Thalatta is sold to R. & W. Pauls, Maltsters of Ipswich

On 5 August 1933 Thalatta was sold for £450 to R. & W. Pauls and was employed carrying imported grain from Royal Docks in London to Ipswich, returning with malt or flour. The malt was made from Suffolk barley and was taken to London to be made into beer. She also took animal feed to Colchester and Faversham. Generally Paul’s barges avoided rough trade such as carrying rubble from London after the war to build the air fields of East Anglia or ‘London mix’ – hay to London for the London cab’s and manure back east to the farms. Their main trade was carrying clean and dry cargos such as malt to London and bringing grain back. Thalatta did, however, make occasional trips abroad to Belgium and Holland and her first skipper under Pauls, Bob Ruffles, spoke pigeon Belgian and Dutch. She also sailed to Rouen to bring back stone to rebuild Norwich cathedral. Bob Ruffles was the skipper of the Thalatta from 1933–1947.