Name Perseverance

The narrow canal dredger PERSEVERANCE was built to an 1875 design and consists of a central platform and two side pontoons for stability.

She was built for the Grand Union Canal Company in 1934 by James Pollock & Sons of Millwall, with a 70 foot hull and a crane by Grafton of Bedford. She was used by the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co Ltd (as their Dredger No.14) to dredge the Basingstoke Canal for 20 years, before being passed to the British Waterways Board. On construction and equipping she cost £2451 and changed hands for £225 when purchased by the Basingstoke Canal.

She was then owned by the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust 1967-1974 and subsequently by Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society until 1993, before being acquired by the Boat Museum (now National Waterways Museum), Ellesmere Port, in 1995.

It was loaned to the K&A Trust for that restoration and then passed to S&HCS for use on the Basingstoke in 1974. It’s transport was funded by Watneys who were delighted to be ‘involved in this five year project’. The canal opened in 1991.

There was a bit of fuss later as it wasn’t theirs to transfer! (I worked with Mike Keighley, engineer Mechanical Services at the time but was also working on the Basingstoke Canal as a volunteer). Mike arranged the necessary administrative adjustments to validate the situation.

During the Basingstoke canal’s restoration the craft was almost exclusively fired by wood felled around the canal. The boiler was retubed upon its arrival at Colt Hill and again in the eighties.

It was fitted with a steam grab and ring grab. The latter was used for digging bridge holes. To ensure the craft could load mud hoppers alongside the jib was extended and counterweight increased accordingly. That may have been why a new king post had to be fitted. A ferodo lined clutch was also fitted at a latter point.

In 2006, funds were required for the dredger's restoration, to cover work to the hull and mechanical equipment.