They were built in bargeyards adjacent to a river or creek on bargeblocks- a series of trestles raised about a metre from the compacted ground, that allowed working access above and below.

Her keelson is a 70 feet (21.34 m) long piece of 16 inches (41 cm) square pine,[3] while the Kathleen used metal.

Kitty was built for transporting grain from London and Ipswich, but could also ship timber, malt, flour, bricks, grit and general cargoes.

In the First World War she transported coke and stores to Calais and Boulogne for the army then reverted to the London river and the Essex coast.

During this period in 1949 she was involved in an accident in the Surrey Commercial Docks when her deck cargo shifted and she took a sudden list and lost it colliding with the motor coaster Grampian Coast.

In April 1985 she was bought was Patrick Keen of Portsmouth who re-rigged her and installed a Perkins six-cylinder diesel engine and she became a charter yacht again: now named My Kitty.