Beatrice Maud was constructed in 1910 by Whites at Sittingbourne in Kent as a speculative build. It was some time before the vessel was purchased by Kent Coasters Ltd. for 4,000 guineas (£4,200). Kent Coasters was a consortium of traders from the Sittingbourne area that operated successfully for a period. However, following the decline in trade after the First World War, Beatrice Maud was laid up due to a lack of freight.

Subsequently, Kent Coasters ceased trading and the vessel was put up for sale. In the early 1930s, Alfred Sully acquired Beatrice Maud for £400. The vessel’s first master was Captain Nobby Finch from Mistley, located at the head of the River Stour in Essex. He was known as ‘fat Nobby’ to distinguish him from his brother, also named Nobby Finch, who commanded one of Everards’ barges. Under Captain Finch, the vessel operated out of London within the Great Yarmouth and Dover range.

Upon Captain Finch’s retirement, command passed to Captain Lionel Horlock, also from Mistley and a member of the prominent Horlock family of bargemen. Captain Horlock notably took Beatrice Maud to Dunkirk during the Second World War. The vessel crossed the English Channel on 31 May and, like many other barges, was left stranded on the beach. It is believed that her shallow draft may have been relied upon to enable refloating on the incoming tide, or that the crew was ordered to beach her to allow larger vessels to use her as a boarding platform.

This circumstance proved fortuitous. On 4 June, approximately 260 soldiers, reportedly French and led by Lieutenant Heron, a yachtsman, boarded the vessel. The following day, a British naval ship towed Beatrice Maud into Dover. This event marked the end of her wartime service.

After the war, Beatrice Maud was observed transporting rectangular bales of compacted straw from Colchester and Hythe to London. She appears to have been among the early casualties of the decline in trade associated with the old London Docks. The retirement of experienced barge masters, coupled with a shortage of apprentices and skilled craftsmen capable of working with oak, pine, brass, and wrought iron, made maintenance costly. Wooden barges like Beatrice Maud were no longer economically viable for routes to Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and French ports, where ocean-going vessels preferred to dock and discharge cargo.

Consequently, owners sold off many wooden barges. One barge fleet owner reflected on this period, stating: “No-one back in the '60s was as conservation-minded as we are nowadays, nor were we ourselves particularly interested in the old barges. It seems we were only too glad to get rid of them and didn't bother to retain any documentary record.”

Following her commercial service, Beatrice Maud was converted into a houseboat.