portoflondon

The small single-screw diesel tug Charles Edward was built in 1958, and was one of a large fleet of tugs operated by the Port of London Authority, and smaller towage companies, before the nature of shipping on the River Thames was changed forever by the introduction of containerisation. This created new ports like Tilbury that were closer to the open sea, and could handle much larger ships. Before cargoes moved down river in the sixties and seventies, many small tugs like this one could always be seen in and around the London docks. They were employed mainly for towing unpowered barges or lighters, and because these vessels almost always worked in sheltered waters, one typical feature of this type of small tug is the unusually low height of the bulwarks. This makes quite a simple tug with few fittings, and the hull has also been used to model a number of other small tugs and harbour and canal boats which tend to share a very similar basic hull form.

	Hull Length:825mm (32.5") Beam:215mm (8.5") Scale:1/22nd

	The small single-screw diesel tug Charles Edward was built in 1958, and was one of a large fleet of tugs operated by the Port of London Authority, and smaller towage companies, before the nature of shipping on the River Thames was changed forever by the introduction of containerisation. This created new ports like Tilbury that were closer to the open sea, and could handle much larger ships. Before cargoes moved down river in the sixties and seventies, many small tugs like this one could always be seen in and around the London docks. They were employed mainly for towing unpowered barges or lighters, and because these vessels almost always worked in sheltered waters, one typical feature of this type of small tug is the unusually low height of the bulwarks. This makes quite a simple tug with few fittings, and the hull has also been used to model a number of other small tugs and harbour and canal boats which tend to share a very similar basic hull form.