The Thames sailing barge Pudge was built in 1922 and is a familiar sight for visitors to the Hythe in Maldon.

In 2019, the Thames Sailing Barge Trust started the latest phase of her restoration which will see Pudge sailing for many years to come. The Trust raised £738,000, through grants and donations, for Pudge to receive new decks, beams, ceilings, carlings, and a below-deck refit.

Jill Palmer Swift, one of the volunteers helping to restore the Barge, told Nub News: "She's very special – one of a unique breed of traditional craft."

Jill says Pudge is used as a 'training ground' for young people to learn how to sail Thames barges. The youngsters will take over from the older skippers, some of whom are now in their seventies.

She said: "It's a fantastic feeling - helping to renovate a craft that is a hundred years old and still going strong.

"Maldon is unique. There's nowhere else on the east coast that has so many barges in residence."

Thought to be the earliest photograph taken of Pudge, in the 1930s (Photo: Frank Smith Archive)

Pudge was built for the London & Rochester Barge Co. Ltd. Although no record of her launch has been traced, there are local memories of the ceremony being performed by a director's daughter whose family nickname was "Podge".

James Broom, who was to be her first Master, objected to sailing a barge named Podge, and in a spirit of compromise the vessel was named Pudge.

There are no records relating to the cargo Pudge carried during her first year in trade in 1922 but it is likely to have been either linseed or cotton seed for the mills of British Oil and Cake Mills (BOCM).

The Second World War became an important time in Pudge's history, as she was requisitioned by the UK government to take part in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British Expeditionary Forces from the beaches at Dunkirk.

Pudge survived being sunk after the tug St. Fagan (which was towing her across the Channel) took a direct hit and sank, taking two other sailing barges with her. Pudge proudly flies the flag of a Dunkirk Little Ship to this day.

Throughout her trading years, Pudge had several escapes. In November 1938, she survived a fire on board near Kent. Then in 1939, she sank in the Thames Estuary while enroute from London to the Isle of Wight, after a collision with the SS Lapwing. In August 1960, as a motor barge, she needed assistance from the Margate lifeboat after the engine failed.

Pudge as a motor barge, July 1966 (Photo: Frank Willmott Collection)

After becoming a motor barge in the 1950's, she continued to trade until 1968 when she was purchased by what is now the Thames Sailing Barge Trust for £750. Members converted her back to sail.

With the closure of the London Docks in 1982, the Club sought a new base, leaving the London River for Maldon on the River Blackwater.

Since her ownership by the Trust, she has undergone many periods of restoration with much of her wooden hull being replaced. Most of this work has taken place in and around Maldon with the services of local shipwrights.

Today (July 13) the Trust will celebrate Pudge's 100th birthday. The Trust has published a book about Pudge's history, 'Pudge – the Survivor' which will be launched this afternoon on Hythe Quay, Maldon.

Copies will cost £22.95 plus p&p of £5.00. To purchase a copy, contact John Rayment on 07587 141 054 or via the website.

Pudge off to Pin Mill prior for her current restoration (Photo: Thames Sailing Barge Trust)

The Trust aims to have Pudge sailing again for a full season in 2023, and she will offer more modern facilities for customers who wish to join one of her weekend sails.

For more information about Pudge and her restoration, visit the Trust's website.