A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. There was no standardisation of tub boat size between different canals, but a typical English tub boat canal might have used boats around long and wide and generally carried to of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to . They are also called compartment boats or container boats. The main virtue of tub boats was their flexibility. They could be drawn in trains of 3-10 or more boats using horse power, or later steam tugs, where the number of boats was varied according to the type of cargo. Tubs could be lifted more easily than larger boats and tub boat lifts and

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

s were developed as an alternative to

canal lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a chamber in a permanently fixed position i ...

s, particularly in or near a colliery or similar industrial works. At a lift the train could easily be divided, the boats lifted individually, and the train reassembled afterwards. Sometimes the boats used snug-fitting non-waterproof inner containers which could be more easily lifted out. Because of their small size, the canals that were built for tub boats could also be smaller, saving considerable construction cost. Tub_boat_at_Blist_Hill

The first use of tub boats in England was on the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, Greater Manchester, Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was ...

. Other notable uses were on the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

and the

Bude Canal The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Cornwall and Devon border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser. The Bude Canal system was one of the most unusual ...

. One tub-boat is preserved in the Blists Hill Victorian Town museum. It was rescued from a farm in 1972, where it was in use as a water tank. Before its discovery, it was thought that all tub boats on the Shropshire Canal were made of wood. In later years, larger versions of tub boats included the Tom Pudding on the Aire and Calder Canal and the

Hargreave barge Hargreave may refer to: * Charles James Hargreave Charles James Hargreave (4 December 1820 – 23 April 1866) was an English judge and mathematician. Life The eldest son of James Hargreave, woollen manufacturer, he was born at Wortley, Le ...

used on the same waterway.

List of tub boat canals

, Cornwall * Chard Canal, Somerset * Cyfarthfa Canal, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales * Donnington Wood Canal, East Shropshire * Dukart's Canal, Tyrone, Northern Ireland *

Grand Western Canal The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal ...

, Devon * Ketley Canal, East Shropshire * Lydney Canal, Gloucestershire * Shropshire Canal, East Shropshire * Tavistock Canal, Devon * Torrington Canal, Devon * Wombridge Canal, East Shropshire

References

{{reflist Boat types Canals in the United Kingdom

List of tub boat canals

See also

References