Motor boat Oak was built by Charles Hill & Sons of Bristol in 1934 for the Severn & Canal Carrying Company and is powered by a 10hp Petter S-type hot bulb semi-diesel engine. One of eight similar boats, all named after species of tree, Oak has many novel features for her time. Firstly, the engine is at the stern instead of being in front of the cabin. As this means there is no propeller shaft underneath the cabin, the floor is lower than usual, giving more headroom for the crew. The sides of the boat are made of welded iron which gives more cargo space for a given draught than for the earlier wooden boats, and loads exceeding 30 tons could be carried. The unusual escape hatch in the cabin roof was provided in case of a fire in the engine room when the cargo hold was full. The cowl ventilators on the cabin are believed to derive from the builder's familiarity with larger ships. The stove pipe, engine exhaust and opening port lights also derive from seagoing vessels. Oak worked between the Gloucester and Birmingham areas carrying inland a wide variety of cargoes that had been brought to Gloucester by barge from Avonmouth and other lower Severn ports. For some trips, sacks of chocolate crumb were carried from Cadbury's factory at Frampton-on-Severn to their main works at Bournville. The unusual design was not popular with the boatmen because the steering position was noisy, being almost on top of the engine, and the steerer was very close to the exhaust chimney and separated from the accommodation. The cowl ventilators were not liked either and were soon replaced by more traditional narrow boat fittings. As inland carrying declined circa 1960, Oak became a maintenance boat on the Trent & Mersey Canal and then was left to become derelict. Oak was restored for the Museum in 1987-88 by the Warwickshire Flyboat Company of Stocton - as far as possible to the condition when delivered from Bristol, except that the elm bottom planks were replaced by steel plates. Work on the engine has been hampered by the lack of any original spare parts. Top Northwich is an unpowered narrow boat which was originally towed by a horse and later became a "butty" towed by a motor boat. Built at Saltley, Birmingham, in 1898, the hull was of "composite" construction with riveted iron sides and an elm bottom. The back cabin could accommodate two adults and two children, and a small fore cabin provided space for up to two more children. Northwich was owned by the well-known carrying firm Fellows Morton & Clayton and is painted in the old company colours before the change to red, green and yellow which occurred in the 1920s. Known as a "Josher" after Joshua Fellows, one of the company's directors, these boats had more graceful lines and slightly lower sides than other narrow boats. Most of Northwich's working life was spent carrying a wide range of general cargoes on the canals between London and Birmingham. The maximum load was 25 tons, and then there was little "freeboard", so the old boatmen used to say "the sparra's could drink off the gunnels". When Fellows Morton & Clayton went into liquidation in 1948, Northwich became part of the nationalised fleet working initially from Birmingham. Later Northwich was based at Preston Brook at the northern end of the Trent & Mersey Canal, often carrying chocolate for Cadbury's or aluminium for Rover cars at Wolverhampton. After the carrying fleet was disbanded in 1964, Northwich spent many years at Stoke Bruerne, first in the weighing machine and then as a floating exhibit, and eventually came to Gloucester in time for the opening of the Museum in 1988. Top Built for British Transport Waterways in 1958 by the Thames Launch Works at Teddington, Wye was one of the last batch of unpowered narrow boats made for commercial canal carrying. Wye originally had a ply-wood cabin and a compartment with an Elsan toilet, but the Public Health Department objected to this and it was not fitted in later boats of the type. Wye was used for carrying cargoes between London and Birmingham, being towed by a motor boat. The blue fibre-glass covers over the cargo hold were designed to facilitate loading and unloading, but their unusual appearance led to the boats being called "dustbin boats". Alternatively, Wye could accommodate ten 5ft cube blue fibre-glass containers that could each carry 2 tons. Intended to help integrate canal and road transport, these were the brain-child of Mr Ralph Kirkham, manager of the Willerby Plastics firm, but they limited the payload that could be carried. After inland commercial carrying ceased in 1963, British Waterways used Wye for maintenance work, including a few years on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. When no longer needed for this work, Wye joined the Museum's collection in 1992. Top Concrete Narrow Boat The Museum's concrete narrow boat
was one of two Birmingham Canal day boats built in 1917-18 by A.H.
Guest of Stourbridge, who's normal job was building houses. The
use of concrete was intended as a means of overcoming the wartime
shortages of steel and fabrication skills needed for conventional
canal boats. However, with traditional steel bar reinforcement,
the concrete had to be almost three inches thick, and the consequence
was that the boats weighed almost twice as much as a normal boat.
This meant that they had a draught of sixteen inches even when empty
and they could not carry an economic load on the shallow canals
of the Midlands. The two boats did carry some trial loads of light cargoes, but it was found that the concrete was easily damaged in service and that patching up with cement was not always effective. By 1919, it was acknowledged that the experiment was not a success, and it is believed that both boats were laid up for several years. Then, in the mid 1930s, they were incorporated into bank protection works beside the Stuart Crystal glassworks on the Stourbridge Canal, not far from where they were built. This role continued until the summer of 1988, when British Waterways planned to provide a new wharf and moorings for visitors to the glassworks, and they dug out one of the boats, the other having to remain as it was beneath part of a building. The rescued boat was slightly damaged, but it was basically sound and was brought down the River Severn to be displayed at Gloucester. |
The
narrow boats in the National Waterways Museum collection include
examples of early and late iron boats, motor and horse boats, and
a rare concrete boat. All are about 70ft long and 7ft wide to suit
the narrow locks of the Midland canals, but each has its own characteristics
to suit its intended role. Although now generally known as narrow
boats, in Gloucester these craft were always known as longboats.