Matt Parrott's Excellent "Working Boats" Web-Site.

[alan_fincher]

I was a great fan of Matt Parrott's well constructed "Working Boats" web-site.

 

http://www.workingboats.org.uk/

 

However for me the above doesn't even give a failure mewssage, just dumps me back at my Google home pag.

 

Can anybody see it, or does anyone know where it has gone.

 

It would be a shame to lose it, without someone else taking it on, I feel.

[Gibbo]

http://workingboats.org.uk/

 

ETA: Looks like it doesn't actually exist anymore.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Gibbo

[koukouvagia]

I was a great fan of Matt Parrott's well constructed "Working Boats" web-site.

 

Me too. I agree, it's a shame that Matt's site is no longer available, but I imagine it would have taken a lot of effort to keep it up to date.

 

For those who don't know there are these two websites which give details of historic boats.

 

 

There's the Historic Narrowboat Owners' site http://www.hnboc.org.uk/ ] This is very comprehensive and up to date.

 

This one is pretty good too: http://www.ammodels.co.nr/

[Guest]

I was a great fan of Matt Parrott's well constructed "Working Boats" web-site.

 

http://www.workingboats.org.uk/

 

However for me the above doesn't even give a failure mewssage, just dumps me back at my Google home pag.

 

Can anybody see it, or does anyone know where it has gone.

 

It would be a shame to lose it, without someone else taking it on, I feel.

 

Strange - first two times I tried it didn't work - third time it did....

 

ED to add a correction - the link in your post Alan takes me to Google but the link in Gibbo's goes to the site.

Edited September 1, 2011 by MJG

[Gibbo]

ED to add a correction - the link in your post Alan takes me to Google but the link in Gibbo's goes to the site.

 

Yeah but there's no actual site there. Just a holding page.

[Guest]

Yeah but there's no actual site there. Just a holding page.

 

Sorry looked again yes that is correct - I just saw the pic. of the working boats -

 

Still weird that your link takes you to that and Alan's to Google though....

 

ah!! your links are different -

 

Alan's

 

http://www.workingboats.org.uk/

 

Yours

 

http://workingboats.org.uk/

Edited September 1, 2011 by MJG

[Gibbo]

Sorry looked again yes that is correct - I just saw the pic. of the working boats -

 

Still weird that your link takes you to that and Alan's to Google though....

 

Mine doesn't have www in it. I have no idea what the relevance is. But I know many websites go to a page related to the ISP when that is removed/added.

 

http://merlinequipment.com/

 

http://www.merlinequipment.com/

 

Broken finger edit

Edited September 1, 2011 by Gibbo

[MoominPapa]

The domain is still registered to Matt, and the whois entry implies that it might just be a temporary glitch:

 

Relevant dates:

Registered on: 06-Aug-2009

Renewal date: 06-Aug-2013

Last updated: 16-Aug-2011

 

Registration status:

Renewal request being processed.

 

MP.

[alan_fincher]

Yes,

 

I was not hitherto aware of a site without the "WWW" in the name.

 

Clearly it is Matt's but it takes me to something with "Beautslap" in it, which I have not encountered before.

 

you seem to need to register at that stage.......

 

But Matt's old "Sickle" site does still work, with there being a link to "Working Boats". That link itself has the "WWW", so fails for me completely.

 

I might just try registering with "Beautslap" to find out if it takes me anywhere!

[Guest]

I might just try registering with "Beautslap" to find out if it takes me anywhere!

 

- careful - you never know where you'll end up with a name like that!!

[Laurence Hogg]

If you google " www.workingboats.org" it takes you to a Beautslap page! Looks like it has gone. However as I and others have pointed out in the past these sites are full of errors and not updated regulary. Roger Fuller's site is very out of date now, the AM models site also and it does beg the question of where you go for correct information on historic boats. Even the HNBOC site is incomplete with missing boats and information. This is an area where TWT or the new BW charity should put some investment into, we need a proper managed database of craft with entries being verified by recognised experts in the various fields. At the moment the previously overlooked wide boat fleets are being trawled through by Mark Pullinger effectivly filling in one of the major overlooked areas of canal boat history.

[Canopus36]

Apparently Matt got fed up with people complaining about the site so he pulled the plug. Shame really - such a mine of information for a young fella - rare these days

[Derek R.]

The time and effort needed to maintain a website dedicated to boat lists by types, etc. is considerable. It can be done, but best done by someone retired and with time on their hands. Those with mines of information often have many committments that are demanded to maintain their working lives and so such lists begin to fall short as new discoveries - or even just stories emerge.

 

While I popped in at Matt's site from time to time, I cannot say it was the first place I would go for research of any kind. Even though the Fuller's pages are quite 'old' now, there is a wealth of information which when guided to the right people can be 'updated' if necessary. I find it no surprise that those who are in the 'know' keep their cards close.

 

Definitive information on any craft is open to constant updating with the little snippets that pop up through talk with some of the 'old boys', and which is often queried, and sometimes doubted! The swopping of names of certain craft broken up is just one example. It's a minefield, negotiated at risk!

 

A lot can be bitten off, but maybe the chewing was on the tough side.

[Pluto]

At the moment the previously overlooked wide boat fleets are being trawled through by Mark Pullinger effectivly filling in one of the major overlooked areas of canal boat history.

Having compiled fleet lists for the L&LC, Lancaster, Sankey and A&CN over many years, that is a little bit of an unfortunate statement. Pete Harrison, amongst others, also has lists for wide boats. I suspect the Humber Keel & Sloop Society will have much Yorkshire based information, while the Society for Sailing Barge Research has barges on the Thames pretty much tied up. There is a lot of information about relative to wide boat fleets, it's narrowboat owners that are only just beginning to realise that some of us have been researching wide canals for many years.

[Max Sinclair]

Having compiled fleet lists for the L&LC, Lancaster, Sankey and A&CN over many years, that is a little bit of an unfortunate statement. Pete Harrison, amongst others, also has lists for wide boats. I suspect the Humber Keel & Sloop Society will have much Yorkshire based information, while the Society for Sailing Barge Research has barges on the Thames pretty much tied up. There is a lot of information about relative to wide boat fleets, it's narrowboat owners that are only just beginning to realise that some of us have been researching wide canals for many years.

Do you have any record of a wooden boat called Mary of Glasson in your Lancaster Canal record?

[alan_fincher]

Apparently Matt got fed up with people complaining about the site so he pulled the plug. Shame really - such a mine of information for a young fella - rare these days

If that's the case, it's a crying shame, because IMO it was better thought through and more informative than most others.

 

I hope he doesn't take down his Sickle site, (as I now own Sickle!) - or at least not without giving me an option on taking it on first!

[carlt]

Having compiled fleet lists for the L&LC, Lancaster, Sankey and A&CN over many years, that is a little bit of an unfortunate statement. Pete Harrison, amongst others, also has lists for wide boats. I suspect the Humber Keel & Sloop Society will have much Yorkshire based information, while the Society for Sailing Barge Research has barges on the Thames pretty much tied up. There is a lot of information about relative to wide boat fleets, it's narrowboat owners that are only just beginning to realise that some of us have been researching wide canals for many years.

Add Mike Taylor and his work on the Yorkshire Waterways to the list, too.

[Laurence Hogg]

Having compiled fleet lists for the L&LC, Lancaster, Sankey and A&CN over many years, that is a little bit of an unfortunate statement. Pete Harrison, amongst others, also has lists for wide boats. I suspect the Humber Keel & Sloop Society will have much Yorkshire based information, while the Society for Sailing Barge Research has barges on the Thames pretty much tied up. There is a lot of information about relative to wide boat fleets, it's narrowboat owners that are only just beginning to realise that some of us have been researching wide canals for many years.

I may have mislead you here, it is the London area wideboats which Mark is working on, some results will be seen shortly in "Narrowboat".

[Hairy-Neil]

Roger Fuller's site is very out of date now,

 

When it first went moribund a friend offered to manage the site. The offer was declined....

[pete harrison]

Pete Harrison, amongst others, also has lists for wide boats.

 

I do not tend to create or produce fleet lists of any discription unless asked to. I do this by studying health registrations and gaugings then matching them together. This usually gives details regarding previous and subsequent owners, and sometimes can suggest a boat's ultimate fate.

 

I have all of the health registers relating to the south east as well as all Grand Junction Canal / Grand Union Canal gaugings back to 1882 (and several hundred earlier gaugings). When these are combined they can be used to create a pretty good fleet list of just about any south eastern carrier that used barges, wide boats or narrow boats.

 

I do however have a few fleet lists given to me by private collectors and researchers that I do keep to myself, or at least acquire the correct permission's prior to passing the information on.

 

Apparently Matt got fed up with people complaining about the site so he pulled the plug. Shame really - such a mine of information for a young fella - rare these days

 

This is the problem with publishing, whether in book form or on the Internet.

 

Personally I found Matt's website poor, not in its presentation but in the quality of the information. It does sadden me to say that as clearly there is a need for younger 'enthusiasts' to take up research, but there must be an understanding that once something is published it rapidly becomes 'fact' whether it is historically correct or not (and nowadays is pinched almost straight away by other websites that gives the impression of substantiating incorrect 'facts'). Matt does have a good background and I hope he will resume his website at some point in the future, but at the same time I do hope he can up his game somewhat.

Edited September 3, 2011 by pete harrison

[Derek R.]

I would concur with Pete's comments.

 

Elsewhere, with regard to published historical data being taken as fact, many follow with research of their own which only goes as far as copying from previous published data or history. The problem with that is any errors in the original collation of data is doomed to be repeated, and as all further research into such historic data is taken from the previously published - and sometimes politically correct, the 'lie' in any history has such a foothold that it is taken as 'truth'. When one comes along who seeks to carry out research using the personal diaries, documents, and interviews with those 'who were there' and by passes previous published history, then a new story appears, and which in some instances may contradict 'established' history. It is thereupon immediately spurned, criticised, and denigrated to the point of ridicule, yet which may be the most accurate.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Derek R.