James Barratt; a Victorian water boatman of 9, New Road, Starcross

This photograph, by the reknowned photographer George Gibbings (1920 - 2010)

The Cygnet in Exeter Maritime Museum

of The Cygnet before she went to her present location in nearby Topsham Museum, led the research to his obituary in August, 2010 by John Evans on Devon and Cornwall Online
in which is quoted this, from George Gibbings' nephew, Les Gibbings, about The Swan of the Exe and its tender The Cygnet

Les Gibbings
Les has provided DCO with some more local history about the River Exe which bears upon his own family story in the area.

My great great grandfather, James Barratt (a water boatman), and his family, including my great grandmother, Elizabeth, lived at 9 New Street, Starcross in the mid 1800s. The terrace of cottages were located in the street opposite the Courtney Arms Hotel on the front. They were converted into eight units about 20 years ago.
There were a number of people who plied a local ferry trade on the Exe and across to Exmouth and he was one. The Swan was a pleasure vessel that was well known in the area. It had a unique bottom it seems, either glass or at least a hole for fishing from within the boat.
The Cygnet was a small rowing craft with a swan’s neck that I found, to my utter amazement, in the Exeter Maritime Museum in the 1990s (or was it the 1980s?) and which family folklore said was used by us.
My grandfather was called James Barratt Gibbings, as were my late father and my eldest brother, so the links are obvious. He spent most of his formative years up to adulthood in the area.
The Gibbin(g)s family lived in Littleham / Withycombe Raleigh across the river.