The Flood

A Memory of Hoo.

Our barge, Hambrook, was moored at Hoo in the early 1950s. There were quite a number of fully rigged barges there at the time, but ours had had the rigging removed and converted into a houseboat. Most of the barges were used as residences, and there were quite a lot of children living on them. My mother, brother and I were on board the night of the 1953 flood. I was woken up by the sound of things crashing, and realised the the barge was listing, but didn't register that anything was amiss until my mother came rushing into my cabin and ordered me to get out of bed and get dressed immediately. The barge was in the process of capsizing! Many of the barges at Hoo were moored alongside large wooden piles, and the flood water had lifted Hambrook above the tops of them. The onshore wind had then blown the barge sideways, aided by the onshore mooring lines, and so when the waters started to recede the port side of the barge settled on the piles while the starboard side continued to fall with the ebbing water, finally leaving Hambrook lying on her side in the mud. It was nearly three months before the tide was high enough for the barge to be righted, and after being refitted she was towed up to Suffolk where she was to remain until destroyed by fire approximately 20 years later. Being 9 years old at the time, I saw myself as a hero, but in retrospect it must have been terrifying for my mother. We were given a temporary home on another barge, but for me it was the end of my time at Hoo as I was sent off to boarding school, and have not been back since.