In the Charlestown harbour of St Austell, Cornwall, china clay blocks are loaded by hand into a topsail schooner. The schooner 'Mary Barrow' sails out of the harbour, fitted with an auxiliary engine.

The schooner 'Katie' goes through a lock on Dartford Creek, before being unloaded at the paper mills and cleaned. A tug tows her out into the Thames Estuary, and a man climbs the rigging to unfurl the topsail and lower sails prior to raising the anchor.

A double topsail schooner, the 'Aleut', is at sea.