The original Atlas was built in 1895 to take bricks to London from Cremer’s brick fields at Oare Creek, Kent. After her original barge boat wore out, another 14ft barge boat was built for her in about 1949 by the Cremer’s foreman, shipwright Bill Gregory. He had spent a life time perfecting this type of boat. The barge Atlas was sold to the Westwood family who lived aboard her and used her for pleasure trips from Wargraves on the Thames. Eventually the barge boat Atlas finished up in Sarah Westwood’s garden in Shotley, upside down and rotten in the bottom. The boat was given to Robert Simper in 2017, who then had her rebuilt by the Pioneer Trust, Brightlingsea. Since then the barge boat has been sailed on the East Coast and taken to Brittany, Looe and the North Norfolk coast. Some fibreglass hulls of the Atlas have also been made.