> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Trust launches £100,000 appeal to keep 1895 barge Victor in Ipswich - URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/trust-launches-100-000-appeal-to-keep-1895-barge-victor-in-ipswich/ - Published: 2026-10-13T09:47:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T09:47:02.000Z - Description: She has survived a bomb strike, a brief spell as a strip club and being abandoned in the Channel. Now a newly formed trust has launched an urgent £100,000 appeal to keep the 1895 sailing barge Victor in Ipswich, as her skipper of more than 20 years prepares for his last trip in charge. - Author: Nicola Sebastian - Tags: News, Appeals, Waterfront **Why it matters:** The Victor 1895 Community Heritage Trust says the barge is one of the last tangible links to Ipswich's shipbuilding history. If it cannot raise £100,000 to buy her, it warns "her future will not be in the town" and her survival could be at stake. **The details:** Skipper Wes will make his last trip in charge when Victor leaves the dock for the Harwich Shanty Festival on Thursday, 15 October 2026. No buyer has come forward to take Victor on. The trust says there is a strong possibility she will soon depart the dock for the final time, warning that, like other wooden Thames sailing barges, she could "quickly fall into a condition that is uneconomic to repair." **For context:** Victor was built by Horace Shrubsall at the Dock End Yard in Ipswich in 1895 for Owen Parry. At the time, she took linseed from farms to Parry’s mill in Colchester, delivered linseed oil to Millwall and brought animal feed back to Ipswich. - During the Second World War, she carried military equipment from Chatham Dock to naval ships in the darkness. She survived a bomb strike that destroyed a cargo boat moored alongside her. - In 1947, she was the last sailing barge to be taken out of service. She was converted to a motor barge in the 1950s and traded on the Medway until she was sold in 1964. - Over the next decade, she passed through three owners, briefly became a strip club before being abandoned in the Channel, where a Ramsgate lifeboat rescued her crew and towed her to safety. She later became a houseboat on the Medway. - Navy-trained shipwright Owen Emerson bought and rebuilt her from 1974\. She was restored as a 40-passenger charter barge in 1995 and brought back to the East Coast in 2005, returning to passenger and events work. Victor has welcomed hundreds of people aboard for trips along the River Orwell, giving passengers the chance to experience the area's maritime heritage from a different deck. **What they're saying:** Judy Harrison, a founding trustee and maritime project manager, said: "Victor is the last tangible link to Ipswich's rich ship building history, and the days of trading under sail. More recently she has become a treasured icon of the waterfront, but now her very survival is under threat. "Our newly formed trust is urgently trying to raise the funds to ensure Victor has a secure future here in the town where she belongs, and the plan is then to use her for the benefit of the local community who saved her." **What's next:** The trust has four founding trustees with experience across the maritime and charitable sectors, including Harrison and Andrew Harston MBE. It aims to: - Raise £100,000 to buy Victor, plus £150,000 to keep her sailing in her first year of operation - Continue passenger trips to help offset the cost of operating her - Offer educational activities for school visits, helping thousands of young people discover Ipswich's waterfront heritage - Open up maritime careers, keep traditional skills alive and bring people of all ages together through events, volunteering and practical projects - Continue to fundraise and gradually restore Victor to ensure her long-term survival **The bottom line:** Victor has weathered war, a string of owners and being abandoned at sea. The trust hopes her next chapter will be written in the town where she was built. *Anyone able to donate, volunteer or offer assistance or corporate support can visit* [*www.ourvictor.org*](https://www.ourvictor.org/?ref=ipswich.co.uk) *or email contact@ourvictor.org.* --- **Don't forget:** If you enjoy our content, please [add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=ipswich.co.uk&ref=ipswich.co.uk) so you can easily find more of the content you value. [Add as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=ipswich.co.uk&ref=ipswich.co.uk) --- ### This article cost us \~£27 to produce It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.