Inspection Launch Alexandra

[RLWP]

I have just been looking through the Steamboat Association website and came across an entry about Alexandra:

 

 

Does anyone know what her current state is? The entry says awaiting full restoration and new boiler

 

Richard

 

Steamboat Association register entry

[Chris J W]

I have no idea, but just have to say that she really is (was?) very pretty!

[Paul H]

I understand she is at the Boat Musum at Ellesmere Port as an open hull needing some replating. Its possible they may also have the engine as well. I have heard that this is a boat they would very much like "sponsorship" for to restore - she's a beauty.

 

Paul H

[Speedwheel]

If they want it restored then maybe they should sell it!

[Pluto]

I understand she is at the Boat Musum at Ellesmere Port as an open hull needing some replating. Its possible they may also have the engine as well. I have heard that this is a boat they would very much like "sponsorship" for to restore - she's a beauty.

 

Paul H

Alexandra should not need any replating as the hull was restored by Chris Topp using proper wrought iron plates and rivets some years ago, before the boat went to Ellesmere Port. Chris has his own business near Thirsk where he still produces wrought iron work, none of your modern steels. He has owned a couple of other interesting boats. The first was Frugality, a West Country keel, into which he installed a steam engine, and the June, a former ACN boat, which he converted to a sailing barge with square sail rig.

 

The Alexandra was used by the L&LC Co as their Yorkshire inspection boat, based in a boathouse close to Brewery Bridge in Skipton. The first Yorkshire inspection launch was the Dart, a wooden boat bought second-hand by the Yorkshire section inspector, E W Bateman, and then sold to the company in 1897 for £85. The 'Yorkshire survey launch' was given a new engine and boiler in 1901, and Bateman was authorised to build a new wooden hull or to buy an old iron hull in 1907 for a maximum of £50. The company did buy a second hand hull, possibly called Victoria, from Mr Thornborough of Windermere for £50 the following year, but I am not sure if this became the Alexandria. Certainly in 1911, the Alexandria was re-boilered.

 

Alexandra continued in service as a steam launch until sold privately, I think in the 1950s, when a petrol engine was installed. The steam engine survived, and I think is still around. I can remember Alexandra at the boatyard at Rodley in the 1970s, when she still had the original cabin, though in a poor condition.

[RLWP]

Thanks Paul. Is she on display at Ellesmere?

 

Pluto,

 

thanks for that information on Alexandria. As you seem well informed, you refer to her as the Yorkshire boat. Was Water Witch the Lancashire boat then? Alexandria is certainly pretty, but Water Witch really does it for me. It's a shame she lasted until the 1960's before she was scrapped.

 

Richard

[Athy]

A handsome craft indeed, though low in the water owing to at least eleven, possibly more, people being on board. Elf N Safety would blow a fuse, or perhaps a Salter safety valve.

[Pluto]

Thanks Paul. Is she on display at Ellesmere?

 

Pluto,

 

thanks for that information on Alexandria. As you seem well informed, you refer to her as the Yorkshire boat. Was Water Witch the Lancashire boat then? Alexandria is certainly pretty, but Water Witch really does it for me. It's a shame she lasted until the 1960's before she was scrapped.

 

Richard

Water Witch was based at Briars Mill Yard, Burscough, where there was a boathouse next to the Lancashire section inspector's house. The boathouse was demolished around 1974. For many years, Briars Mill was the main repair yard for the Wigan-Liverpool section, and you can still see many mooring rings and remains of the blacksmiths' and other sheds.

 

Water Witch was originally a wooden boat, built at Hodson's boatyard at Whitebirk in 1878 for £145. The more recent iron hull was purchased in 1914 at a cost of £150. She was replaced just post-nationalisation by a new boat built by Mayor's boatyard at Tarleton, though this boat did not last for long, with the GU's Kingfisher taking over as the national inspection boat.

 

Water Witch was not just used for inspections, but also to take good customers for a day out. I have one photo of a trip by the directors of Howard & Bullough's, the Accrington textile machinery makers. They were important customers as textile machinery for export was one of the best return loads for boats bringing goods up from Liverpool to East Lancashire. The warehouse at Church was developed for this traffic, with machinery stored there until a couple of days before it was needed for loading in Liverpool. When the order came, the machinery was sent by the next boat to the docks and the machinery transhipped directly from boat to ship. Because of its comparatively fragile nature, it was the last item to be loaded, and delivery by canal boat meant that it was not waiting on the dockside for loading, where it could easily be damaged.

 

Water Witch was also used for guests during Aintree Races, the canal and towpath being an important viewing point as it was free. On one occasion in the 1930s, Water Witch carried the King to his private box near canal turn. Even after fences were erected to stop the free show for the public, boats would have grandstands built on them for guests of the canal company or carrying companies to be able to see over the fence.

[RLWP]

Water Witch was based at Briars Mill Yard, Burscough, where there was a boathouse next to the Lancashire section inspector's house. The boathouse was demolished around 1974. For many years, Briars Mill was the main repair yard for the Wigan-Liverpool section, and you can still see many mooring rings and remains of the blacksmiths' and other sheds.

 

Water Witch was originally a wooden boat, built at Hodson's boatyard at Whitebirk in 1878 for £145. The more recent iron hull was purchased in 1914 at a cost of £150. She was replaced just post-nationalisation by a new boat built by Mayor's boatyard at Tarleton, though this boat did not last for long, with the GU's Kingfisher taking over as the national inspection boat.

 

Water Witch was not just used for inspections, but also to take good customers for a day out. I have one photo of a trip by the directors of Howard & Bullough's, the Accrington textile machinery makers. They were important customers as textile machinery for export was one of the best return loads for boats bringing goods up from Liverpool to East Lancashire. The warehouse at Church was developed for this traffic, with machinery stored there until a couple of days before it was needed for loading in Liverpool. When the order came, the machinery was sent by the next boat to the docks and the machinery transhipped directly from boat to ship. Because of its comparatively fragile nature, it was the last item to be loaded, and delivery by canal boat meant that it was not waiting on the dockside for loading, where it could easily be damaged.

 

Water Witch was also used for guests during Aintree Races, the canal and towpath being an important viewing point as it was free. On one occasion in the 1930s, Water Witch carried the King to his private box near canal turn. Even after fences were erected to stop the free show for the public, boats would have grandstands built on them for guests of the canal company or carrying companies to be able to see over the fence.

 

Thanks Pluto. There is a miniscule picture of the 1914 Water Witch in the current "Narrowboat" with a reference to her being used at Aintree. I think there was a picture in Waterways World a year or so back as well. To my eyes she was the most elegant of the canal inspection launches although Alexandria is certainly pretty too.

 

Do you know of anything published about her?

 

Richard

[Pluto]

Thanks Pluto. There is a miniscule picture of the 1914 Water Witch in the current "Narrowboat" with a reference to her being used at Aintree. I think there was a picture in Waterways World a year or so back as well. To my eyes she was the most elegant of the canal inspection launches although Alexandria is certainly pretty too.

 

Do you know of anything published about her?

 

Richard

There are photos of Victoria, Water Witch and Alexandra in 'The Leeds-Liverpool Canal in old picture postcards' by Gary Firth published in 1984, and in 'Pennine Waterway' by Gordon Biddle published in 1979. It seems that Victoria was used by the company under its own name, and she looks much more like a lake steamer than a canal one. There don't seem to be any photos of the Dart, which may have become the Alexandra. I do have a collection of photos, including several of old pleasure boats, which include several of the various L&LC inspection boats. The photos were collected by the brother of the Foulridge tunnel tug man, and seem to include photos which may have been taken by E W Bateman when using one of the L&LC boats for his own pleasure, with pictures of the A&CN and possible the Derwent and Ouse.

[Paul H]

Alexandra should not need any replating as the hull was restored by Chris Topp using proper wrought iron plates and rivets some years ago, before the boat went to Ellesmere Port. Chris has his own business near Thirsk where he still produces wrought iron work, none of your modern steels. He has owned a couple of other interesting boats. The first was Frugality, a West Country keel, into which he installed a steam engine, and the June, a former ACN boat, which he converted to a sailing barge with square sail rig.

 

The Alexandra was used by the L&LC Co as their Yorkshire inspection boat, based in a boathouse close to Brewery Bridge in Skipton. The first Yorkshire inspection launch was the Dart, a wooden boat bought second-hand by the Yorkshire section inspector, E W Bateman, and then sold to the company in 1897 for £85. The 'Yorkshire survey launch' was given a new engine and boiler in 1901, and Bateman was authorised to build a new wooden hull or to buy an old iron hull in 1907 for a maximum of £50. The company did buy a second hand hull, possibly called Victoria, from Mr Thornborough of Windermere for £50 the following year, but I am not sure if this became the Alexandria. Certainly in 1911, the Alexandria was re-boilered.

 

Alexandra continued in service as a steam launch until sold privately, I think in the 1950s, when a petrol engine was installed. The steam engine survived, and I think is still around. I can remember Alexandra at the boatyard at Rodley in the 1970s, when she still had the original cabin, though in a poor condition.

 

It was a leading light of the Boat Museum Society who suggested to me that the boat would need some replating but the fact that it has already received much restoration may mean the the areas concerned are modest. Whether they would be prepared to sell/lease it I don't know but they are open to any suggestions which would lead to a positive future for many of their neglected boats.

 

It is interesting that you mention another boat Victoria as it may go some way to explaining what this boat is clicky recently for sale and presumed now sold. I think it may also have been used as an early canal pleasure boat named at the time Glen Rosa and featured in Waterways World In March 2004.

 

Paul H

[RLWP]

It was a leading light of the Boat Museum Society who suggested to me that the boat would need some replating but the fact that it has already received much restoration may mean the the areas concerned are modest. Whether they would be prepared to sell/lease it I don't know but they are open to any suggestions which would lead to a positive future for many of their neglected boats.

 

It is interesting that you mention another boat Victoria as it may go some way to explaining what this boat is clicky recently for sale and presumed now sold. I think it may also have been used as an early canal pleasure boat named at the time Glen Rosa and featured in Waterways World In March 2004.

 

Paul H

 

I can't see Victoria on their website anymore so I guess she sold. Another pretty boat

 

Richard

 

I'm going to have to find a picture of Water Witch to post

[Phil Speight]

It was a leading light of the Boat Museum Society who suggested to me that the boat would need some replating but the fact that it has already received much restoration may mean the the areas concerned are modest. Whether they would be prepared to sell/lease it I don't know but they are open to any suggestions which would lead to a positive future for many of their neglected boats.

 

It is interesting that you mention another boat Victoria as it may go some way to explaining what this boat is clicky recently for sale and presumed now sold. I think it may also have been used as an early canal pleasure boat named at the time Glen Rosa and featured in Waterways World In March 2004.

 

Paul H

Alexandra has been lying ignored at the port for at least twenty years. Someone take it off`em soon or it`ll go the way of so many others i.e. nowhere.

Phil

[RLWP]

Alexandra has been lying ignored at the port for at least twenty years. Someone take it off`em soon or it`ll go the way of so many others i.e. nowhere.

Phil

 

How?

 

Richard

[carlt]

How?

 

Richard

Set up a trust, club or society and ask if you can have her.