Hi,
 

Just joined the forum, I have to admit to not having a connection the maritime world as such, I think the closest I can get is the fact that my Grandfather owned a yacht in the fifties moored at Brandy Hole near Hullbridge on the R.Crouch.

Firstly,
My main interest in joining the forum is to try ad find out more about the docks around London, especially the barge traffic, tugs and Thames barges that worked the area.

I'm a keen model maker involved with railways and I'm at the beginning of starting a project based on the ex-Great Eastern Railway which took over the ex Pepper warehouses on Bow Creek ( R.Lea) where traffic was loaded/unloaded by barge.



Secondly,
I have inherited, from my Father, some shipping line company name boards which I am having difficulty finding out anything at all.
They were found in storage in my late Father's builders yard, and the only connection I can think of is the fact that we were a family firm of building contractors, going back to the early 1800's, I was working as an apprentice to my Father ( Carpenter & Joiner) in the 1970's, at Tilbury Docks we worked on some new offices.
I have no recollection of these being bought back or ever seeing them before but it is the only connection I can think of.

Does anyone out there have an idea what or where they are from. Some of my railway modeller collegues thought they were railway carriage boards but they are too small at 7'-0" length x 5" depth.

Thanks in advance for any help. Col.

Hi, welcome aboard.
Experience and Sea time matter not too much. Just an interest and willingness to share knowledge.

The boards are similar to carriage destination boards and I believe had a similar function, but in a static location.
On the railways they also used such boards on platforms to tell passengers where the train was going before more elaborate systems were evolved. They still used them in the provinces up to the 1970s at least.
With the boards you have they would be placed at or over a public entrance to show the name of the Company using the berth.
With smaller cruise ports around the world something similar is still used to this day, with maybe an 'A' board.

Welcome onboard

Eastsidepilot

Welcome to SH :thumb:

Greetings Col. and welcome to SH. Bon voyage

Eastsidepilot,

Welcome to SH. I think Malcolm G could be correct about the boards.

Neville

Thanks for the welcome guys and to Malcolm G for the info.
I had a feeling the boards were possibly entrance signs and my thoughts did turn to the possibility that they were over the exits from Tilbury Dock station out onto the pontoon ? where passengers boarded the cruise ships.

Non of the photo's thus so far found on the internet show anything.

Col.