Steam Tug Brent Trust

www.steamtugbrent.org

Email: info@steamtugbrent.org

Steam Tug Brent of 1945

Steam Tug Brent (@steamtugbrent)

NEWSLETTER April 2017

Dear Brent Supporters

Welcome to our to our April newsletter. The first four months of the year have passed quickly and
open days and work on board are part of our activities again.

Winter and spring

weather has been
kind. It has been a
time of good skies and
good tides with many
high waters at a level
not often seen.
Brents berth does not
have much depth, but
on these occasions
January 2017 she floats.
High Water

The Brent Afloat! On board the Brent it

has remained dry,
High Tide over with no rain water
Maldon Quay ingress and negligible
condensation.

Warm weather and with Tony S. keen to see if his

winters handiwork was the right size, the winter
cover came off early this year. With only a slight
amount of adjustment, the first fitting was made.
Now painted, the new grating is ready to be placed.
First, though, the steel support is being renewed.
Temporarily, it will be bolted on rather than welded,
so that the area under the grating can be more
readily accessed for repair.

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307
 The Winter cover
being taken ashore

Followed by the
Aft Mast

The aft mast had been fitted by Ron Hall

in 1972. It was necessary to enable the
tender to be lifted on to the tow bows.
The Brent would not have been able to
make coastal passages if she had had to
tow the dinghy.
We decided to take the mast down, so
that after restoration, we will be able to
lower the funnel to pass under bridges.
Without a mast behind the funnel, she
looks more as she did when she was a
working tug.

Part of the work planned for this season is to make as much repair on the aft deck as we can. We
are not able to tackle all the tasks as some large scale re-plating is needed, which will need to be
done in the shipyard. As well as replacing the grating and its support, the fresh water tank is to be
repaired. Last week it was removed from its base and, as we suspected, the damage done by
water trapped behind it was considerable; it will need new plate to the back and base.

Temporary supports for

the funnel which will be
removed when the
smokebox is replaced.
The funnel should sit on
the smokebox, but for
all the three remaining
TID Tid tugs severely
corroded smokeboxes
have been a concern. The crew of TID 164replaced their
smokebox in 2015 and will soon be ready to steam again.

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307
The Brent Trust has been developing links with other organisations in Maldon. We are working
with local groups to try to ensure that Maldon retains its unique maritime character and a place
for historic vessels.

We are developing our plans for working with the Museum of Power and with the Thames Barge
Sailing Trust. We attended the TBST fitting out supper on the 22nd April and gave a short after
dinner talk. May Day weekend we are holding a joint open day with them.

Fund Raising

In February we held a Quiz night, ably organised be Councillor Mark Heard. Well known in Maldon
for his skills as a Quiz Master, he hosted the event. Held in the Town Hall, we had more than 100
participants. We had the bar open and at the interval, over 100 portions of fish or chicken and
chips were delivered from Our Plaice Fish and Chips. Everyone managed to get the food they had
ordered! After the interval, we scurried round to collect up the waste and the quiz continued. Due
to the generosity of the Council and outlets in the town, we had few overheads and raised 1000
for our funds.

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307
We are delighted that Maldon Town Regatta selected the Brent Trust as one of the charities they
would support this year. Two weeks ago they presented us with a cheque for 750. We are going
to spend this on educational resources.

Our collection of model tugs continues to grow, a new acquisition being a steam powered working
model of the Cervia

James is doing valuable research into the history of the TID Tugs and has found some very
interesting pieces of information.
TIDS AT WAR
A section from our ever expanding archive
By James Morgan
To those interested in the history of TID Tugs they will be aware that there is minimal history in
regard to what the TIDs actually did during the months before D-Day during the second world war.

A set of pictures which were donated to us by Mike Taylor, led me to start my investigation into
why TIDs were built. The set of pictures I am referring to, show T.I.Ds 10 and 11 from Yard to
war

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307
I include two of them here.

Above we see TID 10 ready to go down the slipway

TID 11 and another moving section of Mulberry Harbour in to place on the newly constructed slipway in
Arromanches

From this I noticed in other photographs that larger tugs that towed the sections from the UK,
gave the tow of the bridge sections to TIDs when working closer inland.
With a small amount of research into the original plans for D-Day the Chart Datum (minimum
water level at low tide) on some plans was 8ft depth which happens to be the minimum amount of
water the flat bottomed TID can float in, compared to 14ft of the Tug Challenge, which towed one
of the sections across the channel.

I have a few meetings booked with the Imperial War Museum archive section to try and find out
further information for the next article.
James Morgan
Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307
Seen as insignificant little work horses, there is nothing about the war time TIDs in the public
domain. Known by just their number and probably with frequently changing crew it is hard to find
stories of their past. If you have a story relating to TID Tugs, first hand or second hand, we would
love to hear it and add it to our archive. Indeed any story about TIDs is of interest to us.

Under the Halls ownership, Ron as officer of the Day used the Brent as Committee Boat at local
barge races, so our present collaboration with the Thames Barge Sailing Trust is not a new thing.
This evocative photo was given to the Trust by John Rogers of the Maldon Little Ship Club. It shows
Brent and Thames barges, in the River Colne.

Wishing you good sailing and all the best for the spring and summer months ahead from Steam
Tug Brent Trust.

Janet

Trustees: Richard Albanese, Janet Hall, Chairman, Andrea Raiker

Volunteer Team: Janet Hall, Andrea Raiker, Amelia Hall, Tony Kirk, Penny Kirk, Tony Seaman, James Morgan,
Richard Cooper, Mandy Cooper, Mark Watsham, Gill Clegg, Ian Chapman, Catharine, Ray Binning, and Sue
Stewart.

Reg. Charity. No. 1139414. Reg. Office. 12 The Hythe Maldon Essex CM9 5HN. Tel. 01621 855058. Reg. Company.
07404307