Obviously a nod to Sir Francis Chichester and his solo sailing achievements on the Gipsy Moth IV.
As others have pointed out, the tangible is well presented in the song, with the Gipsy Moth, Cutty Sark, their dry dock prisons and reference to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich.
I do think there's a narrative open to interpretation about looking back at a better time - the song mentions the "lazy days of sail", as if looking back on better days through rose tinted glasses.
To me, this suggests an underlying theme of regret, the protagonist is hurting and looking back on his own better days, unable to accept where he is in life right now.
The line "You never want to fight against the river law" suggests the character is in emotional pain, much like the silent pain of the ships in dry dock. The next line, "Nobody rules the waves" seems to hint at the broad and open opportunities available when one is young and carefree, but now he can only look longingly from the confines of the well structured "river life" where he now finds himself.
As such he longs to be that single handed sailor, able to disappear into the night without consequence, but the confines of his life are now a river "law" which keeps him to the inland waterways and predictability of every day life and relationships.
The single handed sailor that goes sailing away in the dark is again the protagonist, but only in his own mind.
The next line, "He's upon the bridge on the self same night, the mariner of dry dock land" is yet another admission to the incarcerated emotional state of the protagonist who is now only able to reminisce of his former days.
At the sight of the sand barge passing he imagines himself stood on the barge and would welcome even such a lowly opportunity to experience his former days heading towards open opportunity. The green light signifying that the passing barge is heading towards open sea from the perspective of somebody on the south bank of the Thames, where our character finds himself.
The line "she's gonna slip away below him" could be a reference to a failing relationship, in that his other half has taken enough from him. Perhaps he's so living in the past that he can't form a future with her, and he has symbolically scuttled the relationship. So she is now resigned to simply slip away from him as if a vessel sinking beneath the waves.
Perhaps this has some reference to Wilfred Dowman whose wife left him after he started an affair with Catherine Courtauld, who was largely responsible for saving the Cutty Sark as she had the wealth to purchase it from its owners in the 1920s.
The next line "hey man, what do you call this thing", I haven't settled upon a meaning for yet, nor the next line making reference to the "Pride of London". It might be again reference to the Cutty Sark before it was purchased by the Dowman family. It had been renamed Ferreira and was in Falmouth at the time and was only because Wilfred recognised it as the Cutty Sark that lead them to purchase the ship and restore it. Catherine eventually sold the ship for a very small fee to the Thames Nautical College and it obviously became something that London could be proud to host.
So this could be a reference to the fact that a once great and respected tea clipper such as the Cutty Sark almost disappeared into obscurity that somebody might ask, "what do you call this thing" and not know of its heritage and history.
It could also just be reference to the contempt Sir Francis felt for the Gipsy Moth, though.
Anyway, a good psychologist would have a field day reading my interpretation, I'm sure.
Obviously a nod to Sir Francis Chichester and his solo sailing achievements on the Gipsy Moth IV.
As others have pointed out, the tangible is well presented in the song, with the Gipsy Moth, Cutty Sark, their dry dock prisons and reference to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich.
I do think there's a narrative open to interpretation about looking back at a better time - the song mentions the "lazy days of sail", as if looking back on better days through rose tinted glasses.
To me, this suggests an underlying theme of regret, the protagonist is hurting and looking back on his own better days, unable to accept where he is in life right now.
The line "You never want to fight against the river law" suggests the character is in emotional pain, much like the silent pain of the ships in dry dock. The next line, "Nobody rules the waves" seems to hint at the broad and open opportunities available when one is young and carefree, but now he can only look longingly from the confines of the well structured "river life" where he now finds himself.
As such he longs to be that single handed sailor, able to disappear into the night without consequence, but the confines of his life are now a river "law" which keeps him to the inland waterways and predictability of every day life and relationships.
The single handed sailor that goes sailing away in the dark is again the protagonist, but only in his own mind.
The next line, "He's upon the bridge on the self same night, the mariner of dry dock land" is yet another admission to the incarcerated emotional state of the protagonist who is now only able to reminisce of his former days.
At the sight of the sand barge passing he imagines himself stood on the barge and would welcome even such a lowly opportunity to experience his former days heading towards open opportunity. The green light signifying that the passing barge is heading towards open sea from the perspective of somebody on the south bank of the Thames, where our character finds himself.
The line "she's gonna slip away below him" could be a reference to a failing relationship, in that his other half has taken enough from him. Perhaps he's so living in the past that he can't form a future with her, and he has symbolically scuttled the relationship. So she is now resigned to simply slip away from him as if a vessel sinking beneath the waves.
Perhaps this has some reference to Wilfred Dowman whose wife left him after he started an affair with Catherine Courtauld, who was largely responsible for saving the Cutty Sark as she had the wealth to purchase it from its owners in the 1920s.
The next line "hey man, what do you call this thing", I haven't settled upon a meaning for yet, nor the next line making reference to the "Pride of London". It might be again reference to the Cutty Sark before it was purchased by the Dowman family. It had been renamed Ferreira and was in Falmouth at the time and was only because Wilfred recognised it as the Cutty Sark that lead them to purchase the ship and restore it. Catherine eventually sold the ship for a very small fee to the Thames Nautical College and it obviously became something that London could be proud to host.
So this could be a reference to the fact that a once great and respected tea clipper such as the Cutty Sark almost disappeared into obscurity that somebody might ask, "what do you call this thing" and not know of its heritage and history.
It could also just be reference to the contempt Sir Francis felt for the Gipsy Moth, though.
Anyway, a good psychologist would have a field day reading my interpretation, I'm sure.