Sheffield-sized boats

[John V]

I have just been reading back through this thread (big tides tonight so have been up keeping an eye on mooring lines) and I realised that although I mentioned Sabina, I didn't post a photo (maybe I hadn't learnt how to then) so here is one now

 

b atch to sort 211 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

[peterboat]

Sabina is a lovely boat John a very good conversion well done!!

[bargemast]

as AjW says the back half is on sale at Alan Pease's site, the bit that turned up here is quite short and has a fair old beam on her, The bow plating looks like original Humber barge builders work and getting on a bit. Where she's lying makes it hard for me to see the stern but tomorrow I'll have a walk along the dredger she's moored alongside and have a look. I'll also try and get some pics. I am not sure about the lines of the cabin they have put on her but I have seen a hell of a lot worse !!! The standard of the steelwork looks pretty good from the bit I can see, I don't know where it was done.

If I can find who has her, I will try and have a chat and get some info.

I'm looking forward to your pictures and further info John.

 

Peter.

[John V]

SAM_0230 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

SAM_0231 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

SAM_0229 by mudlarker2, on Flickr

 

Personally I dislike the conversion, (I hope whoever had it done doesn't read this) I think the cabin is too big and too square. The new stern is very plain and lacks any grace in the curves. It all appears to be well constructed.......it's just the design I have problems with.......I suppose as a houseboat it all works, the front of the cabin is completely flat and presumably will have a large patio door leading out onto the deck.........it's just I have a problem with conversions of working boats that irretrievably alter them

[Derek R.]

That is pretty frightening. And disappointing.

[bargemast]

Personally I dislike the conversion, (I hope whoever had it done doesn't read this) I think the cabin is too big and too square. The new stern is very plain and lacks any grace in the curves. It all appears to be well constructed.......it's just the design I have problems with.......I suppose as a houseboat it all works, the front of the cabin is completely flat and presumably will have a large patio door leading out onto the deck.........it's just I have a problem with conversions of working boats that irretrievably alter them

I agree entirely with you John, the original lines of these barges is so much nicer and I don't think that it would have been verydifficult to design something with more graceful lines.

 

But ....it's not our barge, and the owner may have spend lots of time and money to get what he designed made up.

 

Thanks for the piccies.

 

Peter.

[egret]

Unfortunately the stern end is for sale in goole with an even less sympathetic bow grafted (stuck) on, 44 feet long called Taurus 2

[smileypete]

Someone asked about Onward the other day...

 

I've been told it was was heading to Limehouse after being sold. Don't know if it's still there, anyone local to Limehouse?

Edited April 24, 2016 by smileypete

[bargemast]

Someone asked about Onward the other day...

 

I've been told it was was heading to Limehouse after being sold. Don't know if it's still there, anyone local to Limehouse?

 

I found a photo of "Onward" made by Mike Askin on May 9 in Limehouse Marina.

 

 

Peter.

Edited May 17, 2016 by bargemast

[Giant]

Yes it appears Onward is staying at Limehouse the time being. Wren saw her there and spoke to the new owner briefly the other day.

[Saint.V8]

I have been reading this thread with great interest.

 

I am a massive Humber barge fan and I adore the lines and bluff bows they have, very purposeful..!!!

 

A few pages back a list was created with the various barges still around and their current locations.

 

Way back when in the dark ages while I was at school, my form teacher, Mrs Woodward, lived (and still does live) on a Keel called DAYBREAK......

 

I instantly fell in love with this barge, We took part in the young engineer competition and Mrs Woodward had enrolled our class into the competition. I can distinctly remember one evening she invited us and our parents onto DAYBREAK for a meeting about the competition and showed us all around her keel.

 

I was awestruck, she still has her original boatmans cabin, and the rest of the barge has been converted into a stunning liveaboard inside and restored to former glory on the outside, she still retains her original square rig and is one of only a handful of keels left with her original rigging.

 

She is still moored in Staines and is still owned as far as I know by Mr and Mrs Wooward. Recently she was sailed up the east coast to near were she was built for an out of water survey and repaint. She was also awarded in 2014 the National Historic Ships UK pendant to fly as an ambassador for the NHSUK cause.

 

To this day I still remember DAYBREAK and when I can I pass by her moorings just to get a glimpse of her stunning lines.

 

I was about 10-11 at the time so we are talking 27-28 years ago but I remember that barge and ever since I have always wanted to live on a barge, and preferably a Humber barge.

 

DAYBREAK was built in 1934 and is 61'6" by 15'6" and looks gorgeous....

 

Photo attached (This photo is from their website so I make no ownership claim)

 

Do visit their site, it has a blog of their travels and some stunning photos of DAYBREAK and other barges, and they regularly go up the coast and back onto the Humber when they can.

 

https://hkdaybreak.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

 

[Derek R.]

Tony and Sally have done well with DAYBREAK, We were floating neighbours for a while in another time!

Back then DAYBREAK did not have a mast or rigging, it's to Tony's credit that all has been restored to as was. Wheel steering back in the early eighties too. Yours truly at the helm - Thames around Thames Ditton (IIRC - though quite possibly not!):

 

 

And squeezing under Brentford High Street bridge. We needed another inch, so enrolled passers by to clamber into the foc'sle. Must have got a eight or nine folk in there! Sally is in brown dungarees, and Tony with beard kneeling. I can name the other crew too.

 

 

DAYBREAK looks fabulous now though. She had a five pot Gardner in then, probably still has.

 

From DAYBREAK's blog page - a sight for sore eyes!!

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Derek R.

[bargemast]

It's great to see a boat like that back in her former glory and beautifully maintained by her loving owners.

 

Peter.

[Giant]

Just to update the list floating around this thread, Valiant's owners made an impressive voyage up to Scotland last month, going non stop from Scarborough to the Moray Firth and are now based on the Caledonian Canal. I took this of her out on Loch Ness as I was coming through the other way. Well impressed.

[Roy Batty]

Hi Pluto, 

 

How are you getting on with your search? 

 

I, and a couple of friends, saved a Sheffield keel (that looks to be from the 40s or 50s) from being scrapped last summer because of a rotten hull. We bought her and intend in the coming months to have her completely underplated and touch up the superstructure so that she will last another 80 years. 

 

She is powered by stunning Gardener. I think it is a 2LW. 

 

She has had a solid timber superstructure built over the cargo hold and has been fitted with solar panels and a US military spec "Outback" power control unit so she is completely off grid. 

 

She is called A39. I hope you will add her to your list. 

 

I have no history for her at all. You might have more, in which case I would love to hear about her. 

 

Regards

[Pluto]

A39 is an ex-British Isles Transport boat, used for carrying grain from Birkenhead and Liverpool up to Applebys flour mills in East Lancashire. Applebys had a fkeet of wooden boats under their own name until 1933, when the fleet became BI Transport. They had seven steel boats, A36-A42, built in 1932/1933, of which A39 was one. Her Liverpool registered number was 1583, official number O.N. 162379, and was built at Yarwoods in 1932. When the grain traffic ceased on the canal, she was sold to Henry Croasdale, a Blackburn coal dealer, c1953, subsequently passing to Hargreaves for use on the Wigan Power Station run, which ended in 1972. She then passed through the hands of several people, I think ending up as a floating cafe at Sheffield.

[peterboat]

8 minutes ago, Pluto said:

A39 is an ex-British Isles Transport boat, used for carrying grain from Birkenhead and Liverpool up to Applebys flour mills in East Lancashire. Applebys had a fkeet of wooden boats under their own name until 1933, when the fleet became BI Transport. They had seven steel boats, A36-A42, built in 1932/1933, of which A39 was one. Her Liverpool registered number was 1583, official number O.N. 162379, and was built at Yarwoods in 1932. When the grain traffic ceased on the canal, she was sold to Henry Croasdale, a Blackburn coal dealer, c1953, subsequently passing to Hargreaves for use on the Wigan Power Station run, which ended in 1972. She then passed through the hands of several people, I think ending up as a floating cafe at Sheffield.

She was a trip boat when I saw her there, very badly maintained by her owner, and up for sale a a huge amount of cash given her poor condition, I am glad she has been saved some people shouldnt be allowed to have historic boats should they?

[Roy Batty]

That is so cool to know. 

 

Well rest assured that A39 will live on. She is now on the Thames awaiting welding. 

 

Thank you. 

 

Regards

 

Roy

[Roy Batty]

Dear Pluto,

 

Are any of the other 7 A-series still afloat? I did see something very similar on the Thames last summer but didn't get a chance to find out anything about her. 

 

Regards

 

Roy

[Pluto]

I think most survive, though they were all in poor condition at the end of the Wigan coal traffic in 1972. Only A38 (Shirley) had kept her coamings as she was the only one to work on the Trafford Park Power Station run, where coal was removed by suction. At Wigan grabs were used and the coamings removed to allow easy access. The original names were missing from some boats by 1972, which also makes keeping track of them difficult, though several ended up in the south.

[matk]

I'd forgotten about this page, and just thought I should add that Drake (possibly a shortened Manvers Barge) is after a lengthy conversion now moored on the Thames just below Tower Bridge and in very good company.

 

As she was when bought in Penryn

 

 

As she is now

 

 

 

 

Her interior when she arrived in London, 

 

 

 

as she is now

 

 

 

And the best view in London

[peterboat]

13 minutes ago, matk said:

I'd forgotten about this page, and just thought I should add that Drake (possibly a shortened Manvers Barge) is after a lengthy conversion now moored on the Thames just below Tower Bridge and in very good company.

 

As she was when bought in Penryn

 

 

As she is now

 

 

 

 

Her interior when she arrived in London, 

 

 

 

as she is now

 

 

 

And the best view in London

Lovely conversion well done

[Roy Batty]

8 hours ago, Pluto said:

I think most survive, though they were all in poor condition at the end of the Wigan coal traffic in 1972. Only A38 (Shirley) had kept her coamings as she was the only one to work on the Trafford Park Power Station run, where coal was removed by suction. At Wigan grabs were used and the coamings removed to allow easy access. The original names were missing from some boats by 1972, which also makes keeping track of them difficult, though several ended up in the south.

Fascinating. Thank you for the information. I will keep an eye on this thread and add images as we replate the Hull. 

 

If any further A39 info surfaces hopefully it will find its way here. 

 

Regards

 

Roy

[Pluto]

A39 was converted to a trip boat in the 1970s and was renamed Peace, working on the Liverpool Pool (ie between Appley Locks and Liverpool) and occasionally into the docks. This is a photo loaned to me by Ian Monk of his father, Janms, on Pauline, ex-Canal Transport's Sirius, at Wigan Power Station probably in the early 1950s.

[Roy Batty]

8 hours ago, Pluto said:

A39 was converted to a trip boat in the 1970s and was renamed Peace, working on the Liverpool Pool (ie between Appley Locks and Liverpool) and occasionally into the docks. This is a photo loaned to me by Ian Monk of his father, Janms, on Pauline, ex-Canal Transport's Sirius, at Wigan Power Station probably in the early 1950s.

Wow, what a stunning image of A39 showing just how low in the water she would sit with a full load. Thank you so much for sharing this. With each bit of information or image I am more and more happy that we saved this post of British boating heritage.