London Thames Barrier / Xylonite sailing barge (#0225)

The Xylonite entering gate 4 of the Thames Barrier. The Xylonite was built in 1926, of steel, as a Thames sailing barge (see Wikipedia links). In 1958 the Xylonite was cut down to being a motor barge and continued carrying cargo until 1977. It was subsequently rerigged as a sailing barge and has had other modifications including a ‘new bottom’ per one article (why it doesn’t say “hull”, I don’t know). It’s difficult to determine it’s current use, some sites describe it as being used for sail training, others as it being used as a houseboat. The Daily Mail link (below) has good pictures of the interior and describes how the boat was used in the filming of Dunkirk; the article (from 2017) also says that the boat is for sale for £425,000 ($557K).

Sources:
Wikipedia Thames sailing barge: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_sailing_barge
Wikipedia/Xylonite: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB_Xylonite
National Historic ships: www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/236/xylonite
Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4706664/Houseboat-used-Hollywood-film-Dunkirk-sale.html

(Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)