Jump to content

Sheffield-sized boats


Pluto

Featured Posts

I would like to put together a list of surviving Sheffield sized boats. Any details gratefully received - the obvious preserved ones, like Comrade, Amy Howson and Spider T, are not a problem. I am also looking for details of Furley & Co of Hull. The company minutes are in the archive at Warwick University, but it is a long way to go for me, and possibly a lot of work to identify the boats they had from the minutes, should they even be mentioned. Anyone have any information?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to put together a list of surviving Sheffield sized boats. Any details gratefully received - the obvious preserved ones, like Comrade, Amy Howson and Spider T, are not a problem. I am also looking for details of Furley & Co of Hull. The company minutes are in the archive at Warwick University, but it is a long way to go for me, and possibly a lot of work to identify the boats they had from the minutes, should they even be mentioned. Anyone have any information?

 

Beecliffe and another -cliffe (Southcliffe?), plus another Sheffield size boat, are in Poplar Dock marina, London. I took some pics when we were in West India dock after the Pageant, I'll look them up when I have a bit of time to try to make a more positive identification.

 

Edit - is Spider T actually Sheffield size? I think it has a greater moulded hull depth than standard, not certain about the other dimensions?

 

Tim

Edited by Timleech
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strange, a bit off topic, but just yesterday I was browsing through an old scrapbook, and there was BEECLIFFE being featured in a 1977 W.W. issue - 'Continental Keel' - where BEECLIFFE is featured in a two part article. One picture is of the cabin below, and credited to one T. N. Leech. Is that you Tim - did you get to go on that trip?

 

Derek

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Victory is in Rotherham.

 

Heritage is at Swinton.

 

Orotan is in Ireland

 

I saw Dritan in Brixham a few years ago proper ccing.

 

Syntan is on Beverley Beck

 

Ferncliffe is on the Medway

 

I saw Drake in Falmouth but I'm not sure if she's still there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strange, a bit off topic, but just yesterday I was browsing through an old scrapbook, and there was BEECLIFFE being featured in a 1977 W.W. issue - 'Continental Keel' - where BEECLIFFE is featured in a two part article. One picture is of the cabin below, and credited to one T. N. Leech. Is that you Tim - did you get to go on that trip?

 

Derek

 

Yes, I was one of the owners (two couples) at the time.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no expert on the various keels, but isn't Lorenz's Pauline a Sheffield one?

 

No. It is, as far as I am aware, 'West Country' size (Calder & Hebble), smaller in every dimension. Pluto will know for certain.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. It is, as far as I am aware, 'West Country' size (Calder & Hebble), smaller in every dimension. Pluto will know for certain.

 

Tim

Yes she's definitely a West Country Keel.

 

Is Egret Sheffield size and originally Furley & Co?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed this on Rugby Boats website

 

Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation

 

http://rugbyboats.co.uk/barges.php name : NIDD

 

61ft 6in x 14ft 6in Humber Keel. c.1937. Built by Henry Scarr at Hessle, on the Humber Estuary,

this is a classic Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed this on Rugby Boats website

 

Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation

 

http://rugbyboats.co.uk/barges.php name : NIDD

 

61ft 6in x 14ft 6in Humber Keel. c.1937. Built by Henry Scarr at Hessle, on the Humber Estuary,

this is a classic Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

 

 

It was either built to the dimensions of the S&SYN or it's 14' 6" wide, not both.

 

Sheffield size boats are at least a foot wider.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the replies. Spider T is 15ft 6in beam according to the dimensions of her website. Drake is currently up for sale in Cornwall. Pauline was built by the A&CN for use on the C&HN, as were several A&CN flyboats. Three survive, Pauline, June and Fair Maiden (I think). The Nidd mentioned is a S&SYN sized boat, possibly one of Furley's as they seem to have used river names. The L&LC Nidd was also up for sale recently and was also based on the French waterways.

 

The reason for my request is that C&RT have asked me to write up a heritage report on Wey, which has been section-8ed, and is for disposal. If no one has bought her in the next few months, they will have to look at scrapping. Wey doesn't look too bad, though the bottom is pretty thin. The last owner was in the process of removing the engine, an air-cooled Lister, so she is currently unpowered. Basically, it is a very bare hull which needs a lot of work. It could be a good project for someone wanting to start from scratch.

 

Mike Taylor has told me that she was built as a dumb boat in 1937 for Furley's, whose name was inscribed on the coamings. An engine was installed in 1955, and she was sold to Waddingtons in 1965. I can pass on any serious enquiries.

 

Anyone have a recent photo of Guidance? There are few remains of wooden keels, possibly the most interesting being opposite and slightly upstream from Goole Docks, where I photographed about fifteen years ago the remains of two or three clinker built keels used for bank protection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Poplar Dock, 5th June this year

 

Poplardock-2.jpg

BEECLIFFE to the right.

SHIRECLIFFE to the left

FORWARD in the background behind Shirecliffe.

 

Just for a bit of personal nostalgia, from 1977,

 

Beecliffeseine-1.jpg

 

 

Beecliffe sharing a lock on the Seine, with a large empty push-tow and a 38m peniche

 

 

 

 

Beecliffedoubs-1.jpg

 

Beecliffe on the River Doubs, just below Besancon (Canal du Rhone au Rhin)

 

Unfortunately I've realised that most of my pictures at the time were taken from the boat and not of the boat. Also these were taken on the awful 126 format, albeit with a nice little Rollei camera which I bought from a Brussels flea-market & repaired myself (broken wire in the metering system).

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know that that should look horrendous, but there's something quaintly appealing about it if you take it at face value rather than trying to translate it into a moveable boat...

It's a beautiful hull that someone has put a habitable space on top without chopping huge holes in the sides to light up the hold.

 

The Gunwale "skylights" are a brilliant compromise, in my opinion, and the whole "Noah's Ark" look is, as you say, very quaint.

 

I think the boat could (and should) be deconverted and returned to working trim as it is the last of its kind and I'd hate to see it go the way of most of the Shoreham boats that become too troublesome to remain as liveaboards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Used to visit Felixstowe Ferry at times, and was always struck by the fascinating mish mash of floating craft, harbour service launches, motor torpedo and gun boats, old motor sailers and sailing barges, even an aircraft fuselage with outriggers. Walk around a modern marina and it's all plastic and stainless. Used to be a lovely little Barge Yacht called the Nancy Grey down at Old Leigh, wonder if it's still around.

 

Derek

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the photos Carl and Tim. Looking through old copies of Slabline (Humber Keel & Sloop Soc newsletter), Guidance seems to have been a hotel boat on the Thames around 1975. I took the photos below on Hayling Island in 1979/81 of what appears to be a Norfolk wherry. Several were taken to Portsmouth in the Napoleonic period, though I can't really see this as being one of them.

 

7703144296_4668cf6d00_c.jpg

 

7703143794_60f987f509_c.jpg

 

7703143114_9aec91fa6f_z.jpg

 

7703142716_e298fe4c6e_c.jpg

 

The above were taken in 1979, with the same boat two years later;

 

7703142314_2d9597b1c1_c.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to own a Sheffield size boat on the River Hull in Beverley. It was called the Rising Sun.Dont know if this was the original name. It had a JS 3 in that I removed (wish I still had that)

I think it’s still there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed this on Rugby Boats website

 

Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation

 

http://rugbyboats.co.uk/barges.php name : NIDD

 

61ft 6in x 14ft 6in Humber Keel. c.1937. Built by Henry Scarr at Hessle, on the Humber Estuary,

this is a classic Humber keel built to the dimensions of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

 

Keels were built to varying dimensions to suit the waterway to be used. The common size was 'Sheffield' at 61ft 6in by 15ft 6in. 'Manvers size' was 58ft by 14ft 10in (to trade on to the Dearne & Dove Canal). I operated 'Charles William' (1924) of this size both on the Humber and connecting waterways and also on the Mersey/Ship Canal/Weaver. She is (or was) moored on the Grand Union Canal at the junction with the Slough Arm. She might well have been the largest vessel to cross the Leeds & Liverpool Canal(in 1979), in terms of height and beam, probably not possible today. On arrival at Wigan, John Freeman (BW Area Engineer) said to me 'This has been a one way trip' and walked off! (We had been stuck in Foulridge tunnel for five hours). As mentioned, another common size was 57ft 6in by 14ft 2in, the 'West Country' vessels. The Aire & Calder Flyboats were a variant of this - and in addition to 'Pauline', Fair Maiden' and 'June', I am sure another example exists, moored at Mountsorrel.

 

regards

 

David L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So far, the list of boats I am fairly sure still survive includes, with date and builder, and current location:

 

 

Amy Howson 1914 J Scarr, Beverley South Ferriby

Beecliffe 1925 Richard Dunston Poplar Dock

Comrade 1923 Warrens, New Holland South Ferriby

Danum Richard Dunston France

Daybreak 1934 Richard Dunston Thames

Drake Falmouth

Dritan 1950c Hepworth, Paull Brixham?

(Hunt's) Eden 1924 Henry Scarr Ltd Goole

Elspeth May 1951 Richard Dunston London?

Enterprise

Ferncliffe 1925 Richard Dunston Medway

Forward Poplar Dock

Guidance 1905 wooden construction Shoreham

Heritage Waddingtons Swinton?

Hiddekel Goole

Hope 1908 J Scarr, Beverley River Thames

Hunt's Kim 1923 Henry Scarr Ltd S&KC

John M Rishworth 1915 Henry Scarr Ltd Milldock, London

Kama Germany

Misterton Goole?

Onesimus 1913 Joseph Scarr, Bev. Keadby

Orotan (James & Mary) 1950c Hepworth, Paull Ireland

Pioneer

Reliance Thames?

Riccall France

Richard

Sectan 1950c Hepworth, Paull Beverley

Sequana

Service

Sheaf Wakefield

Shirecliffe

Southcliffe 1923 Richard Dunston Goole

Spider T 1926 Warrens, New Holland Keadby

Swift 1894 Joseph Scarr Wakefield

Syntan 1949 Hepworth, Paull Beverley

Taurus Swinton

Thomas H Goole

Victory Harkers Rotherham

Vivos Swinton

Valiant 1959? Blacktofts, Stainforth

Wey 1937 Henry Scarr (Dunstons) Nottingham

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So far, the list of boats I am fairly sure still survive includes, with date and builder, and current location:

 

 

 

 

No immediate help, probably a red herring as it may be long gone by now, but I remember seeing one in a Dutch boat/shipyard which had been hacked about and was in use as a sort of 'match truck' to support the jib of a floating crane! It was well over 30 years ago that I saw it, & haven't a clue now as to where the yard was.

 

Edit - maybe Bargemast knows the yard? All I can remember is that I think it was just above a lock, & not on one of the bigger navigations!

 

Tim

Edited by Timleech
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.