Young and old

C.Toms and Sons’ yard in Polruan builds mostly fishing boats, deepdrafted in the Cornish manner. When they started to weld up their 2016 newbuild, nobody could believe how flat-bottomed it was. The Toms shed is enormous, but the object rising from its keel in a series of plates and frames fitted it like a foot fits a sock. This gigantic creature became the Thames barge Blue Mermaid.

There had been a before, trudging under her swaybacked sprit rig