Saturday 12th May 1990

President was moored for its stay in London at Battlebridge Basin. We held a small working party today when we sorted out the hold ready for the James Brindley Statue. George Naldrett, Malcolm Nixon and myself spent the rest of the day painting parts of the cabin and varnishing the panels on the side. At the same time, Bob Sawyer and Bob Bossine (Thames Steam Launch Co.) worked on the engine and Worthington pump.

Friday 18th May 1990

Crew assembled during the afternoon to prepare for the trip round to St Katharine's Dock and the loading of the statue. The boiler was lit at 12.25 and at 5.50 'President'. and 'Vulcan' were on the move again towards Limehouse Basin. We had a large crew, Malcolm Nixon steering, (round in circles in Limehouse), Andy Flack and Maurice Parker in the engine room, Richard Thomas and myself doing other things. The two Bobs, Sawyer and Bossine, helped us on our way. Alan and Pauline Pease were on 'Vulcan' and Peter Chalk lock wheeled down to Limehouse, in fact we thought we had lost him.

By 9pm we were in Limehouse Basin, and closed down for the night. We all retired early but little sleep was had with the anticipation of the morrow.

Saturday 19th May 1990

Andy Flack and yours truly went off for a walk just before 5am to see what the river looked like. As we were returning the Police rushed up as they had been on a surveillance of the pub at the lockside following a number of 4.30am break-ins. One look at us in our boating gear and Andy's hat, we were soon on our way back to the boats.

The fire was lit at 5.19am with 35psi still on the clock. We locked down into the river at 8.45am and made a quick call to the P.L.A. Then, we were off on the 26 minute journey to St Katharine's. The lock was opened for us, we were tucked onto one side, and a Thames sailing barge came in with us. 'Vulcan' went to our weekend mooring and 'President' moved to the East pool for the loading of 'James'.

We prepared the boat - off with the cloths and top planks. At the scheduled time the crane arrived and the statue was lowered onto the boat. Much activity and a good crowd to watch. Following loading we moved back to our mooring next to 'Vulcan'. Great interest in the boats and we managed to collect enough money to cover the mooring fee and the crane hire. There was an up market wedding in the chapel in the afternoon. Just before dusk the happy couple left up river in a speed boat - we still had enough steam to give them a few whistles to help them on their way.

Sunday 20th May 1990

Not very early start today. Cloths taken down, a job soon to become routine. The boat was given a good cleaning and made ready for Monday. We had visits from 'The Times' and 'Guardian' who took photos of James, the crew and boat. By now we had a few changes of crew - Malcolm Nixon was Captain, Dave Goodman in the engine room from 6pm, Maurice handing over. Myself, David Upton and John Connett as crew. Andy Flack and Richard Thomas departed.

Monday 21st May 1990

6.30am saw the start of much activity; the fire was lit and the boats were made ready for the trip up the river. At 9.35 we moved into the lock, at 9.50 the safety value lifted covering the chairman and the boats with black soot and giving us quite a surprise. A couple of minutes later the lock gate was open and we were off up the river to Kingston, under Tower Bridge and on up past The Tower, Westminster, and into Teddington Lock just after 1pm. We then moved on up to Kingston where after a trip past the town we moored close to the old power station.

A great day, and in the words of Malcolm Nixon "An exhilarating trip with no real problems, the only craft to give us a few nervous moments was a water bus that slowed down too late". The Port of London Authority had put out a radio message to advise other traffic of our passage up the river. The boats travelled breasted-up, 'President' had the top cloths off but the side cloths up.

That evening Malcolm Nixon handed over to myself so we were to go on with the standard crew of four.

Tuesday 22nd May 1990

After our early morning yesterday the fire was not lit until nearly 9am which meant we left Kingston at 11am. We had an interesting trip up the river mooring in Windsor close to the Leisure Centre in a little backwater. A tremendous interest was shown in the boat, it was a pity we didn't get there earlier. I doubt if anyone will complain about locks on the canals again after hand operating Old Windsor Lock because we arrived after the keeper had gone home. It also meant that for the rest of the week on the river we were up and away much earlier than today.

Wednesday 23rd May 1990

The lock worked - boiler lit at 7.15am and away from Windsor 9.15. All the other boaters watched with interest as we backed out of our mooring and onto the river. Another good day on the river with no problems. Extended stop at Hurley Lock to enable the crew to visit the boatyard of Peter Freebody - this was like a step back in time. They restore and build wooden boats and the craftsmanship was terrific. They also own and run the Windsor Belle., a steam pleasure boat which was truly magnificent. Ken, their steam engineer, visited 'President' afterwards and was happy with what we were doing. We moored that night in Henley-on-Thames, again many interested visitors.

 

Thursday 24th May 1990

We were away from Henley at 9.40 with the reporter from the Reading Evening Post on board as far as Marsh Lock. He had arranged for a photographer to be at Caversham Lock and we had a full page feature the next day. During the day Alan Pease had been in contact with the Swan Hotel at Streatley a 4 Star Hotel who invited us to moor in front of the hotel for the night. We were greeted by the manager and a tray of drinks - very nice. The hotel guests (mainly Doctors and Wives at a conference) were very interested in the boat and the statue.

Friday 25th May 1990

We left the Hotel at 7.30, 'President' breasted up to 'Vulcan' to avoid any noise for the hotel guests (the Editor suspects the engineman had overslept). David got the fire lit on the move and by 9.22 'President' was under her own power. We had a 20 minute delay in Days Lock while Alan restarted the engine on 'Vulcan' This had been the only lock keeper who insisted on stopping the engine.

At Culham Lock National Power had arranged a photo/press call - we had four papers and Central TV there. The local primary school also turned out in force. They had been doing a project on James and were very excited to see the statue. We moored that night in Abingdon and everybody looked forward to our return to the canal system.

Saturday 26th May 1990

Not an early start, Pauline needed some shopping from the town and we were to be joined by Neil Ratcliffe and Keith Rogers for the hand-over in Oxford. During a water and sanitation stop above Abingdon Lock, I fell between the two boats, inspected the props and cracked 3 ribs in the process. Neil took over as far as Sandford Lock while I had a shower and change of clothes.

Our approach to Oxford was made very enjoyable as we picked our way through the University Regatta with boats everywhere. We cleared Isis Lock at 5.30 and were back on the canals. Very slow and shallow for our short trip to Aristotle Bridge. Just as we approached the end of our week the engine stopped dead and we had a blade full. After much struggling we removed a long length of wire complete with a fence post. The new crew arrived and took over and after a very memorable week the four of us returned home.

David Powell

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