SB Lady Daphne

SB Lady Daphne is a wooden Thames sailing barge, built in Rochester, England in 1923.

She is infamous for sailing unaided from The Lizard to Tresco in the Scilly Isles, and safety beaching herself in two feet of water on shelving sand.

[1][2][3] Lady Daphne was commissioned for building in 1921 by David J Bradley of Thomas Watson (Shipping), a prominent barge owning company in Rochester, Kent.

On Boxing Day 1927, Lady Daphne's skipper was washed overboard and the two remaining crew members abandoned her off the Cornish coast.

However Lady Daphne, with only the skipper's canary on board, sailed herself through the rocks of the Scilly Isles onto a few tens of yards of safe sand.

Lady Daphne's original rigging taken from Underhill's measurements. [ 2 ]
Model in Rochester Guildhall museum
Plaque inside the cabin, commemorating her build. Reads 'Designed and built by Short Bros (Rochester Ltd.) Rochester' Is gold in color and the lettering is worn, showing its age.
Plaque inside the cabin , commemorating her build. Reads 'Designed and built by Short Bros (Rochester Ltd.) Rochester'