Sailing on the Trent

A Broader Outlook: NarrowBoat, Winter 2008

Euan Corrie

Euan Corrie takes a closer look at photographs from the 1920s or early 1930s that are probably the work of Ernest W. Carter, a prolific photographer and postcard publisher based at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire

Loxley at Morton Corner Furley’s keel Loxley heads downstream from her owner’s base at Gainsborough. She was photographed rounding the sharp Morton Corner below the town, possibly having discharged at the wharf there. Two long stowers, or shafts, lie on the starboard side ready for use, one on the side deck forward and another between the stern rail and hatch covers. The latter would certainly be in the way of those working on deck, so it must be assumed that the skipper anticipates needing it to turn the vessel’s head up towards the wind to assist her round the turn. The smoke from both cabin fires and the position of the masthead vane indicate quite a strong breeze from the left of the picture, which, together with the flood tide that still has some time to run up, will tend to set the keel onto the right bank of the river. Interestingly the skipper of Loxley is using the iron tiller which usually replaced the long wooden one in more confined waters than the Tren…