeology Group (LoMAG). Four site reports were produced, of which the latest, in 2000, has been made available online, summarising the investigations into the wreck and her condition in 2000. Winter storms continued to cause damage to the MISTLEY. In 1997 the wreck was largely intact, but hogged, with her bows split away from the stempost, and her stern port quarter broken up. The interior filled with water each tide and was silting up with mud to about 400mm, causing the walls and deck to rot. In the 1998 and 1999 surveys she was seen to have deteriorated considerably, her bows and stern port quarter becoming more collapsed, and confirmed by photographs and measurement. In 2000, the bows were almost horizontally split away from the stem post, while her stern port quarter had collapsed away from the transom. The aft end of the port quarter board was reported as being in the mud to the side of the hulk. The port side of the crew quarters having collapsed, ingress into this area from the main hold and out onto the mud was possible. The deck had fallen away in several places, and was unsafe. Photographs on the webpage show the timbers rotting internally and externally, with evidence of green algae externally where she filled with water at flood tide, on a photograph seen from the riverward side. Her deck hatch cover was still apparent in the external photograph. <7> Photographed in 2009, identifiable as the same wreck as in source <7>; position given as TL 8770 0635. Viewpoint from the landward side, and seen to be twisted and collapsing. To the landward the GILLMAN (EHER 13738) is visible. <8> Wreck Event and Documentary Evidence: MISTLEY of Ipswich, 64 tons register; built at Harwich by Cann, 1891. Lighter in the 1940s, hulked by the 1960s. <2> Built in 1891 for her first owner, Samuel Horatio Horlock of Mistley, as a wheat barge, with a capacity of approximately 135 tons. <7> Built: 1891 <2> <7> Builder: Cann (1); John and Herbert Cann <7> Where Built: Harwich <2> <7> Official Number: 91336 <2> <7> Owners: in chronological order: Horlock; Pauls; Browns <2>; Samuel Horatio Horlock <7> Date of Loss Qualifier: Approximate date of loss