View source for Engineering:SB Mirosa

{|{{Infobox ship begin <!-- age of sail -->
|infobox caption= <!-- keywords: yes, nodab; or caption text -->
|display title= <!-- keywords: none, ital; or article title with markup -->
}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=File:SB Mirosa 4659.JPG
|Ship caption= ''Mirosa'' in 2017 Gillingham }}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country={{wipe|United Kingdom}}
|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
|Ship name=*''Ready'' (1892-1947)
*''Mirosa'' (1947-to date)
|Ship owner=*John Gutteridge, of Vauxhall, London
*Francis & Gilders, Colchester<!--names of owners here, as per |ship name parameter-->
|Ship builder=John Howard, of Maldon
|original cost=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=28 June 1892
|Ship identification=
*United Kingdom Official Number 096485
|Ship fate=
|Ship status=Based at Faversham
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=Thames barge
|Ship length={{convert|82|ft|11|in|m|2}}<!--amend as appropriate-->
|Ship beam={{convert|20|ft|9|in|m|2}}<!--amend as appropriate-->
|Ship draught={{convert|3|ft|6|in|m|2}}<!--amend as appropriate-->
|Ship propulsion=Sails
|Ship sail plan=[[Engineering:Spritsail|Spritsail]]
|Ship notes=
*Website=[https://thamesbarge.org.uk/ https://thamesbarge.org.uk/]
}}
|}

<!--Lede (this is a brief overview of the article)-->
'''''Mirosa''''' is a Thames barge which was built in 1892. From 1892 until 1947, she sailed under the name '''''Ready''''' when the name was sold to Trinity House for a lightship support vessel. Under her new name, she traded until 1955. ''Mirosa'' has never had an engine.<ref name=nhsr>{{cite web |title=Mirosa {{!}} National Historic Ships |url=https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/215/mirosa |website=www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk |access-date=5 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:SB Mirosa, Gillingham Pier 4392.JPG|thumb|left|Mirosaś traditional rigging]]

'''''Mirosa''''' is one of the few remaining spritsail barges never to have had an engine fitted. Her owners claim she is now the most original of the active barges. She has a full set of flax sails, manilla running rigging, and a full set of sweeps (oars), and still has wooden masts. ''Mirosa'' is {{convert|82|ft|m|2}} long, with a beam of {{convert|20|ft|9|in|m|2}} and a draught of {{convert|3|ft|6|in|m|2}}. She was built with a bowsprit, this was removed but was reinstated in 1976. Her keel and chine planks are of elm, with pitch pine planks on the bottom and two-inch oak sides. This was later doubled over with pitch pine when was 30 or 40 years old. The shallow shape of her hull is typical of barges built by John Howard, of Maldon. She is assessed at {{GRT|49}}.<ref name=nhsr/>

==History==
[[File:The hay barge ‘Unity’ passing Wapping Dock Stairs bound up, with Lower Gun Wharf and New Crane Wharf on her starboard broadside.jpg|thumb|left|The hay barge ''Unity'']]
She was built by of Maldon and launched on 28 June 1892 as the ''Ready'' for John Gutteridge, of Vauxhall, London. She was a stackie, barge that sailed carrying a large amount of hay and straw on its deck. These were needed to feed  the city's horses. She travelled with her mainsail furled to a special series of reef points, from Essex and Suffolk to London, then returned with horse manure for the farms. The skipper steered by rudder from on top of the stack, while the mate kept watch from deck level. This trade declined and ceased with the use of motor vehicles after World War I in 1918. {{sfn|Benham|1986|pp=113-127}}

She transferred cargo and went into timber, which like the hay was stacked metres high on the deck. She was bought by W W Keeble and then in the 1930s to Francis and Gilders, of Colchester, for whom she carried general cargoes, working out of Maldon and [[Place:Colchester|Colchester]]. She was skippered by ‘Billy’ Austin, then after the Second World War the Brightlingsea sailmaker Jim Lawrence was her skipper. In 1947 the owners sold her original name, ''Ready'' to Trinity House for use on a new lightship tender and she was renamed ''Mirosa''. In 1954 was entered into and won the staysail class of the Thames and Medway barge matches. In  1955 she was sold to Brown and Son, of [[Place:Chelmsford|Chelmsford]], and de-rigged for use as a timber lighter in the Heybridge Basin. The coasters importing timber anchored off Osea Island, being too large to enter the lock. When the lock was altered this trade disappeared.

In 1964 she was re-rigged- this time as a bowsprit barge to race, this was done by Dilberry Clark and Bill Percy. She was sold in 1967 to Alan Walker who used her as a live-in barge, but also raced with her, with Jimmy Diddams as skipper. In 1970 Carrie Spencer bought her and started racing her again in 1970.  Peter Dodds, bought her in 1976 and based her at Iron Wharf, Faversham, where he lives aboard her. He refitted her extensively, and sails her to the Humber down to the Isle of Wight. She takes part in all of the barge matches.

==See also==

*List of active Thames sailing barges

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|last1=Carr|first1=Frank|title=Sailing Barges|date=1951|publisher=Peter Davies Ltd|edition= Revised}}
* {{cite book|last1=Benham|first1=Hervey|last2=Kershaw|first2=Philip|last3=Finch|first3=Roger|title=Down tops'l : the story of the East Coast sailing-barges|date=1986|publisher=Harrap|location=London|isbn=0-245-54487-9|edition= 3rd|ref={{sfnref|Benham|1986}}}}
* {{cite book|last = March|first = Edgar|title = Spritsail barges of Thames and Medway|publisher = Percival Marshal| location = London| year = 1948}}
* {{cite book|last1=Walsh|first1=Richard|title=Kathleen : the biography of a sailing barge|date=1986|publisher=Terence Dalton|location=Lavenham|isbn=0861380460}}

<!-- * {{cite web|title=Pudge|url=http://www.bargetrust.org/our-barges/pudge|website=Thames Sailing Barge Trust|accessdate=18 February 2018|ref={{sfnRef|Barge Trust|2017}}|date=18 February 2018}}-->

==External links==

* [http://www.bargetrust.org/ Thames Sailing Barge Trust]
* [https://www.merseamuseum.org.uk/mmbarges.php?rt=a&tot=6611&typ=name&ord=name&hit=1 Mersea museum barge database]
* [http://www.sailingbargeassociation.co.uk/ Sailing Barge Association]
* [https://www.sailingbargeresearch.org.uk/pages/active_barges_page_1.htm Society for Sailing Barge Research active barges]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirosa}}
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]

{{Sourceattribution|SB Mirosa}}