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''Will'' is a Thames sailing barge, built in Great Yarmouth by Fellows & Co in 1925. She is long, across and deep. She was commissioned to be one of four steel barges; the largest ever built. She is spritsail rigged with a mainmast and topmast and a mizzen and has a flat bottom with leeboards as is customary for Thames sailing barges. As one of the last sailing cargo vessels to operate in UK waters she left trade in 1966. After a few years lying derelict, she was refitted and eventually entered into the service of P&O (Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) where she was used as a floating board room until 1999. This role in corporate hospitality continued and she now is fully engaged in private charter work. She currently operates out of the Pool of London from a base at Hermitage Community Moorings, Reeds Wharf and St Katherine Docks for cruises through London, the east coast and beyond. == Early life as an Everard barge == ''Will Everard'', as she was originally known, was commissioned by F.T. Everard in 1925 or 1926 as one of four steel-hulled sister ships. The vessels were to be the largest Thames sailing barges ever built and were coasters destined for ports up to Newcastle in the north-east and round to Poole in the southwest.〔 〕 The Barges were built to Mr F.T. Everard's exact specifications and named after four family members: ''Will'', ''Ethel'', ''Fred'' and ''Alf''. According to long term skipper, Jim Uglow MBE, "four stouter built barges never put to sea."〔 〕 ''Will Everard'' was finished in 1925 and worked for the firm for over 40 years. She was initially bound to a coal contract supplying the gasworks at Margate with coal from Keadby〔 on the Humber but routinely fitted in other cargoes between voyages. She was designed to be sailed by a Master, a Mate and two boys, however, her large size meant in practice a man at Third Hand proved more capable than two boys. In this role she began her life as a barge with nothing particularly out of the ordinary. It was only in the 1930s when she parted cables while sitting though a storm off Eastbourne that she began to show her extraordinary character. She was blown ashore and battered the beach for hours before the storm passed revealing Will buried in the shingle, damaged but intact (her bottom survived this damage for decades before it was finally replaced in 2006). She was towed out by horse and the rig was repaired within days.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Will (Thames barge)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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