ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the changes to navigation on the River Thames and the state of the barges and bargemen thereof through a study of the role of the Thames Navigation Commission, which was established in the eighteenth century and which filled the important task of administering navigation on the River Thames. It discusses touch on the problems of terrain that faced the bargemasters. The chapter also considers the question of how the activities of the Thames Navigation Commission were reflected in the number of barges operating on the river, whilst also touching upon the barge operators. The results of the Commission's efforts were demonstrated in a rise in the number of barges travelling the Thames in the latter half of the eighteenth century, a drop in the number of reports on barges capsizing while traversing locks from 1800 and later, and a reduction in the price of carriage for coal. The pound-lock had many advantages over the old flash-locks.
