Spring and Summer issues

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Winter 2022

A few comments on the Spring and Summer 2022 issues of NB. The drawing in Chris Jones’s article of a Coventry Canal boat in ‘Looking into the Distance’ (NB Summer 2022) is based on Lt Swoboda’s drawings, done when he visited England with Maillard in 1795. The text with the original (now in the Austrian National Archives AT-OeStA/AVA PKF Ps1/1766) suggests that this type of single-ended rounded-stern narrowboat with cabin was for long-distance general cargo boats, while the coal-boat shown on page 11 was double-ended to avoid having to wind the boat. The former, on page 16, had a curved stern post, while the latter, on page 11, had a straight one. Maillard was impressed with the coal wharf in Birmingham, shown on page 12, as was Johann Ludwig Hogrewe, who included a sketch and plan in his 1780 book on English canals. I am currently working on a translation, which will hopefully be ready for publication soon. The inset map in Richard Dean’s article on Wigan…