A message from the Chairman

Dear Friends,

Firstly may I wish everybody a happy and prosperous 1991. For 'President' it looks like being another very exciting year.

Before we look at this year's plans, I would like to look back on last year. I am sure you will agree 1990 was the best year with 'President' since she came to the Black Country Living Museum. We covered well over 900 miles, went through hundreds of locks, and had hundreds of photo's taken of us. A very big thankyou to everyone who made this possible, workers on the refit, crews on the trips, the support boat, and the support of people at home. I must also mention fund raisers and people who donated towards the new boiler. 'President' is an expensive boat so if anyone has any ideas on fund raising please let us know. We are always looking for Sponsors for journeys so if you can find anyone who may help it will be appreciated.

'President' is now resting in its winter home under Broad Street bridge at the museum. Some work will be needed before this year's season. The engineers are planning a few changes in the Black-ole. This involves taking that part of the cabin off again - when it is replaced we are hoping for a complete cabin repaint. The cloths need re-blacking and the lettering will then need repainting. Working parties will be held in February and March.

All the work will need to be done by March 24th as we hope to start this year's boating programme with a visit to the Working Boat Gathering at the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port at Easter. So far we are planning to attend the following events:

March 29th - April 1st	Working Boat Gathering
April 6th - 7th	Etruscan Bone & Flint Mill Museum opening Etruria
May 4th - 6th	British Coal Steam Heritage Awards, Black Country Living Museum
May 15th - 19th	Visit to Waterways Museum, Stoke Bruerne
May 23rd - 25th	FLY RUN London - Braunston
May 25th - 27th	Braunston Boat Show
August 24th - 26th	National Waterways Festival Windmill End

In addition to this, we have been asked by Ian Walden to steam the boat fairly regularly at the museum at weekends.

I think this has gone on long enough, enjoy this edition of "195". Thankyou Keith and Tony for your hard work. I look forward to seeing as many people as possible in '91.

David Powell Chairman

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"But I don't regret it"...

Q: Who said these words on July 20th this year?

A: No, not James Brindley, but you're nearly there...

Q: What do enterprising boatwomen do after an unveiling ceremony?

A: They go and find Malcolm Braine...

Even with an appointment it's still tricky finding Mr Braine. He may have retired from his yard at Norton Canes, but Wharf Cottage, although his home, rarely sees him. He's incredible; recently retired, still enthusiastic, still sought after for surveying and inspecting boats and still not ready to write his book..... However, he had rashly, but willingly agreed to be interviewed by us for F.O.P.. So, farewell James Brindley - hello Malcolm Braine.

His original tender form from BW shows that five other "defunct to requirements" vessels were bought... "on the same go" and along with 'President' were "Holland" and "Willow" - all in a certain blue and yellow livery. It seems incredible, but in those halcyon days of '73... "we sent a tow and fetched them all in at the same time." They were virtually all down - not sunk like the Mary Rose, but 'President'.. "had a lot of water in her..." She was wallowing well in the Weaver! She didn't actually sink on the way back either - "we just pumped her out a few times and she came in well." (No matter how hard I pushed for details, that's all he would say about such a historic/traumatic journey! - JT) She cost £1376 + 10% Vat from BWB in 1973.

So, you've got an old boat on your yard - what do you do with her? Starting from scratch, you try to find a boiler. "Remember I was a novice at this steam lark. Build a boat, repair a boat - but steam - well I was learning fast!"

Boiler No. 1::   "I found in a scrap yard in Shrewsbury. A marine engine, but it was a bad buy as it proved to be impractical to repair it. However, it was sold to the Dorothea Restoration Society and they did restore it - eventually."

"There was a super chap in Bristol called George Watkins. He was at Bath University and had the most complete listing of steam installations in Great Britain. No. 1 boiler was identified as a turn of the century boiler by him. He was a fund of kindly advice, which he willingly gave, and at his own expense. He put me in touch with Philip Weaver who turned out to be another bastion of help."

"We had a boiler which wasn't any good, so we started working on the boat and I got involved with the search for the engine. We found this one - we must have travelled miles - and we paid £1150. It was a strip and rebuild job. However, it was worth doing as it was the type of engine we were looking for, albeit, a bit underpowered. But it was about 1908, so was the right age. It cost a lot of money to rebuild and then we continued to search for another boiler."

Boiler No. 2::   It was on offer and the only snag was that it was in a boat. The "Leviathan" (picture in "195" No.17) was on the Kennet & Avon - it was a funny old boat (complete with chickens). It had been built originally for the canal navigations but how it got down on to the K & A I don't know. Anyway, it had this boiler, with a Board of Trade ticket and insurance. The boiler had been re-tubed on its previous job - at the GWR Yard at Swindon.

"I was cock-a-hoop, but they wouldn't sell it to me... so I had to buy the whole boat! After that, it was simple: I organised a lorry and a crane so we could take the cabin off, strip off the pumps and boiler, and they were on their way to Norton Caines." (This is the one F.O.P. has just replaced. In addition to the boiler, the Worthington-Simpson twin horizontal and a Hall vertical single cylinder pump were transferred to 'President').

Ref WW Sept 1979 article by Nicholas Bostock

The "Leviathan" was left on the K & A and eventually sold off which reduced our losses a bit. "And that was it - we'd got a boat." It was the end of 1976 and we'd got a working boat.

It wasn't as easy as that of course; we had a lot of cooperation from the Board (BWB). George Watkins approved this boiler. We had the certificate and the agreed price for the "Leviathan" was £2250. We also had a lot of fun "Fiddling around". We spent 3 years "Fiddling around" and in all that time, the thing I remember most is the incredible amount of freely given help from the 'steam community'. Once they got to know about her, they kept calling in and 'finding' bits in their back shed that were just right, or said "I know where you can get that". It's a sad reflection that this marvelous attitude "doesn't always occur" in the waterways societies nowadays.

The support was quite, quite exceptional. George identified the boiler as a Muir & Findley of 1926. "I eventually managed to sell the hull of the "Leviathan" to a man in Stratford-upon-Avon for £900. The Crofton Society had been running the "Leviathan" as a passenger boat but they'd given up on grounds of inefficiency!"

The best people to make a propeller are Brunton's at Sudbury, so I got them to make a prop for us. They designed and made it for us at cost. Their principle designer was very kind to us - he was wonderful and put himself out no end. We actually paid them about £300, but the prop is still working on her today. I'd got an Eagle bottle stove and that went in and the front lamp came from the "Phoenix"... it all just gelled. I lost more money that I dare think on that project. I'm not fussed - I enjoyed doing it. It was a challenge and something I'd always wanted to do...

"and I don't regret it..."

Jennifer Thomas

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From the Papers

Express and Star November 6th 1982

Museum to get unique boat

Dudley's Black Country Living Museum may soon have the world's only steam-powered canal narrow boat.

Following the unexpected failure of the vessel, the President, to fetch a high price at a prestige auction near Brighton, the Museum's earlier bid of £19,000 looks like winning the prized possession.

Museum director Mr Ian Walden said: "We have agreed the price and we are hoping the deal can be signed and sealed within a fortnight. "Then we can turn our minds to the problem of how to get it to the Museum."

The President is owned by M.E.Braine, Boatbuilders, of Pelsall, and remains in the firm's Norton Canes docks in Lime Lane. It was built in Birmingham in 1909 and restored by Braines in 1978. It recently failed to reach the reserve price of £20,000 at an auction conducted by Christie's.

The Black Country Living Museum bid is possible because of a £15,000 contribution by West Midlands County Council, plus £4,000 from the Science Museum in London. Mr Walden said: "The arrangement is that we will be paying the management and running costs once we have The President. Just the cost of coal to fuel it can be up to £20 a day." He said the boat would be pressed into service - "We want it to go out and show the flag."

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New members of Friends of President

Welcome to the following new members who have joined Friends of President since September 1990.

Stephen Blades	Cotswold Canal Trust	Glenn Rothwell
Lionel Simpson

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Snippet: "The coal we burn"

The steam coal burnt on 'President' in 1990 was from the Deep Navigation mine at Treharris in South Wales.

After threat of closure Deep Navigation has been reprieved.

Coal mined here is very clean burning which is just what we need to keep the environmentalists happy, so long may Deep Navigation prosper.

A question arises, however, from the use of Deep Navigation coal during this year's boating - did any drivers find, in the bags of coal, any turkey bones, or empty cider cans?!!!

The 'K' Boats

The mention of 'K' class submarines in "195" resulted in the following comments from Mr W.R.Berwick:

1.:   The First Lord's 1913 quote, "The most fatal error..." Yes, he did say that. Problem was if the concept of a Fleet submarine was to be pursued the submarine would have to have an excess of speed of some 3 to 4 knots over the operational speed of the Battle-fleet - in 1916 some 21 knots. i.e. the subs needed a surface speed of about 24 knots. The diesel engined 'J' class intended as fleet submarines "could not exceed 19 knots." No German U-boat of W.W.1 achieved more than 17.5 knots. Not until 1932 did the R.N. have a sub., diesel-engined, capable of keeping up with the Battle-fleet (The 'Thames' class. Surface speed 22.5 knots, comparable in size to the 'K's.)

The concept of the fleet submarine was flawed: the possibility did not exist until the advent of the nuclear (steam driven!) submarine by which time (a) fleets did not exist as such (b) they now moved at 33 kts. Even the U.S. with large and fast fleet subs never used them as such in W.W.II. but confined their attacks largely as commerce raiders.

By May '14 Fisher accepted the necessity for steam-propulsion if his fleet submarine was to be built. (Fisher's other flawed concept was the battle-cruiser; its realisation cost the R.N. not 200 lives, but 5,000, but thats another story).

2.:   Building commenced in 1917. It didn't. K3 was commissioned in August '16 - so the class did see two year's war service.

3.:   The fact that the only torpedo (!) fired in anger failed to explode can hardly be blamed on the subs designer. Both German and U.S. navies suffered from poor performance from their torpedoes a quarter of a century later!

4.:   Many experts declared the 'K' class were obsolete. The book also noted (in the following sentence) "Other experts have regarded the 'K's as brilliant in conception and performance, years ahead of their time." (Incidently the original quote was "Some experts, probably the majority..."

5.:   More than two hundred men perished in them. Yes, they did, but any type of sub. so employed in close company with high-speed surface vessels by day and night would have been equally vulnerable. Of the eight 'K's lost, four were in collisions (two with other 'K's, two with surface vessels). I am not convinced that their steam-propulsion of itself was the major cause of their loss. Diesel-engined subs thus employed would scarcely have fared better.

Generalise:   For specific anti-U Boat activities, the 'R' class, smaller, safer, more manoeuverable than the 'K's arrived in 1918. Their surface speed was only 9.5 knots. Their underwater speed 15 knots, a reversal of the norm. According to statistics 35 Allied subs sank 18 U-boats, Q ships sank 9, 625 aircraf/blimps sank 6, 4,000 auxiliary craft sank 32 and 300 A/S sloops and destroyers sank 41. Torpedoes, bombs and depth charges were all inefficient.

Errors abound in naval writing. The most recent, in a 1072 page book about the U.S. sub. service, dismisses the 'K' class altogether. Writing in 1975 the author states "That same year (1909) the British launched D1... thereafter all British submarines were diesel powered." The 'K's did have a diesel engine of 600 hp as an auxiliary, hardly in the same class as the 10,500 hp turbines.

A sobering thought is that the modern nuclear-fuelled, steam-driven submarines, freed of fleets or any other impedimentia, operate independently, supreme loners and horrendously lethal. The 'K's were misused, the technology not then available to make their oil-fired boilers suitable for operation in an underwater craft.

On a lighter note, you've probably heard the anecdote, related to WW II, in which a sub. commander ordered to provide escort to a convoy sailing to Murmansk signalled to the senior Naval Officer, "Intend to remain on the surface as long as possible." The latter, from his cruiser's bridge, replied, "So do I."

W R Berwick

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Letters to the Editor - F.M.C. buttons.

101 Elim Estate,
Weston Street,
London SE1 4DD
25/4/90
       

Dear Mr Rogers, Thank you for your letter 20/1/90 and 'President' "195" Magazine. Write up for yours truly gave me ego an uplift. During (F.M.C.) searching I looked up the uniform trade for the 1880s. There were many in the London area. Most notably J.Compton & Sons. Later J Compton Sons & Webb. Also here in South London, Hobsons, S.E.!. Very old established firm. Having said that I believe the Buttons were made in Birmingham. Whilst uniforms galore in London its Buttons for me in Birmingham. Worth noting also that in New North Road N.1. (Just around the corner of Wharf Road) Claytons. Estate agents. Wishing you success in your ideal Donation for your "Wells Fargo" (Boiler).

Yours sincerely, G.J.Murfitt

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Trip report - Dudley to Gloucester for IWA National festival & return

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Steam Boat Association

Friends of President are now members of the Steam Boat Association. S.B.A. has over 800 hundred members and has the objective To foster and encourage steam boating and the building, development, preservation and restoration of steam boats and steam machinery. They keep a careful eye on current and future legislation, for which we should be grateful.

Their magazine "The Funnel" is published quarterly, and contains a mixture of technical articles, boat restoration details, boat histories, rally reviews, correspondence etc. Adverts range from boiler and engine manufacturers to boats and other steam jumble for sale.

Tony Millatt

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Trip report Windmill End to Dudley 1990

Boaters Gathering 1990

The Boaters Gathering is one of the big events in the Museum's calendar. A lot of the organisation is done by the Museum's Canal Panel (on which we are represented by David Powell) and a lot of work is put into it. The aim is to attract many working boats, and have a lot of activity, working cargo, moving boats etc. This year the weather added to the activity with a fairly wet weekend.

'President' was manned and steamed on both days, and on each day given an outing to Factory Junction. We also had a part cargo of timber, we had loaded at Harcros in Gloucester.

We started to unload the cargo at midday on Sunday, and were then asked to liven-up proceedings with a trip to Factory. With no members available, a scratch crew was assembled - Arthur Beaston ("Squire II"), John Glock from WRG, Hugo from "Paddington". and myself. They (with some help from the Canal Panel) were also persuaded to unload the wood and help me cloth-up afterwards.

Members helping at the weekend were Celia & John Byham, John Connett, Caroline and Andrew Laycock, Tony Millatt, Simon Nuttall, Maurice Parker, David Powell and Jennifer Thomas.

Tony Millatt

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Working Party November 3rd 1990

The last working party of the year, with a useful group of members helping. Boiler drained; hold and cabin cleared and the contents put into storage. Shutts raised. The boat was put alongside "Stour", under the shelter of Broad Street bridge.

Since then the Worthington Simpson has been disconnected, and sent on its way to Newark for reconditioning by its manufacturers.

Tony Millatt

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North Star

Nigel Jackson currently has the wooden icebreaker "North Star" on the dock at the museum. A lot of work is needed on the boat and for the moment it is hoped to replace some of the knees, and the gunwales.

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Museum buys "Stour"

The Black Country Living Museum has bought the wooden Thomas Clayton motor boat "Stour". Built in 1937 by F.M.C. at Uxbridge, she carried fuel oil and tar for Clayton's until 1966. Julie and Chris Lloyd bought "Stour" in 1978 and in 1981 virtually the back half of the boat was rebuilt on the Boat Dock at the B.C.M.. Now the front half of the boat is in need of the same treatment.

The boat has been bought with the aid of a £10,000 grant from Barclays Bank and a similar amount from the Science Museum. This means that enough money is available for her restoration, the plans for which are not yet settled. She will be an exhibit, both at the museum and around the canal system.

"Stour" is fitted with a 15hp Bolinder. There is an excellent article on the Lloyd's restoration of "Stour" in Waterways World December 1983.