A beginning. And an end.

[davidwheeler]

I am not going ahead with the second part of this story because, on reflection, I decided that it was inappropriate. What I will try to do, if it is of interest, is to give just an idea of what to my mind was one of the most dramatic events of the inland waterways: the mass exodus of vessels on the tide from  Sharpness tidal basin. If it has been done before on this site then all well and good and I would like to see it. If not, then I will have a go, although my photos vary between  bad to very bad. So, better if someone else has done it. I doubt however whether anything like it will ever be seen again.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, davidwheeler said:

I am not going ahead with the second part of this story because, on reflection, I decided that it was inappropriate. What I will try to do, if it is of interest, is to give just an idea of what to my mind was one of the most dramatic events of the inland waterways: the mass exodus of vessels on the tide from  Sharpness tidal basin. If it has been done before on this site then all well and good and I would like to see it. If not, then I will have a go, although my photos vary between  bad to very bad. So, better if someone else has done it. I doubt however whether anything like it will ever be seen again.

Looking forward to it, we dont expect old photos that have often been poorly stored and then scanned to look like the latest digital enhanced professional shots 

[Pluto]

A couple of Harriet photos from 1975, and the remains of a larger sailing trow being inspected by a well-known narrow boat operator.

[Dav and Pen]

Although this barge isn’t amongst the photos so far it must have worked the canal. I took the photo in 1973.

[davidwheeler]

The 'Severn Side', or, if you looked at the stern, 'Severnside', was built in 1952 by Sharpness Shipyard Ltd. Registered at Gloucester, she was built for the British Transport Commission, to be the first of six but in the event the only one of her class. She traded in the Bristol Channel and up to Worcester. I remember her very well. She was the newest of the dry cargo vessels on the canal, and the first of 18 tankers, tugs and dry cargo vessels to pass through Junction Bridge on the 16th April 1959. Which gives you just some idea of the volume of commercial traffic on the Gloucester and Berkeley in those days when trade was declining. According to Bernard McCall of Coastal Shipping the intention was to name the ship 'Severnside' but an error occurred on registration perhaps because the other 'Severn' vessels of the BTC used the prefix plus another name, such as 'Severn Rover,'' Severn Merchant',  'Severn Industry'....

[davidwheeler]

I think I might start another subject and tell you about a lovely afternoon by the river in June 1965 . So I will end my contribution to this one with a photo taken in 1996 of the mud hoppers. And their attendant tug 'Speedwell'. This tug, which took the name of a glorious old steam tug dating from 1876 and still going in the late 1950s, was built by Richard Dunston at Thorne in 1968, to replace the older tugs when barge traffic was rapidly declining. Intended for harbour work at Sharpness she was transferred to towing the mud hoppers from the dredger 'Thomas Fletcher' to the pumping station at Purton. The dredger, the tug and the hoppers were sold by British waterways at auction in 2006. 'Speedwell' for £26200, the vast dredger for £11000, and I don't know what the hoppers raised. I think  two became Thomson's motorised 'Pike' and 'Perch'. We met one of them on the River Severn on the way to Gloucester from the processing plant at Upton.

Not the most glamorous collection of vessels but again, unlikely to be seen again on the canal. So, part of its history.

[Pluto]

Another view of Severn Side, then the dredging tip near Purton, and finally the Bristol tar barge Darby being used as a floating mooring. I wonder what happened to the two cylinder Widdop engine?

[Peugeot 106]

This thread will be my required reading when I get back tonight. It’s good to wallow in the past. Thank you

[davidwheeler]

To carry on in praise of mud hoppers, now I assume gone from the Ship Canal, here is a postcard issued by Pan Canal Cards of Bridgeman's house at Fretherne. Printed by Larkfield Printing of West Yorkshire. I cannot remember when I got it.

[Bee]

Thanks for posting these pics, really fascinating.

[IanM]

A rather poorly scanned picture of mine of Pike passing through Saul Junction, April 1997

 

Edited March 6 by IanM

[Stroudwater1]

Somewhere I have a picture of one in Davis dry dock but Pike near Upton in August 2020 is all I can offer for now. 

 

Ah, its Chub in dry dock 

 

 

 

Edited March 6 by Stroudwater1

[Tam & Di]

An interesting view of Purton:

 

[davidwheeler]

Well now, that is a lovely picture. A ketch rigged trow at the rear, then what looks to be a smack rigged trow, and another ketch, all being towed through the swing bridge. Is there by any chance a date on the back of the card?

[Tam & Di]

56 minutes ago, davidwheeler said:

Well now, that is a lovely picture. A ketch rigged trow at the rear, then what looks to be a smack rigged trow, and another ketch, all being towed through the swing bridge. Is there by any chance a date on the back of the card?

 It's listed as about 1912.

[zenataomm]

On 01/03/2024 at 23:22, Stroudwater1 said:

Here is Harriett pictured in Summer 2022 David. I’m pretty sure the name is still visible carved into the stern. 
 

Stunning picture.
I love the bow wave!

[Francis Herne]

On 06/03/2024 at 11:35, davidwheeler said:

To carry on in praise of mud hoppers, now I assume gone from the Ship Canal.

One of these hoppers survives unmodified, tied on the towpath halfway from Saul Junction to Parkend Bridge.

It's full of mud and reeds, and the wheelhouse is long gone, but still somehow afloat.

 

I also passed one of the motorized ones heading down the canal to Davis' yard in October 2022, maybe CHUB as above.

[davidwheeler]

Well then, wouldn't it be interesting to add a photo of this mud hopper, to continue the story.  I doubt mud hoppers get much exposure on websites. can someone give this one a chance? Stroudwater1? You've already put three lovely photos on these pages. 

 

[Francis Herne]

1 hour ago, davidwheeler said:

Well then, wouldn't it be interesting to add a photo of this mud hopper, to continue the story.  I doubt mud hoppers get much exposure on websites. can someone give this one a chance?

I was sure I'd taken a couple but can't find them anywhere. I moored right next to it and walked about on its deck. Definitely floating; it bumped around slightly on its chains in the wind.

 

The picture below was taken by Bob Hallam last year. I hope he doesn't mind sharing it here. The blue wheelhouse belongs to another boat behind.

 

Edited April 2 by Francis Herne

[Stroudwater1]

49 minutes ago, davidwheeler said:

Well then, wouldn't it be interesting to add a photo of this mud hopper, to continue the story.  I doubt mud hoppers get much exposure on websites. can someone give this one a chance? Stroudwater1? You've already put three lovely photos on these pages. 

 

I can’t promise but will try to find this mud hopper, more a case of hopping around mud myself currently, at least it was round the North Oxford the other day 

 

Meanwhile here is one of a couple of vessels at Sharpness the other week. Oldenburg ferry’s people annd provisions over to Lundy Island from Ilfracombe or Bideford. It gets tossed around a bit so sea sickness medication is often recommended on the trip over into the prevailing wind. 

Lotta is a ship delivering cement. 

Behind Lotta is a sad story which may have further news now. It’s a tall ship, Tenaceous whose Jubilee sailing trust went into administration at the end of last year. I’m told that the masts are wheelchair accessible. 
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-67721124.amp

 

[davidwheeler]

Well, thank you very much for those. The Oldenburg I know well from my days on Lundy work parties. Sad indeed about the Jubilee Trust.

I am going to risk it.

 

I like mud hoppers. And I liked the Stroudwater.

 

One day in the late 1950s, there was a mud hopper party at the Junction. These days they would perhaps call it a rave.  No less than seven hoppers, a barge, a flat, 2 BW narrowboats  and dredger No 4. And us.

 

There were no drones in those days to take aerial photos so I did the best I could. What ever you think of it technically, I doubt such a sight will be seen again.

[Pluto]

Dumped at Sharpness:

[Stroudwater1]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

Dumped at Sharpness:

Great photo. It’s  interesting as I always thought loads were abandoned there. However the ones along the arm to the old entrance dock really don’t seem to be there now. I was starting to doubt my memory of their existence 
 

It’s possible they are completely covered in mud but that wasn’t the impression I got when I looked closely. The one in the foreground is still there as are a couple of others on the canal side. Those IIRC have plaques by them, as they do at Purton. 

 

Above taken in April 2022

Edited April 3 by Stroudwater1

[davidwheeler]

This is I think the Severn Conveyor, built as the Cleprod 1 in 1930 by Charles Hill of Bristol for Ellesmere Port Oil Storage, taken over by Harkers in 1948, and sold by them in 1950. Registered in Gloucester. Converted to hopper barge, as far as I can remember and beached in early 1970s, the first in the line of 17 or so redundant barges between the old railway swing bridge and the Old Docks.  They were beached to protect the Canal bank. In the early 1970s you could walk along the row albeit with some difficulty. I remember doing it, but I believe that access now is forbidden.

Not a hopper barge, a barge. I remember seeing her in Gloucester Docks , with the Nancy H, a converted tank barge, by one of the grain suckers. It might have been Sessions  Ltd.

[IanM]

A good list and pictures of the hulks at Purton https://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk/purton/