SB Centaur is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Harwich, Essex, England in 1895.

The sails were made of flax; their rust colour came from the traditional waterproofing solution; a mixture of ochre, fish oil and urine.

To prevent unwanted (sideways) passage to the lee, there was a massive pivoted, retractable, winch operated leeboard on each side.

When no wharf was available, the barge could use the ebbing tide to stand on the mud close to shore, and offload its cargo into carts.

[2][6] In good conditions, sailing barges could attain speeds of over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), and their leeboards allowed them to be highly effective windward performers.

The unusual spritsail rig allowed any combination of sails to be set: even the topsail on its own could be effective in some conditions.

[4] SB Centaur, wood built, probably pitch pine on oak, was constructed for Charles Stone of Mistley to be used for the coastal trade.

[8] She was large compared with the average sailing barge and had a "generous sheer and shapely transom" making her more seaworthy.

[2] Construction took six weeks[10] and she was launched on 15 February 1895 by John and Herbert Cann at the Bathside yard, Gashouse Creek, Harwich.

She-would carry full sail (i.e. without the staysail) in a Force 5 wind, although in associated sea conditions offshore the skipper would be looking for shelter if deep-laden.

A Force 6 wind was generally considered to be the overall limiting condition.In the First World War, SB Centaur joined her sister barges taking foodstuffs and large quantities of coal, coke, and pitch to the French ports of Le Treport, Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer.

[11] On one crossing, the date is not recorded, in thick fog, the Centaur was struck amidships by a coastal motor boat (CMB), a small, motorised, military vessel, which mounted her deck and settled on her main hatch.

[11] In 1933 she joined Francis and Gilders Ltd which managed a large fleet of sailing barges out of Colchester, transporting grain from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex into London.

[2] The first major civilian maritime event of the Second World War was the Dunkirk evacuation where hundreds of small ships rescued allied soldiers from the beaches.

The rest of the conflict was spent under government charter, carrying much the same cargos as she always had around the south and east coasts of England.

In January 1952, in force 6–7 winds with seas breaking across her hatches, her rudder broke and she was towed into Colne by the SB Saxon.

During her last year in the carrying trade, as well as grain she transported timber, sugar beet, ballast, cement and oil drums.

Centaur and the other three remaining working sailing barges, George Smeed, Kitty and Mirosa were deregistered and disposed of to Brown & Son of Chelmsford.

She was restored between 1974 and 1993, with most frames and planks replaced and a new auxiliary motor, a Bedford six-cylinder truck engine fitted with a marine gearbox, installed.

[13] In 2013 a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £100,000 was obtained which contributed to further restoration work, including redoubling the bottom timbers.