A NEW book about the life of a Selby bargeman written by a local historian will be launched today.
Laurie Dews, 85, worked on a barge on the River Ouse from the time he left Selby Abbey School in 1937, but started his life on the waterways during school, with his father, Sam, aboard the Selby Taurus.
Laurie said: “I looked forward to going with dad just as he had done with his father.
“There were good and bad times, when trips were on very foggy days and nights, or in snow storms, when the mate on the tiller was covered in snow.”
Laurie’s family had transported seed from Hull docks to the crushing mills at Barlby and back since 1820, working for an average of about £2.50 per 50-mile trip, carrying up to 225 tonnes of seeds.
Laurie’s time on the barge was interrupted by the outbreak of war, and he joined the Royal Navy for four years in 1940.
He volunteered to man a landing craft during the D-Day landings, and while he was serving with the navy, his mother, Elizabeth, joined his father and took over his duties on the river.
Laurie said: “The river can be a very dangerous place, with many sandbanks. Negotiating them is gained by years of experience, knowing the dangerous places.”
The danger of the journey was made clear in an incident in 1961, when the tug OCO collided with a coaster, leading to the death two men, with two others rescued.
Before he retired, Laurie was also captain of the motor barge, Selby Michael, but author of the book, David Lewis, said the era of the bargemen has all but finished.
David said: “Laurie’s tale records a vanished way of life.
“Although it seemed then that the centuries-long tradition of moving cargo on the Ouse would go on forever, in the space of 20 years it has all vanished. For the first time in recorded history there is no commercial traffic up the Ouse to Selby.”
The book will be launched today at Yorkshire Waterways Museum, Goole, a port Laurie passed regularly during his career.
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