Part I: ALTHOUGH no longer seen in such great numbers gliding along the still waters of Ireland’s inland waterways, boats and canal barges in particular still hold a fascination for even the most fervent “land lubber”.
Naas with its inland harbour has a proud history of barges going back over 200 years or more. Canal barges with their introduction in the early 1700’s had seen early success, followed by a sharp decline with the advent of rail and road transport and finally in more modern times a resurrection as pleasure boats. Their history tells a fascinating story.
The original canal barges in the late 1700’s were horse drawn wooden boats. There were a few steam tugs towing barges across lakes and along the rivers. In the late 1880’s horse boats had a crew of three. There was a captain, a deck hand and a horseman. One was at the bow (or at regular intervals down below cooking meals), one at the rudder and the third on the bank with the horses.
The captain’s quarters were at the stern of the boat with one bed and a closed fi re. The crew’s quarters were at the bow and this room had two beds and a pot-bellied stove. Many of the animals used to pull the boats had previously been pulling either trams or dairy carts in the city of Dublin. The horses were treated well with a special collar. They had fresh grass and oats from full nose bags at all meals and plenty of fresh water. They were often later sold to farmers. A typical journey was the “Three Day Trick”. Leave Tullamore early Monday morning.
Arrive Dublin Wednesday morning. Unload cargo which would be about fifty tonnes. Typical cargo to Dublin was malt, wiskey and grain. Then reload before leaving Wednesday evening with a cargo of general provisions and Guinness to arrive at Tullamore on the Saturday. The average speed of a typical horse drawn boat was about four miles per hour.
The Grand Canal Company boats were identified by numbers starting at one and by 1870 this number had reached one thousand when a new series was started again beginning at one. However, the identification system for canal boats then changed and one might be forgiven for asking what is the significance today when one sees, for example the 55M, the 103B or a barge called the “Jarra”.
This change occurred with the onset of the internal combustion engine in the early 1900’s. The system started with thirty converted horse drawn boats being given the letter M to add to their numerical identification. The Grand Canal Co in 1925 ordered the building of a new fleet of custom built steel motor canal boats.
The first was the 31M and was built by the Ringsend Dockland Co at a cost of £1000. Between 1925 and 1939 forty eight barges were built, most by Ringsend Dockland Co and Vickers (Ire) Ltd. What was to become a trademark of motorised canal boats was their unique engine called “the Bolinder”.
PART TWO NEXT WEEK