Registration number 52
Status National Historic Fleet
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Previous names

  • 1934 No 14

Details

Function Service Vessel
Subfunction Dredger
Location Ellesmere Port
Vessel type Grab Dredger
Current use Museum based
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No
Info required Yes

Construction

Builder Pollock, J Son & Co Ltd, Faversham
Built in 1934
Hull material Steel
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Towed
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Steam
Boiler type Locomotive
Boilermaker Marshall, Sons & Co Ltd, Gainsborough
Boiler year 1947
Boiler fuel coal

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
13.74 feet (4.19m)
Depth
3.74 feet (1.14m)
Length: Overall
69.97 feet (21.34m)

History

The narrow canal dredger PERSEVERANCE was built to an 1875 design and consists of a central platform and two side pontoons for stability.

She was built for the Grand Union Canal Company in 1934 by James Pollock & Sons of Millwall, with a 70 foot hull and a crane by Grafton of Bedford. She was used by the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co Ltd (as their Dredger No.14) to dredge the Basingstoke Canal for 20 years, before being passed to the British Waterways Board. On construction and equipping she cost £2451 and changed hands for £225 when purchased by the Basingstoke Canal.

She was then owned by the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust 1967-1974 and subsequently by Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society until 1993, before being acquired by the Boat Museum (now National Waterways Museum), Ellesmere Port, in 1995.

It was loaned to the K&A Trust for that restoration and then passed to S&HCS for use on the Basingstoke in 1974. It’s transport was funded by Watneys who were delighted to be ‘involved in this five year project’. The canal opened in 1991.

There was a bit of fuss later as it wasn’t theirs to transfer! (I worked with Mike Keighley, engineer Mechanical Services at the time but was also working on the Basingstoke Canal as a volunteer). Mike arranged the necessary administrative adjustments to validate the situation.

During the Basingstoke canal’s restoration the craft was almost exclusively fired by wood felled around the canal. The boiler was retubed upon its arrival at Colt Hill and again in the eighties.

It was fitted with a steam grab and ring grab. The latter was used for digging bridge holes. To ensure the craft could load mud hoppers alongside the jib was extended and counterweight increased accordingly. That may have been why a new king post had to be fitted. A ferodo lined clutch was also fitted at a latter point.

In 2006, funds were required for the dredger's restoration, to cover work to the hull and mechanical equipment.

 

Key dates

  • 1934

    Built by J. Pollock, Son & Company of Faversham to an 1875 design for the Grand Union Canal Company

  • 1934-1937

    Used by Morethe Grand Union Canal Carrying Co Ltd (as their Dredger No.14) to dredge the Basingstoke Canal

  • 1947

    Transferred to the British Transport Commission on waterways nationalisation

  • 1947-1967

    Worked on the Shropshire Union Canal

  • 1967

    Transferred to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust

  • 1974

    Acquired by the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society

  • 1995

    Acquired by the Boat Museum (now National Waterways Museum), Ellesmere Port

Sources

Steamboat Register: An illustrated Register of surviving steam vessels in the British Isles, Steam Boat Association of Great Britain, Edition 6, May 1994 
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

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