Photo by Ann Nash © Ann Nash

with thanks to John Harman, Peter Dalrymple, Ann Nash, John Wraight, 
Nigel Robinson, Charles Traill, Ivan Evans, Graham Ruck 

Introduction

As a kid, I played on the quaysides overlooking the barges but, as a landlubber with no maritime relatives, I never actually got to learn from practical experience or from the stories of seamen. Furthermore, as a bit of a ragamuffin with no academic interest at that stage, I was never tempted to pick up a book or visit a library. The Thames barge was simply something people worked on if they didn't work in a factory, shop or office.

Academia, fascination and nostalgia came much later but they came with problems. At the outset, I found it quite difficult to locate explanations that didn't assume that I knew something already... and I couldn't know something already until I had learned something already from somewhere. 

So, to prevent other landlubbers from getting something of a headache, I have decided that our Thames Barge section needs a brief and simple introduction to the Thames barge. I have also decided that it would be as well for someone simple to write it. After all, the best person to know what a simple person doesn't know is a simple person who knows slightly more. Thus, I have offered my services.... and relied on information supplied by our knowledgeable readers.

It is not my intention to supply a fully comprehensive guide to the Thames Barge. That would be beyond the scope of both  our small feature and me. However, I do hope that these scribblings will encourage some of our visitors to delve deeper into the fascinating world of the barge via the many more sophisticated sites available on the web.

First.... A Word on Variations  

Before we start, let me warn about variations. Whilst you may be comfortable spotting a broad "Thames Sailing Barge look", you must remember that boatbuilders didn't have one master blueprint stashed in a drawer that they used over the centuries. There were many variations on the basic theme and those variations stemmed from a number of very different factors...

• Barge design evolved gradually and it took into account practical experience, new ideas and improvements in technology. Some design changes were incorporated into the creation of new vessels. Others were added later as part of the conversion or modernisation of existing craft.
   

• Barges were designed for the specific waters in which they would operate. Even within the relatively limited scope of South East England, these could vary greatly between river, coastal and even deep sea routes. 
   

• Designs were created to meet the requirements of specific types of cargo. Existing craft were also modified when their function and/or ownership changed. 

The end result is a complicated picture and one that we will only partly unravel here because we will be sticking to the set ups that you can still spot today rather than ploughing back into the very early and less efficient designs of the distant past. However, don't be surprised if you stumble across old drawings of rather different and somewhat cruder craft from earlier years.

So... Where Should We Begin?

All this makes it difficult to know where to start. However, I have decided to stick close to home by looking primarily at one particular local barge - Steve Norris's staysail barge Greta. I will then broaden the discussion to other possibilities. 

There are a number of reasons for choosing the Greta. Firstly, it is a classic barge that has been beautifully restored. Secondly, you can take a close look at it in real life because it is often berthed on the harbour's south quay. Thirdly you have the opportunity to sail on her because Steve offers trips and charter opportunities. Finally, thanks to Peter Dalrymple, we have some wonderful photos of the vessel to work with!

Sails of a Thames Barge 

An Overview

The sails are one of the distinguishing features of a Thames barge but there are a fair number of variations. For now,  let's just stick with Greta and consider an overview of some of the main sail components and terminology....

 
The Greta by Peter Dalrymple © Peter Dalrymple

I have always followed a basic principle when it comes to explanations. As far as I am concerned, complex things are usually just lots of simple things joined together. The first move isn't to understand the complex. It is to identify the simple. Thus, our next step is to examine each of the main elements of the barge..... starting with.... 

The Masts

The traditional Thames sailing barge has two basic masts as far as we landlubbers are concerned! However, these give rise to three mast names! 

The main mast is set slightly towards the bow. It also comes in two separate and overlapping pieces. The lower piece grabs the title main mast and the upper section is fobbed off with the less grand title of "top mast".

A separate mizzen mast is located at the stern.

Sails of the Main Mast

Attached to the rear (ie "aft") of the main mast is the main sail and this has a set up that typifies so many Thames sailing barges that we see today. Take a look at this extract from our labelled photo of the Greta........ 

Photo by Peter Dalrymple

Notice that the main sail has a diagonal wooden spar stretching from the lower section of the main mast to the upper corner of the sail. This is known as a sprit.... hence the terms spritsail and spritsail barge. The sprit is set at approximately 30^o to the mast and rotates horizontally in order to take up the best position in the prevailing wind. The sail has no boom along its bottom edge. Thus it hangs loose. (Note for total landlubbers: A boom is a wooden pole that stretches horizontally along the bottom edge of a sail from a mast. It is usually the thing that swings round and knocks actors into the water in comedy films).

John Harman explains the when and why of the spritsail idea..... 

John's comments remind us of something that we mentioned on our Background Page. For reasons of economics, barges were designed so that they could be sailed by a crew of just two people - the skipper and his mate. By coincidence, the America's Cup was being screened at the time of drafting this article and it was interesting to compare the crew of a barge with the hoards of people required to sail a racing craft. 

The brailing of the sail can be seen in the photo kindly supplied by Ann Nash below....

Photo © Ann Nash

In effect, the sail was like a posh curtain that could be drawn up when not required.  The brailing process was helped by the fact that that there was no boom holding the bottom edge of the sail. The absence of a boom also meant that there was easy access to the main cargo hatch once the sail had been brailed. 

In port, the sprit had another purpose..... as a form of "on-board" crane. One very odd deployment of this facility is described by John Harman on our Harbour Operations page. 

That's the main sail dealt with. Now we move to the other side of the main mast. Attached to the front of this is a triangular foresail that stretches to the bow of the barge.....

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

Sails of the Top Mast

The top mast provides for further sails to be fitted immediately above those of the main mast. It is joined to the main mast as shown below.....

At the rear  of  the the top mast, we have the aptly named topsail. At first glance, this appears to be  triangular in shape but closer inspection shows that it actually has four sides.....

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

In front (ie forward) of the topsail of the Greta, we have a triangular staysail....

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

This is attached to a stay that stretches from the top of the mast to the bow of the barge. I have specifically mentioned the Greta here because she is a staysail barge. A little later, we will take a quick look at a variation on this sail arrangement known as the bowsprit.

Sail of the Mizzen Mast

The mizzen mast is located at the stern of the vessel and it carries one sail - the mizzen. Like the main sail, this has a sprit - known as the mizzen sprit. However, unlike the main sail, the mizzen also has a boom at its base. I presume that one of the reasons for this is that the mizzen extends beyond the stern of the vessel. Without a boom, there would be nowhere to attach the far bottom edge of the sail.

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

The mizzen is located just behind the ship's wheel and it is more a device for assisting steering than providing propulsion.

Sail Combinations..

Sailing vessels don't necessarily deploy all their sails at one time. One of the great things about the design of the Thames barge is that it can operate with almost any combination of its sails to suit the prevailing conditions. Thus, you may spot a vessel operating with anything from one sail to all sails. 

Sail Colour

For years, I wondered why barge sails were usually red. Finally, Nigel Robinson cleared it all up....

It's just as well ochre isn't pink.... otherwise we could have barge skippers eating marmite sailors rather than marmite soldiers.

Some Sail Variations 

The Bowsprit Variation

Some Thames barges have a bowsprit. This is a pole that stretches out almost horizontally from the bow of a vessel and it can be seen in this dramatic shot of the barge Portlight kindly sent to us by Dave Jordan.....

 
Photo © Dave Jordan

The bowsprit allows sails to be set further forward..... ie beyond the bow of the vessel. It also provides more scope. In fact, if you spot a bowsprit barge in full sail, you may detect two sails stretching from the top mast to the bowsprit rather than just a staysail as in the case of the Greta. It might look something like this attempt at a reconstruction....

I understand that a sail attached to the bowsprit can be set up in a number of different ways... including use of the staysail as a spinnaker. However, as a "know nothing", I am getting myself into deep water here and I will merely add that a spinnaker is that curious sail that fills with wind and balloons out in front of the vessel. It often comes in very bright colours and it is primarily used when the barge is sailing down wind..

If anyone can supply a real photo of these sail arrangements, we would be delighted to hear from you!!!!

Gaff Rig Variation and Boomies

If you only have a mast to support sails, sails need to be triangular because there is only one place to attach the top. However, the problem with a triangular sail is that it has a limited surface area.

A "four sided" sail can provide a larger surface area but it needs an extra structure (such as a wooden spar) to be attached at an angle to the mast in order to support the top far corner. In describing the Greta, we have already seen one way that this can be accomplished for both the main sail and mizzen. It involved the use of that "sprit" spar that ran diagonally across the face of the sail from the bottom of the mast to the top far corner. 

However, this is not the only option. Another method is to have a spar that runs almost horizontally along the top edge of the sail from the upper part of the mast. This type of spar is known as a gaff. There is a further spar at the base of the sail - ie the boom.

Compare the spritsail arrangement of the Greta's main sail (below left) with a rough diagram of a gaff (below right)...

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

Some Thames barges are "gaff rigged" on both their mainsail and mizzen. In such cases, the barge may be referred to as a boomie. I would have preferred "gaffer" but the term had already been applied to football managers.

I am told that gaff rigging involves more effort on the part of the crew because the sail needs to be lowered when not in use whereas the spritsail can simply be raised and stored on the mast. As mentioned earlier, the spritsail was a later invention designed to make life easier and keep crew numbers to a minimum. In fact, some older barges were converted from gaff to spritsail in order to improve operations. Nevertheless, gaff rigging continued to be used for some vessels as it performed better than a spritsail in open seas.

A Cross Breed? - The Mulie

With all the various sail options, you may be wondering if these can be mixed. Well, the answer is.... yes.... and that brings us to the mulie. As you know, a mule is cross between a horse and a donkey. In the case of a mulie barge, there is a mixture of sail types that is a little different from the norm. The main sail has a sprit but the mizzen is gaff-rigged. There may also be other differences. The mizzen mast may be much taller and set further forward - in front of the wheel rather than behind it.  

Stumpie Variation

Another variation is a barge with no top mast and therefore no topsail. This is known as a stumpie. Stumpies were usually smaller craft. 

It is worth noting that a barge with a topsail may be referred to as a tops'l barge. However, a tops'l barge can forego its top mast in which case you may overhear someone calling it stumpie-rigged.

Types of Barge...  for Types of Usage... 

As I mentioned at the beginning, barges were often designed for specific types of use. Whilst there were no hard and fast rules, stumpies and staysails tended to work locally within the river and estuary whereas bowsprits might venture further afield on coastal voyages. Boomies and mulies were true coastal vessels. 

The Leeboard

Before we move on to discuss the hull in detail, let me pick out a couple of attachments that have a direct relationship with the sails. Take a look at this photo extract of the Greta's hull and focus on the object identified by the yellow circle.....

Greta with Leeboard in Use - Photo © Peter Dalrymple

These things are leeboards and, as you can see below, they are substantial structures....

 Greta with Leeboard Retracted - Photo © Peter Dalrymple

There is one leeboard on each side of the vessel and they are retractable. Normally, only one is in use at any one time.... for a very good reason.

Wind acting from one side of the vessel (ie the windward side) is converted into forward motion by the sails.... but it can also cause the vessel to drift to the leeward side. To prevent this, the leeboard on the leeward side is left in contact with the water. This increases the drag and reduces the leeward drift. Meanwhile, the leeboard on the windward side is retracted. I presume the common expression "making leeway" originates from all this.

Of course, all this raises the question of why you don't see leeboards on all other sailing vessels. Well, I am going to have a stab at the answer here.... and probably get myself into trouble. Many large sailing vessels have a keel fin. That's the fixed fin that we often see sticking downward from the hull of sizeable sailing vessels. It's the thing that makes cabin cruisers lie at an angle on the mud at West Beach when the tides out! Even small sailboats may have a retractable form of keel fin (ie a centreboard) which can be removed when the craft needs to operate in shallow water or when it is operating with the wind behind it (ie downwind). 

Keel fins and centreboards help to counter leeward drift. However, barges are flat-bottomed craft and don't have either.... and so, they use a leeboard.  

I have said that the leeboards cause "drag" when in contact with the water. In emails to me, John Harman used another, perhaps more suitable word..... "resistance". He also pointed out that the relatively flat side of the barge itself provides resistance and therefore some counter to leeward drift if the vessel is heavily loaded. However, this resistance amounts to very little if the barge is operating "light" and floating on top of the water. Barges often operated light. In fact, one of their time-saving advantages was that they didn't need to load up with ballast when not carrying cargo. I presume that the leeboard actually helped to make that possible by providing greater control during unladen trips.  

As you will have guessed, the leeboards need to be set in conjunction with the sails and in accordance with the wind direction. If the vessel changes direction, the leeboards need to be adjusted. As John explained, the leeboards also have an important relationship  with the steering. The long hull needs a pivot point when turning. The resistance provided by the leeboards can provide that pivot point. 

The concept of a pivot point may explain something from your past if you ever rowed on the boating lake at West Beach. To turn your rowing boat to the left, you stopped using your right hand oar and only used the left one. This caused the boat to turn....  slowly and in a wide arc! The turn occurred in a relatively uncontrolled way and the flat-bottomed craft had a tendency to drift sideways in the breeze or  under its original forward momentum! However, if you were really smart, you stuck the right oar in the water and held it still while continuing to row with the left. This caused the boat to turn sharply. That right oar had simply established resistance and caused the vessel to pivot around it in a controlled way. In effect, you had created your own leeboard and established a pivot point. (Note: Of course, if you were even smarter, you used the right oar to row in the opposite direction to the left oar and the boat turned on a sixpence. However, as far as I know, the idea of an "active pivot" was never incorporated into the design of a leeboard on a Thames Barge. So, I am off to patent it.... 70 years too late!).

I would like to express special thanks to John Harman in Canada... who I have pestered a great deal on barge design in general and leeboards in particular. I just hope my explanation demonstrates that I have learned!  

Resistance, Rudders and Concepts...

Now, I am really going to overstep my new found knowledge. One of the problems of steering a sailing vessel is that you have no engines. Thus, you can't turn up the engine power to increase speed... apply different amounts of engine power to different sides in order to turn..... or throw engines into reverse in order to stop. In the main, you are stuck with wind power and that magic stuff.... resistance. 

Often, you may want to harness the wind power as much as possible and reduce resistance to make maximum headway. However, there comes a time when you want to slow or change direction. At that point, you may want to reduce thrust from wind power and use resistance as a positive asset.

We have already seen how resistance is applied by the leeboards. However, resistance is also applied by a sailing vessel's main steering mechanism - the rudder. If you keep the rudder pointing straight, you reduce resistance, direct the vessel forward and allow the sleek bow to plough through the water. Thus you make quick progress. 

Set the rudder at an angle and resistance is applied unevenly. The boat turns and further resistance occurs because it's not just the narrow bow that is now ploughing through the water at the front. The flat side of the vessel is taking some of the brunt of it all. Thus, the boat slows.

Of course, it all gets complicated when you consider all the other aspects that make use of wind power and resistance. There are sails, leeboards and other things to play with. 

I knew nothing about sailing when I started writing this article but I am now beginning to guess that "good sailing" is about balancing wind power with resistance in different quantities and at different points in order to make the craft operate as efficiently as possible. The overall idea is simple... but perfecting it in practice is something else! Our bargemen were skilled people. However, don't overlook the massive role played by the boat builders in providing the most efficient designs and mechanisms for playing with wind power and resistance.... whilst balancing it all with the requirement that a barge must carry economic quantities of cargo at minimum cost.

We'll return to the rudder and steering system in a moment.

The Hull 

The hull was traditionally constructed of timber and this practice continued into 1920s. However, between the late 19th century through to the 1930s, iron and steel were also used.

Hull of the Greta - Photo © Peter Dalrymple

The bow is upright. In fact, a quick look at Peter Dalrymple's photo below shows that it is almost vertical....

At the rear, the hull terminates in a flat (transom) stern. This elegant "tail" carries a substantial rudder - see the photos of the Greta below. 

Although narrow at the bow and tapered at the stern, the hull is "flat-bottomed" for most of its length and the rudder is truncated along its bottom edge to match. This enables the craft to operate in very shallow water and to present a stable platform for unloading when resting on shingle or mudflats exposed at low tide..... 

As you can see, the relatively flat sides combine with the flat bottom to give the centre portion of the hull (the cargo carrying area) the appearance of an oblong box. By adding those attractive bow and sterns sections, the "box" becomes an effective sea-going craft. This may not be the most flattering description of a Thames Barge but it is a reminder that it was originally designed for commercial purposes. 

Accommodation and Holds

Crew accommodation was located at either end of the barge - with the skipper's quarters at the stern and the mate's quarters at the bow. Cargo occupied the middle section. In very early barges, there would be one hatch but you are very unlikely to see an example of this nowadays. Usually, you will spot two hatches. The larger of these (the main hatch) is located behind the main mast and the smaller one (the forward hatch) is positioned between the mast and the bow. Typically, the depth of the hold varied between 5ft and 6' 6".  Take a look at the labelled  extract from another of Ann Nash's lovely photo selection below...

Photo © Ann Nash

Barge Sizes....

Barges varied in size depending on their function and the waters upon which they would ply their trade. For example, if you read our Barges of the Past page, you will see the largest that we list for Whitstable is the 86 ton Northdown and the smallest is the 37 ton Thomas and Frances. This gives a rough idea of the range of barges that visited the harbour. The average appears to have been around the 55-60 ton mark.

However, larger craft did exist. Charles Traill has very kindly pointed me in the direction of a publication "Anatomy of a Sailing Barge" by Martin Hazell (Sailing Barges, Shire Album no 13). In this, Martin points out that some barges reached 120 tons and, in rare circumstances, a few metal-hulled versions even exceeded this. The length could be up to 100 ft but rarely beyond this.

A typical length would be in the region of  80 - 85 ft and the width around 18 -22 ft at the broadest point (the beam). Mind you, the precise length of some early barges may not have depended entirely on function.... as John Harman describes in this lovely snippet....

The picture below demonstrates the variation in barge sizes..... 

Photo © Peter Dalrymple

The pictured vessels are both staysail barges. The barge on the left is the 69 ton Repertor whilst that on the right is the much smaller Lady of the Lea. 

Lady of the Lea was based on a canal barge design with a length of 72 ft and a breadth of just 13 ft. Originally, it was stumpy rigged (ie no top sail) and had a hand operated tiller. (We will discuss steering options such as tillers shortly).

Other Variations.... More Names

Earlier, we came across a range of names that described barges with different types of sail arrangement.... ie staysails, bowsprits, boomies, stumpies and tops'ls. Other names stem from the use to which barges were put. The hull and fittings were often modified to accommodate particular cargoes.

Some of the more common names include the hoy barge which carried mixed cargoes and the stackie which was designed to carry hay or straw. The stackie was particularly in evidence in the days when the London transport system depended on horse drawn vehicles and  hay needed to be "imported" from the agricultural areas of the home counties. It disappeared when the likes of Henry Ford started to produce cheap motor vehicles!

Steering Systems...

A very early form of steering mechanism was the tiller. This was basically a lever attached to the rudder and it enabled the helmsman to guide the vessel manually. Some barges still exist with this simple mechanism but consider yourself lucky if you spot one. If you do, it will probably be on a relatively small vessel.

The problem with a tiller was that it was heavy work - particularly in choppy seas. Thus, for craft of any real size, tillers were eventually replaced by ship's wheels. On a barge, this would normally be located just in front of the mizzen mast. For simplicity of construction, early ship's wheels operated so that a clockwise rotation turned the vessel to the left. Later versions reversed this arrangement so that it operated like the modern day steering wheel of a motor car with a clockwise rotation turning the vessel to the right.  

The wheel of a barge varied in style and size. Some were simple and relatively small, cast iron creations. The wheel of the Greta is shown below.... 

Photo by Peter Dalrymple

Others were larger and more elaborate wood/metal affairs that allowed their creators room to express their craftsmanship. Take a look at the magnificent wheel in this photo kindly supplied by Ivan Evans. It features his grandfather, Herbert R (Ted) Smith, at the wheel of a barge in 1927....    

Photo kindly supplied by Ivan Evans

Wheelhouses & Engines

As you can see from the photos above, the Greta deck is wholly open. Most early sailing barges were constructed in this way but many gained a wheelhouse in later years. This was located at the rear of the vessel as in this 1953 photo of the Kathleen  kindly supplied by John Wraight... 

 
Photo supplied by John Wraight

As we have mentioned on our Background Page, the sailing barge was efficient and effective at sea. However, it was far more cumbersome in the confines of a harbour. Our Harbour Operations page mentions some of the strange methods used to manoeuvre the craft in this situation.

To overcome these limitation, many barges were eventually given an auxiliary engine. This would be used to manoeuver the craft into a position where it could switch to sail. There were also full conversions to motor - a process that led to the removal of much of the original rigging.

If you take a look at our Barges of the Past page, you will see that many of the listed barges were partially or fully converted to motor during the mid twentieth century - particularly during the 1940s and early 1950s. In some cases, "modernisation" occurred over time - with auxiliary conversions being followed some years later by full motorisation.

These "modernisations" brought about considerable variations in appearance. The photo below was kindly provided by Tony Stroud and it shows the barge Spartan at the North Quay in the late 1950s/early 1960s.....

 
Photo supplied by Tony Stroud

The vessel has a steel rather than wood hull. It is fully motorised and therefore has no rigging. It also has a substantial wheelhouse at the stern. In fact, apart from the basic hull shape, there is little to link it to the elegant Greta that we have been using as our sample. However, despite all this, we would accept all the variations and happily call the Spartan a Thames barge. 

Well, I suppose variety is the spice of life.

Overall...

Putting all this together, you realise that the Thames barge was a remarkably efficient vessel for its time. Basically, you had a large "go anywhere", "carry anything" cargo container with not much else to clutter things up. It operated efficiently on wind power and occupied the time of just two people. Furthermore, it could carry materials from the point of source to the heart of a metropolis without getting stuck in a traffic jam on the M25.  

Naming Individual barges

Once you get into barge spotting, it is nice to be able to identify particular barges. So, how is it done.

Well, you can cheat by viewing the barge in port.... and reading the name off the bow or stern. However all that sort of stuff is for wimps. A far more impressive way is to look for the small flag mounted at the summit of the topmast. This is called a bob and its main function is to indicate wind direction to the crew. However, it contains the colours and/or symbol of the owner. 

Here are some of the bobs in use at the Swale Smack and Sailing Barge Match of 2007. They have been extracted from photos by Peter Dalrymple....

Of course, none of this helps if you are viewing distant barges from the beach. Here, symbols on sails and the combination of sail colours may help. For example, Greta is very easily identified as she carries the Shepherd Neame Brewery logo on the top sail and the company name on the main sail. She also sometimes deploys a multi-coloured sail....

Greta - Photo by Peter Dalrymple

Some other examples of distinctive sails are given below. They were also photographed by Peter Dalrymple at the 2007 Swale Smack and Sailing Barge Match of 2007...

Above: Gladys - Kingsmill Logo on Topsail	Above: Edme - Name and Symbol on Top Sail
Left: Lady of the Lea with  Rochester Independent College  symbol on Top Sail '	Black, Orange & White Staysail of Wyvenhoe
Green & White Sail of Marjorie	Red, White & Blue Staysail of Decima

There are of course other symbols used by barges that we have not mentioned.

Bobs and sails do change over the years. So, if you intend taking a trip to see a barge match, prepare yourself by dipping into the web site of the Society for Sailing Barge Research and checking out the "Active Barges" page. This provides some details of bobs and sail features which could make your trip more interesting. If nothing else, it will certainly keep the kids quiet if they are given details and asked to do the identification task for you! 

Starboard and Port Side!

Before we get on to a bit of barge spotting, let me just cover one more bit of terminology. This time it is general stuff but it is something you must know in order to claim your Captain Birds Eye hat. Yes.... it's that age old landlubber question of knowing your port side from your starboard side.

The port side is on the left as you look towards the bow of the vessel. The starboard is on the right. 

I learned this from a very early age as I could remember which way round ships berthed on the East Quay at Whitstable harbour. They always pointed inland towards Cromwell Road. Thus, the quayside (ie port side) was on the left. However, the origins of the terms have nothing to do with wanting to point towards a Cromwell Road. After all, not everywhere has a Cromwell Road. The technical reason was kindly supplied by Graham Ruck from his home in the USA   

Amateur Spotting for Landlubbers...

I haven't been able to tell you everything there is to know about Thames barges. However, even now, you probably know enough to spot the craft off Whitstable and impress your relatives from Sidcup with a few comments. Let me demonstrate using some of the photos that appear elsewhere in our feature.

Our first photo was taken from Tankerton Slopes at the time of the year 2000 barge races.... 

Three barges are shown. The one on the left clearly falls into the bowsprit class. Thus, there are three sails in front of the main mast - a white staysail at the top, a white jib in the middle and a red foresail below. The staysail and jib are set forward of the bow because they are attached to that bowsprit pole. Behind the main mast, both a topsail and main sail are being deployed. The mizzen is also set at the rear of the vessel to assist with the steering.

The barge in the centre is set up rather differently. It appears to be a staysail barge as it has no bowsprit. The red topsail is being deployed behind the main mast but, curiously, it does not appear to be using a main sail. The staysail is highly coloured. (NB You can even have a guess at the name of this one as the staysail hews and the Shepherd Neame logo on the topsail suggest that it is Greta)

On the right in the distance, there appears to be another staysail barge with a pretty full complement of sails - mizzen (at the rear)..... main sail and top sail (aft of the main mast).... and foresail and staysail (forward of the main mast).

Now let's move on to a photo kindly supplied by Steve Norris and Peter Dalrymple...

Photo supplied by Peter Dalrymple and Steve Norris 

It's taken from the top of the Red Sands forts and shows the Greta with just the topsail set.

Finally. we can comment on barges at anchor off the horsebridge and inform everyone that they are looking at a staysail barge in the foreground with a bowsprit barge behind. Both are tops'l as they have a topmast and their main sails are brailed against their main masts.

But don't push your luck too far!!! There are many other things to learn and here are a few links that can help you to progress and improve your expertise....

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