[2] The ubiquitous Thames sailing barge had evolved over a century from the small swim-headed wooden river lighter, to the efficient river and estuary vessel with a rounded bow and stem post, that would take cargoes of up to 200 tons and regularly race to test design changes.

The farmer sailed vessel used on short runs on the upper reaches of the London River had been eclipsed by the hoy companies running mixed cargoes from Margate and Ipswich to the west of London, and indeed doing occasional coastal work as far as the Tyne and the Lizard.

[citation needed] In 1898 they commissioned twenty-two 160 tonners 'iron-pots' from Braby in Deptford and Fay and Co in Southampton.

The rounded chine led to dismal performance to windward and a heavy dependency on the leeboards.

The barges were 'seekers' but the skippers, as Goldsmith's employers they had less freedom on which cargoes to accept and the route, that was done by the office.

[5] She was involved in the great 70-mile-an-hour gale of 23 November 1938 when nine barges sought assistance from lifeboats along the Suffolk coast.

Out of trade she was first sold to her last skipper, Beefy Wildish who re-rigged her as a charter barge with sails and motor.

The well-known sailing barge restorer and shipwright Tim Goldsack, bought Decima in 2003.

[8] Decima was sponsored by the jam maker, Wilkin & Sons of Tiptree, Essex in 2010, and their logo was displayed prominently on the topsail.

[9] The hull of a keel-less Thames barge was always a compromise between the cargo carrying capacity, and her sailing properties.

Swim-head lighters could pack in the grain, but not sail competitively in rough water, let alone in lower reaches of the river, or on the estuary.

An indication of the original spars and sails can be surmised from E H March's detailed measurement of the SB Kathleen,[10] a wooden barge doing similar work that was launched 3 years later.

The sailmaker's exact formula is a closely guarded secret, and sailormen believe that some dressings are faster than others.