Name Crete

CRETE is a riveted day boat and commisioned as part of a fleet for use on the 22 railway interchange basins of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. The hulls of these boats were of Iron construction including the the bottom and measured 70 foot in length with a 7 foot beam and hull side of 3 foot 6 inches. It is recognized by a unique fore-deck, that has a typical Yarwoods stem bar, the deck having little rise, and being longer than Joshers and GUCC boats.

The fleet of L.M.S boats passed into ownership in 1948 and continued the interchange traffic until 1st April 1954. CRETE was then transferred to British Waterways. In 1974/75 British Waterways converted the CRETE into a motor boat with boatmans cabin and reduced the length to 60 feet so that it could be used for maintenance.

Around 1980 it was transferred into private ownership and the hull baseplate was replaced with steel and the iron sides have previously been cut from the bow at approx. 2m aft and new steel “let in” along the sides from the wind and waterline to the base. During this time the cabin was extended to the full length of the boat.