TRILBY (left) and BRANDRAM at Colchester Hythe in the 1970s.
TRILBY was built Rochester in 1896 as a sailing barge. Official No. 106527. Like several of the barges on war service she was in a bad state at the end of the war and was rebuilt and enlarged. She was one of the last ex sailing barges to remain in trade.
Sailing Barge Compendium records that TRILBY ceased trade in 1980; housebarge Weybridge, derelict 1995 at Watermans Park, Brentford.
BRANDRAM was built 1915 as X Lighter X.67. In 1955 she was acquired by Bowker & King.

Comment 29 April 2012 by John Squires:
I can remember when I was a deckhand on the TRILBY, sleeping up the forehead end. The skipper was a man called Bob but I cannot remember his surname. We used to trade up and down the Thames taking Ammunition, Cement, and everything else round to Ipswich ( Paul's mills ) or to Harwich to unload the ammunition. We regularly used to moor up at Gravesend Reach and scull across to a pub called the Ship and Lobster, or if we were in Sheerness to a pub called the Rose. It was a hard life but a very good learning curve.

Comment by Mark Koenick 5 August 2012
I worked for Sully freight for about 5 years one of my skippers a man called Eric Goodall worked on the TRILBY having spent his entire working life with Sully Freight, who were a great company and treated there crews very fairly. We were paid a percentage of the value of the cargo, happy days, it all finished with the construction of the Euro Tunnel.

Comment added 7 November 2012:
Last skipper of the TRILBY was Bob Wells who lived on board for years. Barge is now a wreck in Brentford Creek with trees and bushes growing out of it.
Date: c1975