Pluto Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) 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 August 2, 2012 by Timleech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek R. Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
carlt Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
carlt Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Guidance (the last wooden Sheffield keel) is at Shoreham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 We've passed several Sheffield-ish sized boats on the Thames between London & Oxford, but I didn't make any record of which ones or where. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam & Di Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 I would like to put together a list of surviving Sheffield sized boats. Any details gratefully received I'm no expert on the various keels, but isn't Lorenz's Pauline a Sheffield one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
carlt Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Southdowner Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Pluto Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Poplar Dock, 5th June this year BEECLIFFE to the right. SHIRECLIFFE to the left FORWARD in the background behind Shirecliffe. Just for a bit of personal nostalgia, from 1977, Beecliffe sharing a lock on the Seine, with a large empty push-tow and a 38m peniche 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 More sharing options...
carlt Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Anyone have a recent photo of Guidance? I took these 3 years ago. She looked pretty stable and relatively unbutchered, compared to the other Shoreham boats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starcoaster Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlt Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Derek R. Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Pluto Posted August 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 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. The above were taken in 1979, with the same boat two years later; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pluto Posted August 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Just to add three photos of the clinker keel remains at Goole, taken circa 1985. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacq Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 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 More sharing options...
fanshaft Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 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 More sharing options...
bargemast Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 There are a couple of Sheffield size barges in France too, one that has been there a long time is "DANUM", and a more recent arrival in very good condition and very comfortably converted is "RICCALL" Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pluto Posted August 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 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 More sharing options...
Timleech Posted August 5, 2012 Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) 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 August 5, 2012 by Timleech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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