TRADING SMACK MARY

This West Country barge of 25 gross tons, was built in 1875 in the yard of Hugh E. Stephens at Devoran on Restronguet Creek, off the Truro River. His foreman, Charles George, carved her half-model and she had dimensions of 49.3ft x 17.5ft x 5.65 ft. Basil Greenhill and I took her lines off at Appledore in 1948 when she was working as a gravel barge, and the plans which I drew showed her broad hull with its slight deadrise and rounded bilges, together with the sharp convex entrance and hollow run. In my enthusiasm, I actually plotted the diagonals which overlap the deck layout as drawn. Here the buttock lines are drawn solid, although I later began to adopt the practice of drawing them chain-dotted to make them easier to read. It was drawn to a scale of ½ in = 1 ft (1:24) and a photographically-reduced copy at 1:48 scale was later made, in order to be the same scale as the sail plan.

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ian g morgan
12/7/2010

Ref the 'Mary'. I believe this vessel was finally owned by my father, T.M.Morgan, who hauled stone with her from his quarry called Priors Reach at Tintern. I spent many happy hours on this vessel at the wharf at Chepstow in the early fifties, and, as a young boy steereed her up to Tintern and also down to Newport Docks.Her captains were variously,a Captain Carter,and a Captain Kris Kristofferson of Newport, and I believe a Captain Groves. She had a troublesome Hanomag diesel engine, and I remember my father having a Gardner 5 LW installed, which he bought from t Watts of Lydney for 125 pounds. This was installed by a Chris Elneff from Tintern, a German who I think was left her after being a German prisoner of war.They also added a David Brown forward and reverse gearbox.My father's quarry had the longest conveyor belt in South Wales at the time, and this ship, and others that he had(m.v Protection, m.v.Rose and two dumb barges)were loaded with block stone from here and taken up to such places as Saul, and Awre on the Severn and unloaded by gangs of men at low tide to build up the river banks to prevent flooding. He had a contract with the Severn River Authority.The one dumb barge was called the Victory,and she lies in the mud at Chepstow wharf, and the name of the other escapes me now - but we had a telephone call one Christmas Day to say she had been cast loose from the wharf at Chepstow and was a danger to shipping down near Barry - I think the Army were called in to blow her up at the time.Eventually, my father's business crumbled, and the Mary was laid up at Sharpness. My father paid someone 10 shillings a month to pump out the bilges, but, apparently one of these cheques bounced, the bilges were not attended to, and the craft floundered. I still have the ship's wheel to this day.The Rose and the Protection sunk at their moorings at Newport Docks, and the remains of them can still be seen to this day in the corner near the timberyard. I have some interesting photographs if anyone is interested. I can be contacted on 01600715853 Ian G Morgan

Friends of Purton
19/8/2008

Dear SWMHS members
The remains of the Mary are to be found in the old arm of the Sharpness to Gloucester Canal and forms one of the Purton Hulks that make up the largest Ships Graveyard within mainland Britian. More recently i am pleased to advice that her location has been formally marked by a memorial plaque, further to a generous donation of Mr Ralph Bird a SWMHS member and the long running campaign of the Friends of Purton, who continue to lobby Parliament and ensure this unique site is protected for the nation. Should you wish to know more or like to join with our efforts kindly contact Paul Barnett on 07833143231 for details.