A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE of the river. The chief seats of the industry are at Reading, Windsor, Bray, Maidenhead, Pangbourne, Streatley and other river-side places. It is difficult to discover the builders of the old barges. The names of the owners and of the boats themselves, the King's Arms, the Admiral, the Vine, the Bold Hart, the Orange, the Little Dragon, which plied along the Thames and conveyed malt and other cargoes to London from Abingdon, Reading and other Berkshire towns in the early years of the eighteenth century, 1 are easier to trace. The old Newbury barges were celebrated in the palmy days of inland navigation, and provided a standard of measurement. The Newbury-sized barges were 109 ft. long and 17 ft. wide, drawing 3 ft. 10 ins. of water and carrying about 128 tons. 2 These barges were always constructed after the same model, being flat-bottomed with a round head, which was found most convenient, as this form enabled the barge to make nearly as speedy way through the water as any other, and did not prevent it from being shoved sideways off the shoals. These barges re- quired a crew of six men and a boy. The bargemen used long ashen poles from 14 to 19 ft. in length in order to keep the barge in the proper navigable channel. When going down stream only one horse was needed, and the boats travelled at the rate of three or three and a half miles per hour ; but against the stream in the upward passage eight to fourteen horses were required according to circumstances. Messrs. Quarrington & Son were the chief owners and doubtless builders of these barges which conveyed goods to London once a week. One Horner was another Newbury barge owner in 1830, and Messrs. Euclid Shaw & Co.'s Fly Boats twice a week traversed the whole distance from Bristol to London. Reading's chief barge builder was Thomas Simmonds, who had his yards in Blake's Wharf. Pangbourne has been for some time a home for the building of Thames boats. At the beginning of the last century Benjamin Briant and William Trumplett made boats and barges, and the traditions have been handed down to the present time, and a considerable industry is carried on in this pleasant riverside village. Mr. L. Franklin turns out a considerable number of motor launches, motor boats, and steam and electric launches. These are clincher-built of pine or mahogany, and have teak or mahogany 1 MSS. vols. in custody of Berks Co. Council. a Mavor, Agriculture of Berks, p. 431. fittings. He designs launches for business purposes as well as for the pursuit of pleasure. Thames punts propelled by motor power are also a speciality of his. Mr. Franklin also produces a large number of the ordinary mahogany punts. The Ashley family and the Thames Valley Electric Launch Com- pany, Limited, help to maintain the reputation of Pangbourne as an important seat of the industry. At Windsor there are two firms who build boats : Arthur Jacobs, whose works are in River Street, and the Husted Brothers in Goswell Road, while at Old Windsor, George and William Harris carry on the trade of building boats. Maidenhead has several noted boat builders. Amongst these is the firm of Messrs. H. Wilder & Son. They own the Ray Park Boat Houses, and their works are in Bridge Road. Messrs. E. Andrews & Son, builders of steam and electric launches, boats and punts, have a boathouse near Maidenhead Bridge. The senior partner, a winner of the Thames Champion- ship for punting and a well-known angler, started the industry in 1870. The firm has works in Oldfield Road, where they manu- facture boats, punts and canoes, as well as launches. Mr. J. Bond, designer and construc- tor of steam launches and boat builder, has a business founded a century ago, and carried on for many years by his father. Mr. Bond has five large boathouses. Mr. Henry Wood- house in the Bridge Road is a builder of steam launches and has a boathouse at Bray. There also is established the Immisch Launch & Boat Company, Limited, found- ed by Moritz Immisch in 1887, having their headquarters at Hampton-on-Thames. This company was the first to introduce launches electrically propelled. The diffi- culty of re-charging the batteries of their launches was overcome by equipping several floating charging stations, which could be moored at various points on the river, and from which fresh supplies of energy could be obtained. They have now permanent stations and depots for this purpose, the principal one being at Bray. Their premises at Maidenhead are situated near Boulter's Lock. The specialities of their works are the motor, switch propellers and thrust blocks, and the Immisch Scout cycle petrol motor. At Reading Arthur Henry East has for many years carried on the business of build- ing and letting boats out on hire. His original boathouse and works were at the mouth of the Kennet ; he has now con- structed large premises near Caversham Lock, and his business has been converted into a 386
