Thames Sailing Barge Match News

The Shipowners’ P&I Club is sponsoring the Mark Boyle Memorial Thames Sailing Barge Match which takes place on July 13, 2013 in this its 150th anniversary year. The event is held this year in memory of Captain Mark Boyle, who revived the event in 1995 and organized it each year until his untimely death last year aged 55. The Match was the brainchild of Henry Dodd a wealthy London businessman from humble origins who built his business on waste transportation by sailing-barge from London to refuse works along the river supplying ash for the brick-making industry. He was a good friend of Charles Dickens, who used him as the model for Mr. Boffin, the refuse magnate of the novel, Our Mutual Friend.