pete harrison

We have been calling it that since the 1970's, probably longer

It was at the location in the photograph above when I came past in May 2018, and the owner gave me a 'clever dick' answer as to its identity before he begrudgingly told me it was HESPERUS

Mr Speight has just written similar elsewhere. All is well with me thanks and I am still working flat out at the moment. You take care of yourself and keep your head down for now

Pair of Cans for sale on Ebay - nothing to do with me https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-Pair-of-Beautiful-Barge-Ware-Canal-Ware-Buckby-Cans-C-1930/283834178750?hash=item4215d5dcbe:g:vkYAAOSwPzNehKm~

I do have a record of the Ford 6 cylinder but I was under the impression that this engine replaced the Lister FR3M that was subsequently refitted into IONA. I am not sure where the PD4 fits into all of this but the grills on the cabinside certainly fit in with a large air cooled engine - and a PD4 combined with WHITE HEATHER would make for quite an impressive tug. My large Northwich motor has a historically inappropriate engine (1995 Perkins 3HD46 mk2 with PRM160 gearbox all fitted in 1997) but like your Toyota it starts well, runs well, sounds O.K., provides more than adequate power even when the boat is loaded, parts are cheap and readily available - so why change it, especially if it upsets the 'enthusiasts'

I am now starting to wonder whether the FR3M removed from WHITE HEATHER and fitted into IONA was put into WHITE HEATHER by Jason Murrell during his ownership, and that the Lister Freedom quoted on the Bulls Bridge cardex is a completely different engine

I am not disputing the numbers, just quoting them. Perhaps the wrong horse power rating @ 1500rpm was recorded on the Bulls Bridge cardex

I would be amazed if NUNEATON and BRIGHTON were anywhere near 6'10'' wide, especially as they were built with a nominal beam of 7'0½''

That reads so much better than the abbreviated and altered version on Wikipedia, although I suspect most people are not that interested in the details nowadays

What a load of twonk, proving Wikipedia is suspect at best and a load of rubbish at worst - one of the great problems of the Internet nowadays, but at least they got the boat names right. MILTON MAID was built 1967, MILTON QUEEN was built 1973 and MILTON PRINCESS was built 1978. MILTON PRINCESS was not particularly specialised as it had a conventionally built counter sterned narrow boat hull by Malcolm E. Braine, and is now the London based trip boat MILTON edit = I was last on the Caldon Canal in 1979 and although a long time ago I do remember these boats operating.

No, it was an FR3M - subsequently fitted into the B.C.N. day boat conversion IONA edit - most 'British Waterways' Lister FR3's were either 24hp or 27hp.

Not the photograph you are looking for but this is from the Alan Elyard Brown collection, and most likely at Cowley Peachey 28 July 1967 edit = I also have a transcript of WHITE HEATHER's cardex from Bulls Bridge: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... MAINTENANCE TUGS. WHITE HEATHER. Section 5, Steel, Built c1924 Padd 330 44’0 7’0 3’6 4’0 1939 ex St. Marylebone Council. Dist Thomas Clayton (Paddington) Ltd. Tonnage 12 Original engine: Robey of Lincoln semi-diesel 2 cylinder 46441, 44Hp @ 400 rpm, Gearbox: make unknown. Watercooled silencer Direct drive through epicyclic box. CI cl plates. Wheel & chain steering, air compressor, air bottles 12/1958 Engine: R.A. Lister Freedom 32Hp @ 1500 rpm. 3¾ x 4½. C.A.V. Starter. Gearbox: Lister hydraulic, Reduction gear: Type 3R ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

All insurance related, but this has to be resolved before you can buy a licence, and you can not insure the boat until you own it but as soon as you buy it you have to licence it - then add in surveys and BSS and it all gets tricky, especially once you add in a wooden bottom, and then you have do most of it all over again for the motor if it does not already have comprehensive insurance. None of this is unsurmountable but a potential owner is really going to want a butty to go through all of this, and I contacted several insurers and spoke to recommended individuals within those insurance companies. This appears to be a simpler process if the boats are for commercial use as insurers do not understand why a private boat should need to tow. The knock on from this is that if I were to buy a butty but needed to sell in the future then I could be stuck with it, much as the sellers of buttys are finding now. If I remember correctly 30 years ago insurance was optional, but I think we insured both motor and butty third party anyway - and back then third party insurance allowed boats to tow or be towed (or perhaps I did not read the small print)

HYADES price dropped first to £26000 on 30 December 2019 then to £22000 on 13 January 2020. The Apollo Duck advert has been refreshed a few times since then. I last owned a butty 30 years ago, and back then it was as simple as buy a butty, licence it then tow it home. This has changed considerably for a non commercial owner where I would now describe the process as obstructive with numerous very expensive bureaucratic 'hoops to jump through'. Having looked into this in detail recently I am starting to understand why butty ownership has seriously declined in recent years. Whether I continue to look into buying a butty once the current public health crisis is resolved only time will tell, but I think I will have quite some time to dwell on it - and I am pretty sure the butty I was enquiring after will still be for sale

There is considerable evidence that there were quite a number of former G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. that maintained their pre-nationalisation livery but with 'British Waterways' lettering, and I imagine this was concentrated on those boats being docked at the point of nationalisation along with those completed prior to the D. & I.W.E. yellow and blue livery was introduced. I have the docking dates for most (possibly all) former G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. of this period but I do not know when the changeover to yellow and blue took place - but I suspect it was autumn 1948

It is difficult to say who had CHERTSEY then as it has yet to be established when 'then' is. I have several fleet lists and these indicate that large Woolwich motor / large Ricky butty pairings were very common right up to the phasing out and replacement of large Ricky buttys starting in 1959 (several had been transferred to maintenance or sold prior to 1959). With there being 48 large Woolwich motors and 62 large Ricky buttys built this is probably not surprising

Unlikely as BILSTER was sold to the Grand Union Canal Company in November 1945 for use as a maintenance boat

But I keep looking at the name and wonder if it says CHERTSEY ? - which would be too coincidental as CHERTSEY is painted in the Grand Union / British Waterways livery. If this large Woolwich motor is in the Grand Union / British Waterways livery then it can not be BATH, as BATH was sold to the Flixborough Shipping Company in September 1946 - and as you say this is a completely standard large Woolwich motor, slides and all. It did initially cross my mind that this could have been a Flixborough Shipping Company pair but the lettering on the motor does not appear to fit

The motor looks to be lettered as British Waterways to my tired eyes, and possibly in Grand Union colours - like how CHERTSEY is currently painted

The photographs I have referred to are period photographs, and I have found it quite challenging. I have good photographs of every extant G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. narrow boat as I carried out a survey of what remains of this fleet during the 1990's - the problem with modern photographs being that they can represent a boat post restoration / modification where bits have been removed or added, and all sorts have happened to these boats over the years ! As for the other large Grand Unions that were not fitted with the extra guards: large Norhwich motors: OTLEY (currently has very long extra guards that are welded in position that were not there in 1970) OAKLEY PADDINGTON READING RENTON RUFFORD ? (currently has very long extra guards that appear to be rivetted in position = very different to all others) SHIRLEY SOUTHALL TADWORTH I believe that PINNER has had its extra guards removed as part of its recent restoration, and this might also be the case for LADYBANK ? large Woolwich buttys: BANBURY ? (currently has more square section extra guards = very different to all others) BARRHEAD BAWTRY BINGLEY ? (I do not think it has extra guards but hopefully its owner will comment on this - EDIT = yes it has got them so delete BINGLEY) I have no note for the three scrapped large Woolwich buttys, which is obviously an oversight on my behalf. I am sure others will correct some of the above but as said earlier this is a very difficult list to compile

As far as I can determine the large Woolwich Grand Union motors that were not fitted with extra guards are: BATH BEXHILL BILSTER BOGNOR CALDY ? CAMBOURNE DARLEY DUNSTABLE EDGWARE EPSOM But it is tricky to be absolute as finding good quality period photographs of fore ends that are still identifiable is rare

Not knowing when the extra guards were fitted makes dating this image almost impossible, and as you say there are a few boats that did not get these at all. My understanding is that they were fitted during the 1950's

Well I am currently unable to identify whether these boats are under the ownership of G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. or 'British Waterways', and until I can I am unable to comment further

These are not Seymour-Roseblade boats as they did not run a large Woolwich motor or a large Ricky butty. Interestingly the motor does not have the additional guards on the fore end, usually under the fore end top bends

I do not know the Thames at all having only been on it only two or three times in the past, and that was years ago (1997 to 1999). We set off from just below Mapledurham lock around 12:00 and tied at Abingdon just before dark, which in early May was probably around 21:30. I think the photograph was about mid afternoon and was taken as we approached a sailing club (on the right hand bank when going upstream) who had a race in full flight - with us escorted through by a speedboat of some sort. More than that I can't say