NB Towy ----
Narrow Boat Towy
(Built by Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd at Uxbridge in 1938)
The narrow boat Towy was built by
Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd at Uxbridge in 1938, one of a batch of eight
new motor boats designed to work between Stanlow Oil Refinery on the
Manchester Ship Canal and the Midlands.
Like her sisters, the
NB Towy was named after British rivers, the 'T' names signifying craft
built or acquired in that year; other 1938 craft included
Tweed, Tay and Tees, while
the 1937 boats included the 'S' craft
Stour and Spey). The batch was
completed in 1939 with the two 'U' boats
Usk and
Umea.
As a result of this
restructuring, the well-known firm of Fellows, Morton & Clayton was brought
into existence, while Claytons became specialist bulk-liquid carriers; in
1904, the firm was incorporated as Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd. Claytons
were strangely reluctant to introduce motor boats - possibly because horses
were regarded as a safer form of motive power when dealing with volatile
cargoes (although the boats were of course equipped with coal-burning
ranges). However, as mentioned above, a fleet of eight motor boats was
commissioned in the late 1930s, and several former horse boats, including
the Ribble, Pearl and
Severn, were subsequently fitted
with diesel engines.
Claytons' craft could be
distinguished by their 'flat-topped' appearance, their fully decked holds
forming a tank for fuel oil or other liquids.
These distinctive canal boats
were known colloquially as 'gas boats', 'tar boats' or 'oil boats', and it
is interesting to note that such names were associated with particular
stretches of canal. On the Shropshire Union, for example, the term oil boats
was most commonly used - whereas on the Oxford Canal Claytons' canal tankers
were more normally called gas boats. The late John Jinks of Middlewich, who
was born on the Eden and later worked the motor boat
Spey and the butty Holston,
always referred to the Claytons fleet as 'oil boats', whereas Roger Wickson
recalled that, in his experience, they were invariably described as 'gas
boats'.
These eight boats were
owned by Thomas Clayton Ltd, specialists in the carriage of liquid cargoes.
Claytons could trace their origins back to 1842, when William Clayton
(1818-1882) started a canal-carrying business. The firm carried a wide range
of goods, including coal, timber and general merchandise, as well as tar,
creosote and other liquid cargoes. Thomas Clayton (1857-1927), who inherited
the firm from his father, developed the bulk liquid side of the business to
a much greater extent than had hitherto been the case and, in 1889 the firm
sold its general carrying business to Messrs Fellows, Morton & Company.
This difference in
nomenclature reflects the varying cargos carried by Claytons' boats. The
NB Towy was an 'oil boat' for many years, carrying loads of up to 19
tons of fuel oil from Stanlow to Langley Green, and taking about three days
for the 80 mile trip. It was the custom for Claytons boats to work in pairs,
and the NB Towy usually worked with the 1930 butty
Kubina. These two boats were home
for the Berridge family - Mr & Mrs Leslie Berridge and their six children.
The long-distance oil traffic ended in 1955, and
NB Towy thereafter became a 'day
boat', taking loads of tar from Birmingham area gasworks to the works of
Midland Tar Distillers at Oldbury
Claytons withdrew from canal
operations in 1966. It has often been said that the introduction of North
Sea Gas finally killed the gas works traffic but the chronology of natural
gas discovery and utilisation does not entirely support this theory - in
fact, the change from coal to oil fuel in many local gas works, together
with the building of the M5 Motorway through Claytons' depot at Oldbury were
far more important factors.
THE 'PRESERVATION ERA'
The next ten years are rather shadowy; it is known that, after being sold by
Claytons, the Narrow Boat Towy passed through
the hands of at least six other owners, one of whom is reputed to have been
an engine enthusiast who took out the original 15 hp Bolinder and installed
a specially adapted National engine. Finally, the boat was purchased by its
present owners in May 1978 - by which time the forty-year-old craft was in a
very sorry condition, with no cabin or deck planking. Worse than this,
however, the entire-front end was disintegrating, and obviously needed
complete rebuilding. Fortunately the stern was in better condition, having
been partially-rebuilt by Malcolm Webster in 1977. 
Initial restoration work
centred on the rebuilding of the cabin, and several people were involved in
this task, including Stewart Shuttleworth (a leading member of the group
which had purchased the boat), John Wessall and Roy Dutton. With a temporary
canvas 'tent' in lieu of proper mast and stands, the boat was now ready for
summer use and, in the next few years, the
Narrow Boat Towy was taken out on numerous outings - often navigating the
Shropshire Union main line which had been so familiar to her during her
working life. The boat was, at this time, based mainly at Preston Brook -
though Gas Street Basin in the centre of Birmingham sometimes provided a
second 'home' during the summer months.
For a time, the boat sported
an anonymous 'Dreadnought grey' livery, which provided no clue to her former
ownership or working history. In 1982, the name and former Claytons Fleet
number (93) were applied to the portside, and it was amazing to find that
people remembered the boat from the days of the 'oil run', and would often
come forward with anecdotes of the Old Days. The sign-writing was completed
in the summer of 1983 but, more importantly, the front end had been
completely rebuilt by Malcolm Webster during the winter of 1982-83, and the
boat was relaunched at Middlewich, with much ceremony, in February 1983. 
The rebuilt bow section
was an accurate reproduction of a Claytons front end. However, an important,
and indeed controversial decision had been taken, insofar as the
Narrow Boat Towy was fitted-out as a general cargo boat with proper mast and
stands. Purists objected strongly to this decision, claiming that the boat
'should' have been fully decked in the Claytons style. If this had been
done, the boat could not have been used for camping or general
cargo-carrying, as there would have been insufficient headroom within the
decked hold.