Registration number 663
Status Registered
a12admin
Scorpio - starboard side
Scorpio - bow view looking aft
Scorpio - starboard bow
Scorpio - port bow
Scorpio - port quarter
Photo Comp 2012 Overall Winner: Scorpio

Previous names

  • 1890 - 1948 Helena

Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Barge
Location Morcombe
Current use Museum based
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No

Construction

Built in 1890
Hull material Wood
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Towed
Primary engine type None
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
14.49 feet (4.42m)
Depth
3.74 feet (1.14m)
Length: Overall
71.97 feet (21.95m)

History

Built in 1890 for the Wigan Coal and Iron Company and originally named HELENA, SCORPIO is a wooden dumb barge of a type known as a Liverpool sider. Her hull is carvel built of oak frames and planking with a pitch pine deck. She was bought by T. & W. Wells in 1920, rebuilt in 1948 and sold to John Parke and Sons of Litherland and renamed SCORPIO. Her area of operation was on the canals around the River Mersey and her primary work was the carriage of coal from collieries to power stations. Taken over by the British Fuel Company, she carried on working until acquired by the Boat Museum, Ellesmere Port in 1971. She was rebuilt by the museum in 1983 and is now exhibited afloat.

Sources

Brouwer, Norman J, International Register of Historic Ships, Anthony Nelson,  Edition 2, 1993
Stammers, Mike, Mersey Flats and Flatmen
Sullivan, Dick, Old Ships, Boats and Maritime Museums, Coracle Books, 1978
Ransom, P J G, The Archaeology of Canals
The Boat Museum, The Boat Museum

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk