Watercolour of Thames Barges by Frank Henry Mason

Watercolour of Thames Barges by Frank Henry Mason. An unusual watercolour of Thames barges racing in the Thames estuary in a fresh breeze with all sails set. Both on port tack. The lead boat is S B Sirdar, closely pursued by S B Veronica. Each barge flying its house colours known as BOBS. The pennants or Bobs as they are called in the barge world, relate to the colours of the owners of the barges. Veronica was a racing barge owned and operated by F.T. Everard & Sons Ltd, and this Bob is made up of 4 triangles, 2 of white and 2 of red. Sirdar was owned and operated by the London & Rochester Trading Company Ltd, which became Crescent Shipping. Her bob is a red background with a white crescent. S B Sirdar Built in 1899 by William Date & Sons, the Sirdar is a notable Thames spritsail barge known for its competitive racing history and long service life. She was a key rival to the barge Veronica in the 1950s and 60s, operated by the London and Rochester Trading Company, and was known for her speed in sailing matches. She eventually became a hulked wreck on the Medway. S B Veronica Sailing Vessel ‘VERONICA’ built by Horace Shrubsall in 1906 for Clement Parker, Bradwell-on-Sea, Barge. https://shippingandshipbuilding.uk/view.php?dref=202829&a1Order=yard_number&a1Dir=ASC&a1Page=25&ref=231683&vessel=VERONICA Frank Henry Mason One of the ‘Staithes Group’ of artists, Mason was born at Seaton Carew, Hartlepool. It was in 1897-1898 – at around the time of the launch of the new-fangled Turbinia – that Mason quit marine engineering to become a full-time artist. Mason married in 1899 and he and wife, Edith, moved to Scarborough, overlooking the North Bay. In 1906 he exhibited a picture in London – Steam Trawlers Entering Scarborough – which he offered for sale for £73, a big sum in the early 1900s, but most of his watercolours at that time cost less than £20. Mason went on to become one of Britain’s finest railway poster artists and his posters, from the 1920s and 1930s, often fetch hundreds of pounds when they are auctioned in London. He became a founder member of the Staithes Art Club in 1901.