Hoist the sails – if you feel like it: a Thames barge break

Guests can join Snark, a barge built to 1898 plans, on chunks of its voyage to all four UK capitals – doing as many sailing tasks or as few as they please

There is a pirate ship on Margate beach – although instead of a skull and crossbones, it is flying the flags of the four UK nations. Sunbathers are crowding round, taking pictures of the town’s unusual visitor.

A hundred years ago, no one would have batted an eyelid. The boat, named Snark after the fictional animal in the Lewis Carroll poem, would have been one of a dozen such ships in the bay. It is not really a pirate ship, of course, but a swashbuckling Thames barge. These six-sail barges were once a common sight on the Kent coast and beyond, carrying cargo in and out of London. At the turn of the 20th century, there were more than 2,000. Today, there are only about 30 left.