"Monkey Boat"

[Hobbler]

I have always understood the term " Monkey Boat" to be a slightly derogatory term for a Motor .

 

However I am currently reading a book called "Britain at Work" published just over 100 years ago by Cassells which consists of numerous specialist articles on different trades and industries written by a numerous authors all who have a fairly detailed knowledge of their subject. The section on "Barge Life" written by a Mr F Holmes clearly demonstrates he had a good knowledge of life on the canal even if it is written in flowery language and insists on referring to narrowboats as barges .

 

He refers to a "Monkey Boat" being the second boat of two being pulled by horse .

 

So the term seems to predate the first use of motors - anyone know the origin of the term ?

[Pluto]

I have always understood the term " Monkey Boat" to be a slightly derogatory term for a Motor .

 

However I am currently reading a book called "Britain at Work" published just over 100 years ago by Cassells which consists of numerous specialist articles on different trades and industries written by a numerous authors all who have a fairly detailed knowledge of their subject. The section on "Barge Life" written by a Mr F Holmes clearly demonstrates he had a good knowledge of life on the canal even if it is written in flowery language and insists on referring to narrowboats as barges .

 

He refers to a "Monkey Boat" being the second boat of two being pulled by horse .

 

So the term seems to predate the first use of motors - anyone know the origin of the term ?

I had thought the term was mainly used in the London area for a narrow boat.

[Dorlan]

I had thought the term was mainly used in the London area for a narrow boat.

Thomas Monk, a boat owner in London, supposedly designed the first living cabin, which the traditional narrowboat cabin was then based on.

[Hobbler]

Thomas Monk, a boat owner in London, supposedly designed the first living cabin, which the traditional narrowboat cabin was then based on.

 

So a Monk boat in boaters language became a "Monkey Boat" over a period of time . Perhaps Monk'eee would be a better spelling.

 

What does puzzle me is why the second boat in a pair of horse boats should be referred to as the Monkey Boat . I could understand it if it was a Motor and Butty as the Butty would be the family home but surely a pair of horse boats would have identical cabins . It may be that when cabins were first introduced only one of a pair was so fitted and the term stayed in use . Mr Holmes refers to his safety concerns about open fires on canal boats especially when open topped barrels of gunpowder were being carried as part of general cargo which suggests cabins were not on all boats on general trade.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Hobbler

[Machpoint005]

I wasn't aware that horse-drawn boats were ever used in pairs, but if someone chooses to correct me, I will bow to superior knowledge. Surely one of the major benefits of the introduction of motors in the early C20 was that a crew could operate two boats at the same time instead of just one?

[pete harrison]

I wasn't aware that horse-drawn boats were ever used in pairs, but if someone chooses to correct me, I will bow to superior knowledge. Surely one of the major benefits of the introduction of motors in the early C20 was that a crew could operate two boats at the same time instead of just one?

 

Narrow beam horse boats working in pairs were very common, certainly on the Grand Junction Canal (1928 became the Grand Union Canal) as each lock can accommodate two boats. This is well documented and photographed. The introduction of steamers in the mid 1800's, and then motor boats in the ealry 1900's was just a natural progression of an already accepted practice of boating in pairs.

 

In general there is little advantage in boating a steamer / motor powered pair over a horse drawn pair on a broad canal, the latter of which can be surprisingly quick. The only real advantage of a steamer / motor pair is that the propulsion unit requires little attention compared to a horse and can be flogged on for much longer hours.

Edited June 25, 2009 by pete harrison

[Paul H]

I wasn't aware that horse-drawn boats were ever used in pairs, but if someone chooses to correct me, I will bow to superior knowledge. Surely one of the major benefits of the introduction of motors in the early C20 was that a crew could operate two boats at the same time instead of just one?

 

Horse drawn boats certainly operated in pairs on the Grand Junction in the earlier part of the twentieth century and this is documented in a good many photographs. The introduction of motor boats allowed greater speed on wide canals and a longer working day, perhaps also with less crew.

 

Thomas Monk was a well know boatbuilder and operator of boats in the Birmingham area (see onituary of Jack Skinner at top of History and Heritage Section and it is often suggested that this why the boats we now call narrow boats were so called, just as Joe Worsey a prolific day boat builder gave his name to Joeys.

 

I have never heard the second boat of a horsedrawn pair referred to as a monkey boat before but Tim Wilkinson in Hold on a Minute, perhaps erroneously, always refers to the motor boat as the "monkey."

 

The term monkey boat seems to have been well used in the London area certainly going back to the 1920s and I always understood it to be originally a derisory - almost a racist - description by lighterman who looked down on the boatman with their generally small stature, swarthy skin and lots off offspring suggesting they looked like monkeys.

 

The normal term appears to have been either barge or boat though. Early records only use narrow boat on gauging and public health documents and then only in areas where there was a need for that differentiation. It was Rolt who truly popularised the term narrow boat in the 1940s and we have become far too precious about it. Certainly there was no need for the term narrow boat in the midlands where the great majority of people had never come across anything wider!

 

I'm hoping to do a bit of work on my barge tomorrow.

 

Paul H

[Derek R.]

If you get hold of a copy of 'The Horse on The Cut' by Donald J. Smith, you will find several photographs of horses pulling pairs - sometimes two animals used in tandem, which would work well North of Braunston as each animal could take a boat a piece through the single locks. Bit of a calculated guess there, but seems most plausible.

 

Quite often it was the children who took charge of the animals along the towpath while parents steered and worked the locks. Though personal abilities would of course dictate.

 

The name Monk seems to have come about from a boat builder as mentioned, and I think there may also be a lot of strength in Paul's comment. I can imagine the term 'Monk boat' taken up with much glee amongst London Lightermen towards people living in little boxes built by some bloke called Monk - and quickly attributing the size for 'Monkeys'!! But as with many things attached to the cut, there's a good bit of folk law and fact jumbled together. Some roots are simple, others vague.

 

Derek

[Roger t' Bodger]

I can just remember, as a young lad, my dad pointing out the difference in the river craft that co-existed with the crago ships of all nations in the London Royal Docks. I think we had to wait for a crane driver to finish his lunchbreak and to offload a heavy engine part to the moored ship. We had a good view from the cab of his 1940's Dennis as we were parked by the bows. He pointed out the passing and moored tugs, barges, lighters, and just one of those monkey boats to keep me amused. The blue and yellow cabin made it stand out in comparison with the dour and drab postwar industrial landscape. I must have asked why were they called a monkee boat? Cos they're type you can live on. he replied. I mavelled at the tiny bright cabin and the smoking stove chimney reflected in the irridescent heavy dark waters of the dock. And I never saw one ever again in all my 'visits'.

 

The 'Monk' origins as a builder of boats with a fitted living space seems to fit with this description my dad had for them. The destortion to 'Monkee' happened early on by boatmen and this term eventually spread out to adjoining waterway communities and industries.

[pete harrison]

The term monkey boat seems to have been well used in the London area certainly going back to the 1920s

 

The Port of London used a slightly unusual form of gauging from 1894 onwards where every boat was issued with its own number (and certificate). Many of the boats amongst the P.o.L. records are refered to as 'Monkey Boat', 'Canal or Monkey Boat' and even 'Steam Monkey Boat' and 'Steam Tug and Monkey Boat' (the last being one steamer used as a tug). These were mostly narrow beam boats but there is the occassional wide beam boat too !

 

I do not have a transcript of all P.o.L. gaugings (mostly dumb river barges) but I do have 141 references to the term 'Monkey Boat' in one form or another between 1894 and 1909.

 

Under the Watermans Hall system (prior to the 1894 - 1909 Port of London's system) the owner was given a number, and all of that owners boats were listed beneath their name. I do not like using these documents as the information is a little vague and hence open to interpretation. Nevertheless each list is dated and the type of boats are also given. William Clayton, Park Wharf, Saltley, Aston, Birmingham was allocated the Watermans Hall number 1396 (adopted by F.M.C. Ltd. on their formation in 1889) and the list dated 23 March 1882 states 'Monkey Boats'. This is the earliest reference to 'Monkey Boat' I have to hand.

[Machpoint005]

Narrow beam horse boats working in pairs were very common, certainly on the Grand Junction Canal (1928 became the Grand Union Canal) as each lock can accommodate two boats. This is well documented and photographed. The introduction of steamers in the mid 1800's, and then motor boats in the ealry 1900's was just a natural progression of an already accepted practice of boating in pairs.

 

In general there is little advantage in boating a steamer / motor powered pair over a horse drawn pair on a broad canal, the latter of which can be surprisingly quick. The only real advantage of a steamer / motor pair is that the propulsion unit requires little attention compared to a horse and can be flogged on for much longer hours.

Ah! Probably not on narrow canals, then. Explanation accepted, thanks!

[alan_fincher]

The term is certainly well over 120 years old.

 

The 1881 UK census for Limehouse, London shows the wife of "Barge Man" John Dimmock, aged 24, as being Alice Dimmock, aged 19.

 

Whilst John Dimmock's place of birth is recorded as what looks like "Woster Stoke Works, Worcester" (??), Alice is simply recorded as born "In a Monkey Boat".

 

There are numerous references to "Narrow Boat", with a name and/or number, as a place of residence in the 1881 census, as well as the occupation "Captain of a Narrow Boat"

 

But just to confuse you get things like "Bargeman Mate on a Narrow Boat" too.

 

Or address as "Narrow Boat Loretta", but occupation as "Boatman (Master) (Barge)"

 

We don't know really whether this is how the people being recorded chose to state their abode or occupation, (they would have been illiterate), or how the census enumerator decided to record it, (as that is how it would have occurred).

 

I don't think it is possible to say accurately 128 years later exactly how terms like narrow boat, monkey boat and barge were used, but it is very obvious that sometimes they were taken as being the same thing, and that no special or locational regional difference really applies, (in my view!).

[alan_fincher]

MORE:

 

A further thought, on "Narrow Boat" rather than "Monkey Boat".

 

This definitely occurs as long ago as the 1861 English census.

 

Although no clear guidelines were given that early about how to enumerate canal boats, some have been recorded almost as if they were sea going vessels.

 

These for example show a "Narrow Boat" with atonnage of 30 and cargo "Limestone".

 

So "Narrow Boat" as a description is probably at least 150 years old, it seems - I suspect a lot more.

 

I'll dig around in 1841 and 1851 at some stage!

[pete harrison]

Ah! Probably not on narrow canals, then. Explanation accepted, thanks!

 

Horse boats definately operated in pairs on narrow canals as well, but it was not such a common practice as on the Grand Junction Canal. Many of the boats operating on the Grand Junction Canal would then go onto the Oxford Canal, Warwick & Napton Canal, Leicester Section (whatever that was called back then - I am not a canal enthusiast, I am only interested in the boats and the way they were operated) e.t.c., so these pairs would have to work the narrow canals as required. Many owner boatmen operated horse boats in pairs and, to an extent would follow the work whether on wide or narrow waterways.

 

I have been involved with working narrow boats since I was 10 (now 46) and I have operated single motors, motor / motor pairs, motor / butty pairs and even a butty on its own and narrow locks are really no big deal. I do admit to having no personal experience of horse boating but I cannot see it being much more involving than a butty, providing the horse knows what its doing !

[Pluto]

The normal term appears to have been either barge or boat though. Early records only use narrow boat on gauging and public health documents and then only in areas where there was a need for that differentiation. It was Rolt who truly popularised the term narrow boat in the 1940s and we have become far too precious about it. Certainly there was no need for the term narrow boat in the midlands where the great majority of people had never come across anything wider!

 

I'm hoping to do a bit of work on my barge tomorrow.

 

Paul H

In north west boatyards, the convention was that a barge had a moulded breadth, that is the width over the outside of the frames, of more than fourteen feet. Anything less was a boat. I have some notes about boats on the Rochdale Canal in 1886 which differentiates between wide and narrow, and short and long, but doesn't specifically use the term narrow boat. In 1776, the L&LC minutes mention 'long cutters' and 'vessels', some of the latter carried well under 20 tons so could have been narrow boats.

[Roger t' Bodger]

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=84093

 

In relation to a horse pulling two boats, the above Pathe film briefly shows this towards the end - this is a 'history' film made from old clips of films from 1896 onwards recycled in the 1930's.

[Battle Cruiser]

I know this thread is almost as old as some of the sources quoted now! But if it's of any interest I was reading "Through London by Canal" fro 1885 and the author made a couple of references to "monkey boats" and Googling for a definition of them led me here.

He also refers to a "motor monkey boat" - the Fidget

Later the glossary defines it as "unpowered canal family narrow boat, 70ft long by 7ft wide" 

 

No mention is made of butties though!

 

As an aside, he also mentions "rag and bottle men" collecting scrap iron. I wonder if this became later corrupted to the more familiar "rag and bone"?

Edited September 13, 2023 by Battle Cruiser
update!

[Ray T]

16 minutes ago, Battle Cruiser said:

I know this thread is almost as old as some of the sources quoted now! But if it's of any interest I was reading "Through London by Canal" fro 1885 and the author made a couple of references to "monkey boats" and Googling for a definition of them led me here.

Later the glossary defines it as "unpowered canal family narrow boat, 70ft long by 7ft wide" 

 

No mention is made of butties though!

The word "Butty"  was thought to be derived from the word "Buddy."

From Wiki.

A butty boat is an unpowered boat traditionally with a larger rudder with (usually) a wooden tiller (known as an elum, a corruption of helm^[17]) as the steering does not benefit from the force of water generated by the propeller so the rudder must be of a larger area. The tiller is usually removed and reversed in the rudder-post socket to get it out of the way when moored. A few butty boats have been converted into powered narrowboats like NB Sirius. The term butty is derived from the dialect word buddy, meaning companion.^[18]

 

[Battle Cruiser]

Thanks Ray - I actually came to this thread from here, which is why I mentioned it

 

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Battle Cruiser
update!

[howardang]

This may be of interest:

 

My 1918 copy of "Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England and Wales" by De Salis has the following description in the section Principal types of Vessels used in Inland Navigation -  "Non sailing vessels.  "Narrow Boats"  or "Monkey Boats" are by far the most class of vessels engaged in inland navigation. The are from 70ft to 72ft long by from 6ft. 9in. to 7ft. 2in. and draw from 8in. to 11 in. of water when empty, loading afterwards about 1in. to 1 ton." 

There is no differentiation between the two terms but shows that the term seems to have been in common and frequent  use quite early in Canal History.

 

Howard

 

 

 

 

[magnetman]

The monkey might be the physically fit man steering the motor boat. Climbing up lock gates etc. The butty boat would be where the nice bacon sandwiches were made. 

 

 

Monkey boat = the action.

 

Butty boat = the kitchen.