A young Alf Kelsey at the chaffcutter wheel of the sailing barge Kathleen belonging to Daniels Brothers of Whitstable, Kent.

This photograph, taken on 24th August 1921, clearly shows the characteristic design of the chaffcutter wheel.

Kathleen, launched from the Thamesside yard of Lewis Glover at Gravesend in 1901, traded for sixty years and seventeen days before being 'laid up out of commission'.

She was purchased for a brief period lightering timber before she was sold for restoration to sail as a yacht.

In the early 1980s she became derelict near Spaarndam in The Netherlands. Alf Kelsey outlived his barge, passing away aged 96 a few years later.

Kathleen's original Chaffcutter wheel was rescued from Holland and returned to the UK to serve as the symbol of Chaffcutter Books.

At Chaffcutter books our aim is to produce quality publications, carefully researched, recording many aspects of our maritime heritage for the enjoyment of those with an interest in the sea and to a wider audience.

The word Chaffcutter is more usually associated with the agricultural implement of that name, and in particular its distinctive wheel with its curiously curved spokes which are characteristic of the chaffcutter.

When the Thames Sailing Barges, which dominated the coastal trade of the south and east of England in Victorian times, abandoned their tiller steering in favour of a wheel, the close affinity between these tan sailed traders and the farm wharves they served may well have influenced the style of their cast iron wheels.

Although many of the large coasting barges preferred the traditional brass bound wooden ships wheel, by far the majority of these ubiquitous craft sported the Chaffcutter.