Interviews

The last vessel to be commissioned and built at the Thames Iron Works has come full circle back to the River Lea as part of Cody Dock’s heritage pavilion

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A visit to the Boat House at Cody Dock isn’t just a chance to experience what’s on show within.

The structure’s roof is itself an exhibit – the Frederick Kitchen is a former lifeboat that’s been extensively restored and flipped over to protect the heritage pavilion below from the elements.

It has an extraordinary story to tell.

The last boat to be commissioned at the Thames Ironworks, just down the River Lea from Cody Dock, it’s carried royalty, saved lives in Wales, been refitted for fishing, turned into a houseboat, sunk and has now returned to east London.

Thanks to research by Julia Briscoe and David Scott at Cody Dock, we can relay some of its journey here.

a generous gift

Frederick Kitchen, the man the boat was named for, played an important part in its story.

Born in Liverpool in 1852 – the son of a cabinet maker and joiner – he initially worked as a painter before going into business and becoming a corn merchant, eventually rising to the post of chairman of Pelling, Stanley And Company.

The firm was an importer of John West Salmon and one of the founding businesses of Unilever.

His success led him to accrue significant wealth in Liverpool before moving to the small village of Trefriw in 1901 on the river Crafnant, living there with two servants and becoming chairman of the parish council in 1904, before his death a year later.

A lifelong bachelor, his closest relative was his brother, Captain James Kitchen.

In his will, he left more than £2million in today’s money to various bodies including the RNLI, specifically to fund “the purchase of a motor-lifeboat to be placed on the west coast of England”.

The institution, having received £2,400 – the bulk of the cash – by 1908, duly commissioned the Thames Ironworks in east London to build a 43-foot Watson Lifeboat, fitted with a 60 horsepower petrol engine, capable of seven knots when motoring but also able to of use sails.

It was designed by Glaswegian George Lennox Watson, who was born in 1851 and was attracted to yachts as a boy during holidays on the Clyde. 

Apprenticed as a shipwright, he became interested in the role hydrodynamics played in their design and had established his own company by the age of 22, going on to design hundreds of successful racing vessels.

In 1887 he became the RNLI’s chief naval architect and, while he died in 1904, the lifeboats he designed continued to be used into the 1950s.   

built on the Lea

Founded in 1837, the Thames Ironworks And Shipbuilding Company had its main yards at Leamouth and Canning Town, with operations on both sides of Bow Creek. 

It was a titan of Victorian industry, building warships and liners as well as marine engines, cranes, parts for massive engineering projects and even motor cars.

Notably, HMS Warrior was built by the company as the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warship, leading to a slew of orders from governments around the world.

In the 1890s, the firm came under the control of managing director Arnold Hills, a philanthropist, footballer, vegetarian and champion of eight-hour days at a time when industrial workers were more commonly expected to work 10 or 12-hour shifts.

He was also involved in establishing Thames Ironworks FC, which would later become West Ham United.

However all did not remain well. Orders from the Royal Navy dried up by 1911 and the business closed in 1912.

The Frederick Kitchen was the last vessel to be commissioned and built by the company in Canning Town.

Constructed primarily from mahogany, with a heavy cast iron keel for stability in stormy seas, its design and fabrication represented the absolute zenith of skilled wooden boat building on the Thames.

Its completion also marked the end of an era.

a Royal encounter

Following sea trials off Harwich with the RNLI, the Frederick Kitchen made an appearance at the 1913 Cowes Regatta.

Attendees included most of the Royal Family as well as Prince Henry of Prussia – brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II – one year before the outbreak of the First World War.

During the festival, the royal yacht Britannia beat Prince Henry in the Kaiser’s yacht.

King George V also took an interest in the Frederick Kitchen, which had stopped at Cowes on its way to Beaumaris in Wales to serve as the town’s lifeboat.

He, along with senior members of the RNLI, took a trip in the vessel “during which every detail of the boat’s construction was explained” including its celebrated Gardner No. 4 reverse gear, according to the November 1913 edition of The Lifeboat magazine.

Causing quite a stir, the same article lists a succession of dignitaries who then went on to visit the boat.

saving lives in Anglesey

The Frederick Kitchen travelled from Cowes to begin its intended role as the Beaumaris lifeboat, protecting mariners from the small town at the mouth of the Menai Strait on Anglesey.

The completion of a new lifeboat station in 1914 allowed the vessel to enter service and she was duly dedicated with prayers from the Bishop Of Bangor and the smashing of a bottle of wine by Mrs James Kitchen – wife of her namesake’s brother, who was also present to formally hand over the boat to the RNLI. 

Crewed by eight volunteer sailors, the vessel served from 1914 until 1945 and was then held in reserve until 1948.

During the First World War and into the 1920s, the RNLI only made brief information about its lifeboats’ activities public. 

However, we do know the Frederick Kitchen was launched 35 times on rescue missions – equating to about once per year – with five leading to lives and boats being saved.

Over 31 years of service, 46 people were rescued and two vessels were recovered.

• One notable mission in 1920 was when the schooner Jane And Ann of Carnarvon, carrying a cargo of mining pit props, broke anchor at Llandudno and drifted. The Beaumaris lifeboat was launched and initially rescued the crew, although the captain (described in the log as “an old man”), refused to leave. 

He was later removed and the schooner anchored, but strong winds saw the ship break away a second time and drift across the Mersey estuary, eventually becoming a wreck.

• A year later, the Frederick Kitchen was in action again, dispatched to answer distress signals from another schooner, the Pandora of Fraserburgh, loaded with coal. 

Caught in a heavy north-west gale off Anglesey, the ship had broken away from its anchor and was drifting towards the Dutchman Bank when the lifeboat caught up and rescued its crew of four before it too was wrecked.

• In March 1931 the Beaumaris lifeboat saved three young men and their yacht, the Bluebell, in fierce rain squalls and blinding snow after they lost their sails.

Led by 21-year-old JT Chitty, the son of a master at Eton College, there was much worry locally about the three inexperienced sailors with the Llandudno lifeboat also launched, although it’s help wasn’t needed as the crew of the Frederick Kitchen were able to rescue both the young men and their vessel. 

Incidentally, three months later Mr Chitty again had to be rescued from Bluebell after it broke free from its moorings and its motor failed on the River Mersea. He and a 16-year-old friend were pulled from the upturned yacht by police and harbour staff. 

• In 1936, the Beaumaris lifeboat once more saw significant action when called to rescue the seven crew members of the schooner Flying Foam.

The 200-ton vessel had dragged her anchor having stopped to make repairs to a sail and was drifting when the Frederick Kitchen came alongside to take Captain Roy Jackson, Lorna his wife and their two cats to safety along with the rest of the people on board.

Abandoned, the Flying Foam ran aground on the west shore of Llandudno with much of its cargo of coal later salvaged via horse and cart.

It was the last sailing schooner to be wrecked in Conwy Bay, with its remains, visible for many years at low tide, becoming a tourist attraction. 

returning to London

According to National Historic Ships, the Frederick Kitchen continued to lead a colourful life after being sold to a succession of boating enthusiasts.

A cabin was added to the vessel, which was renamed the Lady Pat in 1950 and then later the Jackie Maxwell.

In 1997 the boat was restored in Blyth with the aim of using it for fishing under the new name Herring Queen. 

In 2004 it became the Ballyheo Dream with an extended cabin to allow it to act as a houseboat, but sank at its moorings before being rapidly raised and returned to Blyth.

A spell at the Fish And Duck Marina in Ely followed before the Frederick Kitchen was acquired in 2013 by the Thames Ironworks Heritage Trust, which returned the vessel to east London.

Ownership passed to Cody Dock, which embarked on an extensive restoration project to bring this piece of living maritime history back into public use.

Everyone visiting the newly created Boat House will be sheltered by timbers that were worked by some of London’s finest craftspeople, helped save lives off the coast of Wales, were trodden by King George V and will now be in service protecting and showcasing local history for many years to come.

key details: the Boat House at Cody Dock

The Boat House is located at Cody Dock on the River Lea and is free to visit.

You can find out more about the boat house and the programme for the structure via the ecological regeneration project’s website here.

Read more: Find out more about Common Threads, coming to Cody Dock in September

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