Name Bream

This is the Bow section of the original BREAM, with the Stern section found here.

BREAM was built in 1932 as a Fish Class narrow boat by W. J. Yarwood & Sons Ltd of Northwich for Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. Her hull was built of coppered steel, unlike other Fish Class vessels, lined with pitch pine planking in the style of a 'Josher' with a pointed bow. Her British Waterways index number was 053621 and her fleet number was 130. She was registered at Birmingham. Her original engine would have been a Bolinder 9hp BM type.

The Fish Class of single motors, carrying up to 32 tons, was designed as a special fleet of fast express boats, each with a hold two feet longer than the standard motors, enabling them to carry 25 tons easily. They could be more flexible and offer an express service in response to increasing competition from rail and road. 

BREAM was the first built, ordered as the prototype vessel, and was aptly nicknamed the MAURETANIA by the crew after the Blue Ribband Cunard liner of the time. She is believed to have broken all records for the fastest runs, fully laden.

In the late 1960s, BREAM was cut into two halves. The 55’ Bow section was given a squared-off stern and was used for maintenance on the Coventry Canal and eventually abandoned. In the late 1980s, this section was bought by K Ball of Industry Narrowboats, who restored her to her original length and fitted her with a new steel bottom and stern, as well as with a full-length steel cabin containing exceptional steel work and recessed panels, sign-written in Fellows, Morton and Clayton livery. At this time, she was fitted with an inboard Lister diesel HA2, with two cylinders and twenty-two horsepower, made in 1953.

Work completed in 1994, and BREAM has been used as a continuously cruising liveaboard since 1999. At some point, BREAM was sold to R Murray who based her at Bollington on the Macclesfield Canal. She was later bought by M Knott from Corwen and moved to Ellesmere Port for two years, before being purchased by the Roberts family.

In the late 1980s, BREAM’S hull was bought by Keith Ball of Industry Narrowboats. Over a period of four years, he gradually restored her to original condition. By 1994, she was complete. In 1999, she was purchased by her current owner, who has lived aboard her ever since.