Canal Boats Under Sail

Sail power on inland navigations has been used for hundreds of years, mainly by keels, barges and other varieties of commercial craft working on rivers. What is less well known is the use of sail by narrowboats on both river and, more surprisingly, on canals.

It’s not difficult to understand how this came about as river transport preceded the canals and old-established working techniques used for generations were naturally adopted by boaters on the new ‘cuts’. It is known that some of the boaters turning to the newly developed narrowboats specifically designed to ply the narrow canals of the English Midlands came from families who worked barges on the country’s major rivers. With new canals forming connections between navigable rivers, narrowboats soon ventured onto these running-water navigations and used river-working techniques to safely operate that portion of the trip.

This drawing illustrates the installation and use of a water sail on the River Severn and indicates the tarpaulin was a top cloth.

Chesterfield Canal cuckoo boats regularly traded to Gainsborough and well beyond after entering the River Trent at West Stockwith. Coal was the usual cargo, drawn from local pits near the canal.

This representation shows a craft owned and steered by Richard Fox of Misterton, which is carrying small coal for an industrial premises in Lincolnshire. Like many other cuckoo boats, his had no name or number and had been fitted up with a square sail to take advantage of a slight westerly breeze. Controlled by a simplified upper Trent rig attached to cleats on the stern bulkhead and roller winch, the lines were adjusted from the steering position.

Christopher M. Jones

Before the widespread use of steam tugs, there were five basic modes of power on the rivers for barges and narrowboats: firstly, bow hauling from the rough bank; secondly, there was horse haulage from the newly built towing paths. Thirdly, there was the use of a large set of oars known as sweeps, or the use of quanting or shafting the craft in low water levels, or simply drifting with the current using a mud or drag anchor to give the vessel steerage. Fourth came a mast-and-sail arrangement and finally was the use of a water sail. Apart from the first method, the rest could make the boat independent and free to move about on running water without any attachment to the bank, either for towing or safety reasons.

Bank towage

For narrowboats, horse haulage from the bank used a long river line to a pulley block attached to the top of a tall mast specially made for the purpose, with the line going back to a T-stud or hook next to the steerer. The tall mast was used to lift the towing line above any bushes and tree growth on the flood bank or perhaps small islands.

Oars or sweeps

When there was no other means of moving a boat around, oars or sweeps were used. It was common to see lightermen on the Thames move dumb barges and lighters about the docks or in the Pool of London. Narrowboats regularly visiting the Thames and docks sometimes carried oars or sweeps with their inventory of equipment. Narrowboats from the Chesterfield Canal, known as cuckoo boats, regularly used sweeps to maintain steerage way on the tidal River Trent between the canal’s entrance onto the river at West Stockwith and Gainsborough, and on to the Fossdyke Navigation at Torksey, if a tow was unavailable.

Drifting with the current

Barges and narrowboats sometimes navigated running water by drifting with the current. A boat simply floating downstream travelled at the same speed as the current, which tended to make it impossible to steer. This was remedied by creating a differential in speed between the boat and the current. This could be done under the boatman’s control with the use of a drag or mud anchor, which was essentially little more than a large lump of stone attached to a long chain fixed to the boat.

There were two alternatives to the stone: one was a long length of heavy gauge chain as used on the River Trent, and the other was on the River Severn where boatmen used a 1-cwt iron bar with a ring in the middle called a pig. The boat would be turned around in the river; the drag anchor was then thrown overboard from the foredeck enabling the craft to travel and be steered stern first, towing the drag behind. This slowed the craft sufficiently to create the necessary differential.

A rare image showing a breasted-up pair of narrowboats on the River Severn under sail, and about to shoot Worcester Bridge.

The sail appears to be a jury-rigged arrangement using a tarpaulin fastened to a mast and yard, although with little in the way of a breeze to fill it. Perhaps that is why one of the crew is walking along the top planks pushing against a long shaft and quanting the boats forward as they drift with the current. The steerer is swinging the tiller hard over on the nearest boat to keep the pair away from the bridge and line them up for the arch.

The inset image gives close-up view of the details.

Christopher M. Jones

Mast and sail

The main rivers on which narrowboats employed sail power were the Severn and Bristol Avon. But the Thames also saw them, as did the Trent between Torksey and West Stockwith, when cuckoo boats sometimes made use of sail if conditions were suitable.

Sails on narrowboats were either a jury-rigged structure erected by the boatman using shafts and a tarpaulin anchored to the mast case, or a professionally made mast, yard and sail, sometimes fitted with shrouds for stability athwartships. The foot of the mast would be encased inside a tabernacle to stabilise it; it was also hinged so it could be lowered when shooting bridges or for general working along the canal. A professionally made mast could have a grooved pulley wheel, known as a sheave, built into the body of the mast near the top, which avoided the need to attach a separate block. This latter rig would only be on craft based at places near rivers, and they regularly navigated a river during most trips so as to justify the outlay. Because it was part of the boat’s equipment or articles carried aboard, there were references to them entered into the gauging table records for certain canals.

Jury-rigged sails were erected when the boatman felt the wind was sufficient to warrant it. A long shaft, a gang plank or a long tree branch (stripped of its twigs and bark) would be tied against the mast case after having a pulley block bound to the top. It’s thought the telescopic mast extension to which the towline was normally pegged was usually removed when jury-rigging a sail. One of the top cloths was used as a sail and had an old cut-down shaft tied across the top as the yard, and also one along the bottom. The sail was then hauled up the mast using a halyard line to the yard run through the pulley block, then with two lines attached to the bottom shaft, one at each corner of the cloth, so the boatman could pull round the makeshift sail to catch the wind. A good breeze from astern soon had the boat moving faster than the current.

Boatman Jack Monk of the Willow Wren Canal Carrying Co Ltd (told a story to the late David Blagrove) that his father took his boats to load at Lydney on the west bank of the Severn under sail this way. David always understood that a square sail was used, with a cabin shaft or similar employed as a yard. In fact a long shaft could be used as a mast with the hook uppermost and, if no pulley block were available, the sail could be hoisted by merely reeving the halyard between the hook and the point of the shaft head.

On the Bridgewater Canal at Marsland Bridge, Brooklands, two deeply laden boats head northbound towards Manchester using both horse haulage and sail power.

Most interestingly, the butty boat has a square sail set with the nearest boat using a spritsail similar to that employed around the Thames. To negotiate bridges, the mast and sails are low down with the foot of the sail resting on the top of the cloths. This pair appear to have wooden comings around the hold mounted above the gunwales, with the cloths fixed on the top of these. The low position of the sails obstructs the steerer’s forward view and perhaps this might be one of the reasons the leading boat has a spritsail, giving the steerer unobstructed vision for at least one half of the boat.

Christopher M. Jones

Water sail

One curious adaptation was a water sail. At times when there was plenty of fresh running down the river, some boaters jury-rigged a tarpaulin with lines from each corner: two to the mast and two to the timber heads each side of the foredeck. Timber heads were a common fitting to Severn longboats, both fore and aft, and were used when being towed in trains behind a tug. The tarpaulin was then thrown into the water and, if all went well, offered resistance to the current and pushed the craft downstream. Steerage was helped by using a drag or pig anchor, an oar or sweep. Some boaters could make their own sweep by lashing a shovel to the end of a long shaft.

Owners

On the River Severn many of these craft were owned by carriers based at Gloucester and other towns and villages along its course. Some of these owners were River Severn and canal carriers, such as William Partridge & Co and H. Southan & Son, both of Birmingham and Gloucester. Independent owners operating one or just a few narrowboats were from Severnside towns and villages like Maisemore, Tewkesbury, Upton-onSevern and Worcester. Some were involved in the Droitwich salt traffic, and one that stands out was Mark Hale of Grove, near Wantage, on the Wilts & Berks Canal. He loaded salt for destinations along that canal or the Kennet & Avon and the River Thames. His main route was down the Severn by sail if conditions prevailed, then along the Thames and Severn route by horse haulage to the North Wilts Canal at Latton near Cricklade, and then on to the junction with the Wilts & Berks at Swindon.

A number of narrowboats plying the Bristol Avon between Bath and Bristol were fitted with mast and sails. One carrier in particular was Aurelius John Drewe of Queen Street Wharf, St Phillips, Bristol, who ran fly-boats to London via the Kennet & Avon Canal. A number of his narrowboats had a mast, shrouds and a sail.

On the River Trent, several owners of cuckoo boats made use of sail power, including the Clifton family of Gringleyon-the-Hill near Bawtry. At one point they regularly bought coal from one of the collieries on the Chesterfield Canal and transported it along the Trent from West Stockwith upstream to Torksey, then from the junction with the Fossdyke on to Lincoln. They proceeded along the River Witham to Boston, where the boats were breasted-up and made the passage across the Wash to the mouth of the River Welland. Here they had to wait for high tide for the final leg of the trip to Spalding. In order to safely navigate the tidal waters of the Wash, poles were lashed across the pair to make them stable and so prevent any danger of capsizing in the waves. The passage was either towed or by mast and sail power with the assistance of a pilot.

Long-distance traffic slowly decreased and boats undertook shorter trips with less need to travel on rivers; that, together with the increased use of tugs and motor boats on rivers and canals, meant that these old techniques of using sail power faded away. But it does show that the narrowboaters of the 19th century were far more adventurous and skilled than their 20th-century descendants.

This early photo of a pair of narrowboats under sail shows them approaching Throstlenest Lock on the Mersey & Irwell Navigation, probably in the 1880s. This lock was demolished during the building of the Manchester Ship Canal in the early 1890s. These craft are heading towards Manchester, perhaps after a delivery of coal, and are typical Bridgewater-type narrowboats, being built with six-plank-deep sides and substantial timberheads ideal for river work, with the nearest craft carrying a tall mast and very large sail made specially for that purpose. This suggests the boats were regular visitors to the Mersey & Irwell as the large sail would be advantageous on this wide navigation.

Canal & River Trust Waterways Archive

Barges and a small minority of narrowboats used sails, and this rare image shows that Leeds & Liverpool Canal short boats also exploited wind power when conditions were suitable.

The boat has just left the Castleford Cut through Bulholme Lock into the navigable River Aire on the Aire & Calder Navigation. In the background is the viaduct carrying the Leeds & Castleford Branch of the North East Railway. The short boat has a square sail set from a mast mounted in a lutchet, which is billowing nicely, and is held in place with sheets and braces so as to drive the craft forward. The fresh running down the river looks quite strong, so the steerer has put the tiller hard over with a couple of men with shafts assisting as they head towards the towpath side.