River Ouse Bargeman
Page 15
Gansey A seamlessly-knitted tough, waterproof jersey.
Hanging off Securing a cob boat or similar to the barge’s stern.
Hoop Another term for a sharp bend in the river.
Mooring head to tail Barges moored in pairs, stern to bow, with anchors dropped so that they stand fast irrespective of the state of the tide.
Ness A headland or point jutting into the river. The ness side of the river is the shallow side. Whitton Ness is one example.
Pen/penning The pen is the chamber of water between the lock gates. Penning is to go in or out of a lock.
Pestering board An extra length of wood fixed to the top of the cargo hold to increase its capacity, to allow a larger weight of ‘light’ seed to be taken on board.
Rack A straight reach of river. Willow Tree Rack, just east of Selby was the site for singling out (qv).
Scuppers Deck-level opening on barge to allow water to flow off the deck.
Selby Taurus The Dews’ family dumb barge (qv). The Selby fleet were named after celestial objects (see Appendix 1).
Shordnin’ The cry from the man wielding the depth pole if the river was becoming shallower as the barge crossed a sandbank.
Singling out The procedure when dumb barges (qv) being towed as two pairs were re-arranged to be in a straight line of 4.
Slab cake Cattle feed made from the leftovers of the seed after crushing. Often taken as a barge cargo back down river to Hull.
Slipping off the hook Dying.
Snug A barge well-filled with cargo, so likely to make a good profit.
Sounding rod/pole Long pole - up to 20 feet - marked alternately black and white and used as a depth gauge.
Spare side Opposite side of the cabin to the Bed ‘ole. Usually the port side.
Staith(e) Wharf where barges could moor and load/unload.
Steerage The ability to manoeuvre a barge on the river. If you were going downstream with the tide, you had to be travelling at a faster rate than the tide to have steerage of the craft.
SW&T ‘Selby Warehousing and Transport’: the name given to the transportation arm of Soapy Joe Watson’s Barlby business.
Telegraph Device for delivering messages from the Bridge to the Engine Room on a tug.
Timber heads Pronounced ‘timmer ‘eds’, these are posts to which mooring lines could be made fast.
Towing hook A post on the barge’s stern to which tow ropes were attached.
W(h)arping line Heavy duty rope attached to a drum on the barge, then fixed across a dock to allow craft to be pulled across the dock.
Appendix 4
THE LB CRAFT
Laurie's barge LBE.18 was part of the 36th Landing Barge Flotilla, which sailed from Chichester for Gold Beach under the command of Sub Lt Frank North RNVR.
Over a thousand such barges had been converted into craft for D Day in shipyards in both London and along the South Coast. Mainly powered by Chrysler marine engines provided as part of the U.S. lease-lend deal, the LBE’s, had their stern "swims" removed and replaced with a large ramp operated by a hand winch. To beach the craft to deliver their load, the barges had to approach the shore stern-first, a difficult and dangerous operation in anything other than calm weather.
The D Day fleet contained all manner of support vessels, alongside those carrying the troops. They were all "LB's" of one form or another, the main categories being:
Landing Barge Emergency, or Emergency Repair, or Engineering, LBE - for maintenance and repair facilities for landing craft, including salvage. Equipped with stern ramp and carried workshop lorry (generator, lathe, drills, forge, anvil etc) which could be landed when needed or crawler crane for landing when possible. The LBE also carried its own generator, benches, welding & cutting equipment, forge & anvil, pumps, spare batteries etc and displayed a REPAIRS sign. Carried 150 or 200 tons. Their main armament was a 20mm Oerlikon. The crew was 1+9 deck/engineroom/maintenance, plus flotilla specialists up to total of 25. Each barge had an officer in command.
Landing Barge Oil, LBO - to supply diesel or petrol to coastal forces, landing craft, landing barges; refuelled from fuel tankers lying offshore. Equipped with cylindrical 40T/9,000 gallon capacity tank, two 5inch hand pumps, and displayed a DIESEL, PETROL, 73 OCT (‘Pool’ petrol), 87 OCT or 100 OCT sign. They did not have ramps. They carried 150 to 200 tons, and were armed with twin Lewis guns; crew of 5 including PO or L/S coxswain. LBOs were an unpopular posting as they were thought of as floating bombs, with (officially) no smoking on board at all times.
Landing Barge Water, LBW - to supply water to coastal forces, landing craft, landing barges; refuelled from water tankers lying offshore. Equipped with cylindrical 40ton/9,000 gallon capacity tank, two 5inch hand pumps, and displayed a WATER sign. They did not have a ramp. Carried 150 to 200 tons ; armed with twin Lewis guns; crew of 5 including PO or L/S coxswain
Landing Barge Kitchen, LBK - to provide prepared food, mainly for small landing craft. Large superstructure, equipped as galley to supply fresh bread and food equal to 1,600 hot and 800 cold meals daily; carried provisions to feed 900 men for one week. Not ramped, displayed a FOOD sign, Crew of 23. Sometimes armed with a stripped Lewis gun. Each barge had an officer in command - like most of the others, a sub lieutenant or midshipman RNVR. Also called "Bakeries", probably because of the smell of baking bread wafting across the water.
The 36th flotilla was one of ten such, consisting of 6 or 7 LBE, 10 LBO, 2 LBW, 1 LBK, 1 LCE,(Landing Craft Emergency Repair) and refuelling trawler.
With thanks to www.naval-history.net and www.6juin1944.com for this information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Other Publications
Other items
Sam Dews’ log book covering his work on the Ouse and Humber 1919–1934 (Unpublished, part of the Laurie Dews archive)
Research into the Dews’ family tree (Unpublished, part of the Laurie Dews archive)
Archives of Selby Civic Society
Archives of Ye Olde Fraternitie of Selebians
Archives of the Selby Times
Archives of the Goole Times
Archives of the Hull Daily Mail
Archives of Hull Remembers/ Hull People’s War