Chasing the Swinderby by Steven Oakden – Part 4

A cold and dull day as I ventured out by car to go to Hull. The tide was forecast for 16.27 which was after dark of course, but Pete Bayley the Assistant Harbour master had texted to say that manoeuvres were booked to start at 3pm with Paragon, Mainmast’s smaller barge of 350 tons capacity, going first. I left home at 12 noon and had a good drive to Clough Road in Hull where I had lunch at The Range before going over Stoneferry Bridge to B&Q to use their car park. I then found the narrow track down a slope to the riverside behind B&Qs store. Not the most salubrious of places. As Pete had said it was a Stoneferry to Croda sailing for Paragon I walked up river to see if it was photogenic. It was all rather depressing in such light as there was, a featureless landscape to the east and high concrete walls and a big scrapyard on the west bank. I walked on top of the levee and initially walked past Croda’s works as the wharf there didn’t appear to be used and there was no sign of Paragon. I decided that I wasn’t going to walk any further up river so I back tracked trying to work out if I was opposite Croda or not. The pipelines for discharging a vessel all seemed the other side of a high wall at the quay and I had thought there would be signs of wear on the wharf from Paragon berthing there.

I walked back to Stoneferry across the dual carriageway and then along the modern concrete flood wall towards Cargills Wharf to find the crew getting ready to leave with Paragon, which was fully loaded.

They started the engine which produced clouds of grey smoke, almost engulfing the vessel, quite comical in a way and more like the clag from a steam loco being lit up. Smoke rings blew out of the exhaust. Turning over rather dubiously, the engine seemed to take a while to get going properly whilst the crew sorted out the mooring ropes. Slowly the barge left the quay and drifted towards Stoneferry Bridge, the deck hand waving and Tony shouting out the wheelhouse why they were getting started a little earlier than normal.

Paragon was a very different barge to Swinderby. Whereas Swinderby was big, beamy and brutalist, Paragon was far more traditional looking. Long and slender and more old fashioned in appearance, its paintwork was faded rather than scuffed and rusty.

Tony seemed to prefer to be over by the north bank with Paragon and had to wait whilst Stoneferry’s two lifting bridges were raised. It looked to me like Paragon would have got underneath but it was good to get photos with the bridges raised. I followed to the other side of the bridge to get some more photos as slowly Paragon went up river with the tide and out of sight round a bend.

I wanted to allow time to find somewhere to park so I made the short drive over to the west bank and down to a spot right opposite Cargills works, there were views not just across the river but up and down it, so that was good. The anxiety now was how long before the crew returned to move Swinderby and would there be any light left?

It was quite a long wait but meanwhile a group of Mainmast’s staff including Andrew Sanders, the company Director, were busy securing tank covers, releasing and moving pipework etc.

I shouted across to Andrew to ask if this was definitely the last voyage. He said that there were still another 120 tons of edible oil in the tanks at Cargills and that they were waiting to hear if this would be moved by them or by road.  The clock was nearing 4pm, the light was fading but I decided that I would just be happy to see the last trip even if it was dark, when Colin and his deckhand turned up. When they did arrive it was all very quick, or as quick as you can be with a 500 ton barge. The engine was started without any of Paragon’s smoke effects, navigation lights were switched on, and then at 4.13 pm Colin set the engine astern so that they could pivot on the stern rope to get Swinderby’s bow into the channel.

By 14.16 Swinderby was underway and a powerful searchlight at the bow had been turned on.

I followed, seeing the barge again at Wilmington Bridge and Scott Street, but I didn’t go further. The environs of Scott Street with the Chambers & Fargus works still in use and lit up in the dark and the old mills and works nearby seemed the most fitting place on the river to see the last voyage of the last barge to work commercially on the River Hull.

Today, looking back, after Swinderby’s last trip, I am glad that I had made the effort to see the workings of the Swinderby and Paragon and that I had managed to obtain some of the photographs that I wanted. Witnessing the dereliction of the river and the complete absence of any vessels of any type made you wonder if there was still any traffic. The first sighting of a laid-up Rix Eagle made me wish to see some vestige of what had happened even a few years previously. I was just in time to capture the end of a very long period of time when the River Hull was a major transport artery and contributor to the life and work of Hull. By the time I obtained my first photographs the announcement of the closure of Cargill’s and the end of barge transport had been made.

I am of course annoyed with myself for not going to explore the river earlier. I lived within a 50 minute drive of the river from 1997 and there was much more to see at that time, many more old buildings, much more river traffic. However thanks to the Facebook Group: ‘BARGES small river Tugs and Workboats on Humber‘ and this web site there are two superb resources of photographs and stories that are expanding and evolving as more information and memories come into the public domain.

I would like to thank Pete Bayley, Assistant Harbourmaster for Hull City Council, for his help and for answering many questions, and Tony Carty Captain of Swinderby and Paragon for giving his time to be interviewed.

Finally I should add that Swinderby did make a final trip with the remaining 120 tons of edible oil from Cargills to King George dock. It was on December 12^th 2022 a Monday. It was a freezing cold day with snow and ice. I missed it because I didn’t know it was going to take place. Where was I? Trinity House in Hull!