Boat identification help please?

[expatboatee]

Hi everyone

It's been a long time since I've been here! I've had this postcard for ages and been trying to get clues as to the boats names. The motor boat looks like it's steam, so that should narrow it down. I've been trying to make the writing into FMC but it doesn't really seem to fit, and it doesn't look like there's anything on the cloths. The butty name is so nearly readable but not quite. The photo was at Berkhamsted, turn of the century. Any clues? The image is a crop from the (96Mb) postcard (edit, scan) so there doesn't seem to be much chance of getting the resolution any better.

Edited December 12, 2022 by expatboatee
missing detail

[magnetman]

FMC Duke. Steamer.

[expatboatee]

It's certainly got to be a short name by the looks of it, so that could be it! Thanks

[magnetman]

Fellows Morton & Clayton Steamers; the complete list.

....

DUKE; 1895, Saltley wooden. Regd Brm 930. Dismantled 1923.

 

From here:

 

http://www.spurstow.com/rogerfuller/historic/fmc.htm

Edited December 12, 2022 by magnetman

[expatboatee]

Duke was a steamer, the only other short name possible is Earl.

[magnetman]

If it was Duke then the other boat might be a horse boat and would have to be older than 1923. 

 

I can only see DUKE and Fellows Morton and Clayton written on the motor boat cabin.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by magnetman

[expatboatee]

I can't really see amything that matches the butty except perhaps Gertie - on the right the letters look like G and E, but on the left it looks like an S. Anyway, thanks for your help! Can't be Gertie, she was built 1928. Germany perhaps?

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by expatboatee
additional info.

[Captain Pegg]

I thought the butty might be Grange, built 1912. Still not quite turn of the century though.

[expatboatee]

It could be later, I don't have an exact date, but I think it's quite early. Germany was pre-1900 which is why I thouth that might be it. It looks like the butty will remain a mystery for now.

[magnetman]

KILDARE?

 

This boat is still around. I think it used to be the fender man at Braunston at one point.

 

According to the list it is iron composite but no year.

 

1913 apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kildare_(narrowboat)

Edited December 12, 2022 by magnetman

[David Mack]

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

KILDARE?

 

This boat is still around. I think it used to be the fender man at Braunston at one point.

 

According to the list it is iron composite but no year.

 

1913 apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kildare_(narrowboat)

Kildare is one of 24 iron composite butties built for FMC by Braithwaite & Kirk of West Bromwich between 1912 and 1914. Braithwaite and Kirk's main business was the manufacture of barrels and tanks, and as far as I know this batch of 24 are the only boats they built. These butties are unique in that the top bend at the bow and stern is formed from the same plate as the hull below, whereas on other iron and steel boats these are always made from separate plates. Presumably B&K had the neccessary machinery from their barrel making to put the necessary double curvature into the plates. That said, the top bend on bow and stern does lean in less than on other FMC butties.

 

Kildare was not the fenderman's boat. It was paired with FMC motor Plover as a camping pair operated by Warwickshire Fly for years, and was subsequently sold to the Black Country Musem who have used it as butty (and crew accommodation) for President ever since.

[Paul H]

When in 2018  another copy of this postcard came to light, various experts identified the boats as FMC’s Earl and (probably) Orange.  Both wooden boats and long gone.

 

Paul

[Admiral]

As Paul Says it loos like Earl and Orange..

 

[expatboatee]

Thanks all! It's certainly possible/likely. The only reference I've found to a butty "Orange" was in Millners letters as a butty to General, coincidentally alongside Earl:
I beg to report that the “Orange” loaded with 27½ tons of castings and grease from Leicester and Market Harborough, Captain H Draycott Jnr and butty boat to the steamer GENERAL, Captain Neal, was sunk opposite Messrs Phipps’ ironstone landing at the north end of Blisworth Tunnel at 4am on Thursday February 2nd.1911

[Captain Pegg]

It appears on published FMC fleet lists. Built 1900.

[Ray T]

Charles Nelson Cement works of Stockton had steamers too.

Photo from NarrowBoat magazine.

[Nightwatch]

This thread is just what I find fascinating about the forum. In no time at all lots of questions answered. Brilliant. And lovely images as well.