Working Sail is a collection of scenes from the recent past in the East coast and Humber region.
Fishing Cobles at Runswick Bay
Approximately eight miles north of Whitby, nestling at one end of a long sandy beach, the fishing village of Runswick clings (not always securely in its past) to the high cliffs sheltering the west of the bay and looking eastwards to Kettleness. The white cottage on the right of the picture is where the author James Herriot used to holiday.
Ivie
The sloop-rigged barge 'Ivie' at work on the Humber Estuary.
Two Keels At Sunrise
In a scene of complete tranquility, two lightly laden humber keels run downriver in a gentle westerly breeze, making an early start to their day.
The Humber Sloop Amy Howson
Amy Howson was built of iron in 1914 by Joseph Scarr and Sons at Beverley for Robert Scaife of Beverley as a general cargo vessel. She was originally Keel-rigged and called Sophia (after his wife).
In 1922 she was sold to William Henry Barraclough of Hull who re-rigged her as a Sloop, renaming her AMY HOWSON after his daughter.
In 1975 she was bought in a derelict condition by The Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society and a five year restoration began.
In the Clearing Mist
Two Humber Barges, one with the fore and aft Sloop rig, the other the square Keel rig. The Sloop’s mast is stepped further forward than the Keel’s to accommodate that long boom. Her tanned sails are typical, as is the Keel’s untreated sail.
These are iron- or steel-hulled, the earlier barges were wooden construction.
The Sloop is about to come about and sail the same course as the Keel, running before the wind
The Keel is fully laden, the Sloop is not and this better shows the characteristic bluff bow and relatively fine run aft of these sturdy ships..
Work and Play
Two sloop-rigged boats on the Humber , each running before a gentle southerly breeze. One is a laden Humber sloop, a once common cargo-carrying vessel, making passage from Barton to the river Hull. The other is a little 'One Design' yacht, pleasure sailing just off Victoria pier. The Humber has been a venue for yachting since the early nineteenth century.
The Sloop Phyllis approaching Ha'penny Bridge on the River Hull
The Humber Sloop Phyllis was built of iron in 1907 by Warren’s shipyard at New Holland for James Barraclough of Barton. He kept her all her working life. She was sold along with all the rest of the fleet in 1974.
She has recently been restored at Barton on Humber.
Ha’penny Bridge was the colloquial name for the South Bridge which spanned the river Hull’s ‘Old Harbour’ region near its junction with the Humber.
Phyllis is seen here c1940, towards the end of working sail in the region.
In the Morning Mist
In the Morning Mist is an atmospheric, tranquil scene of a Humber keel and Humber sloop. The square keel rig and the fore and aft sloop rig was common on barges working in the Humber estuary in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The keels also worked the inland waterways, sometimes spending their whole working lives carrying specialized cargoes such as coal. Sloops were known to make coastal passages to the north towards Newcastle and south to the Wash and beyond.
Sloop off Hessle Cliff
This painting is of a sloop-rigged barge on the Humber, circa 1920, passing the 'black mill' near the quarry known as Hessle Cliff on the north bank. It is clearly unladen and on its way to collect cargo from the port of Hull to the east.
The jetty seen beyond the mill is now the site of the Humber bridge which crosses the estuary and connects East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Humber Sloop
The Humber Sloop is a fore and aft rigged barge, shown fully laden with mainsheet loosed to catch the following wind, making passage on its home river on this overcast day. Barges with this rig frequently made coastal passages as far to the south as the Thames , unlike the square rigged keels which rarely left the Humber estuary.