The REAL Jubilee Flotilla, photos from the water…

For those that are interested, I have posted a few photos from the recent Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Flotilla on the River Thames- not photos from the media, but photos from my boat at the front of the flotilla, from the “manpower squadron” just behind the Gloriana, showing what the event was like from the water.  We boated from Mortlake, rowed up to Wandsworth to form up the flotilla, then rowed down to the Tower before the rain broke… and then had a very wet 4 mile row down to Milwall in the rain, which turned out to be an all-out race to be amongst the first batch of boats through the lock and in to the pub to dry out!  About 14-16 miles in all.

A very wet, but truly amazing day!  Being right at the front, the noise was tremendous – bells ringing, trumpet fanfares, orchestras, and the continual roar of the cheering crowds.  The atmosphere was very special – the “Canaletto effect” that everyone spoke about afterwards was not deliberately planned!  The original plans had us all rowing in a very tightly controlled formation, but fortunately that was just not feasible, and the plethora of so-called safety boats just got in the way and let us get on with it.  Our boat was “The Dove“, a Thames Cutter owned by the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers, a City of London livery company of which I am a Liveryman and the past Bargemaster.  This year we are celebrating our 550th anniversary.

The photos have only been briefly cropped and edited, so are not exactly gallery quality!