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The 'Ampton BoatsThanks to the Editor of the Shropshire Union Canal Society for permission to reprint this article which first appeared in "Cuttings" in 1969. How many canal devotees have heard of the 'Ampton Boats ? Weaver Flats, Leeds and Liverpool lighters, narrow boats in general, the Wherries and Scows, all these craft are peculiar to thier own localities and spring to mind readily. But 'Ampton Boats were Black Country craft and belonged to one stretch of water only. Having amassed a considerable amount of canal literature over the years, written by writers who have delved into caneals, the craft that are and were used on them, and who have recorded all sorts of data about the cut, I have yet to find any mention of the 'Ampton Boats in any publication. The Birmingham Canal Navigations formed the busiest canal network in the country, but the traditional narrow boat was comparatively rarely seen. It was the Day Boats, the coal boats in their hundreds that made these waters the busiest in the land. Whilst the narrow boat with lovely lines was the thoroughbred of the canal, the day boat was the workhorse. The dispised day boat, with blunter lines, scarred woodwork and minimuim of fancy paintwork. The boat's name and that of the owner might well be recorded in good quality lettering, but the woodwork was intended to be covered by 'gas tar'. You will note that I have not used the word 'tar' on its own.All boaties used the term 'gas tar' and if, on occasions, anyone wanted to tar a chicken pen or pigsty, a trip to the nearby docks of Peter Keay or Joe Worsey was made. Each dock that built day boats made a slight variation in the shape of the 'fore end'. The generous sloping curve of the narrow boat was avoided, but the blunt bows might be slightly more pointed or have a higher nose. A discerning eye could well nigh tell the dock at which a boat was built by the shape of the fore end. But to return to 'Ampton Boats'. As boats passed each other, the question would be asked - "Am yo tyin' uo at 'Ampton ternight?" To the uninitiated 'Ampton was the boatie's name for Wolverhampton. It was and is on the top level. From Factory Junction at Tipton on the to the Wyrley and Essington at Horsley Fields and right through to the Cannock Arm there are no locks and this was the stretch that the 'Ampton Boats were built for. Wider and quite a bit longer than the ordinary day boats, they could carry 45 tons of coal. On occasions boatmen would brag of the 50 tons they had drawn, though I never saw a 50 ton load myself. The boats were too big to pass through the locks of the district and plied simply between the Cannock Pits and the coal wharves at Wolveerhampton. As a boy, I stood in awe of these monsters; they were easily recognised, the fore end having a very rounded nose. To see the fore end silently emerge from aa bridge hole was to me a menacing sight. The all black -tarred rounded end, gliding with scarely a ripple into view meant only one thing - an 'Ampton boat. Even the boatmen who worked them seemed more taciturn, a breed apart, aware of the fact that they had an 'Ampton boat, above the lesser boaties who worked the common or garden thirty tonners. At this time I had never been to Wolverhampton along the cut. I knew that the right fork was taken at Birchills Junction and left at the Sneyd Junction through Roughwood Coppice, Short Heath and Lane Head but after that 'Ampton was a magical canal destination. To manoeuvre these boats, an addition was made to the normal helm. Black Country boatries always called it the "hellum" without the aitch of course. A baby helm or "babby 'ellum" to give it the correct name" was a piece of wood roughly a foot square, with a piece of wood nailed of either side of it which formed a fork. The fork slotted over the trailing edge of the ordinary helm, which then enabled a greater area of water to act on the helm. This was invaluable on some of the tighter turns that had to be negotiated. Knowing what it was like emptying an ordinary day boat, I was grateful that I never had to shovel out of an 'Ampton boat. This impatience of youth pictured an endless slog with a shovel, which indeed it must have been. There comes a time, whilst unloading a coal boat by hand, when no progress seems to be made on the horrible black stuff. Eventually however, as the boat rises out of the water and the end is in sight, renewed vigour overtakes the mechanical motions. How these men could shovel coal hour after hour, day in day out, boat after boat, is still a mystery to me. At one stage during the war when labour was difficult to come by, I can well remember three men working two 'Ampton boats. One short line was spliced into the long line and two horses used, one behind the other, with a short rope or 'strap' about twenty feet long, between the boats. Periodically the men changed places so that they each in turn took a hand with the horses. It would be safe to say that very few canal enthusiasts have steered a fuly laden coal boat, much less an 'Ampton boat. A power boat or cruiser has the surge or water from the propeller acting on the rudder. This swings the stem end about very quickly and with little effort. But the horse drawn day boat, blunt bowed and with the mast set back for roughly a quater of the boat's lenght, had no help whatsoever, and getting the boat around tight, right angled junctions was one long maul. So it paid to steer straight; to get off a good line not only meant heavy work at the tiller but the risk of getting on the bottom - and that meant a lot of hard work with the shaft. Perhaps even the horse would have to be brought back to pull the boat off, meaning loss of time; and time was money to the boatie. An epitaph to the 'Ampton boat story. A few weeks ago (in 1969 when this was written) I saw the only one that I am aware of that still is in one piece. In the Anglesey loading Basin behind Chasewater, which used to be simply called Norton Pool, an old 'Ampton boat lies sunk, its one side awash, and the cabin almost stripped. How many thousands of tons of good Cannock Chase coal had this veteran caried, how many years had it plied the top level cut to Wolverhampton? A wistful thought crossed my mind as I strolled away. It was no longer the menacing boat of my boyhood days, it had once lived but now the last 'Ampton boat was dead. Postscript At least one 'Ampton boat does survive, at the Black Country Living Museum, preserved under water until some benefactor comes along with a substantail sum of money to raise and preserve it ! | ||||||||||||||||
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