Name Bream

BREAM is a narrow boat, built for Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. by W. J. Yarwood & Sons Ltd. at Northwich. Her British Waterways index number was 053621 and her fleet number was 130. She was registered at Birmingham. Her hull is made of coppered steel, lined with pitch pine planking in the style of a 'Josher' with a pointed bow. Her current engine is an inboard Lister diesel HA2, with two cylinders and twenty-two horsepower, made in 1953.

BREAM was the first of the Fish Class of single motors. She carried up to 32 tons and is believed to have broken all records for the fastest runs, fully laden. She was part of a special fleet of fast express boats, each with a hold two feet longer than the standard motors, enabling them to carry twenty-five tons easily. They could be more flexible and offer an express service in response to increasing competition from rail and road. The new design was approved in 1931 and in July the following year, BREAM was ordered as the prototype vessel. She was aptly nicknamed the MAURETANIA by the crew after the Blue Ribband Cunard liner of the time and carried wheat grain and flour amongst other cargoes.

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. She had a new bottom and stern, with a full length steel cabin containing exceptional steel work and recessed panels, sign-written in Fellows, Morton and Clayton livery. She was fitted with a traditional Lister HA2 and a new PRM gearbox. After several years, BREAM was sold to Roger Murray who based her at Bollington on the Macclesfield Canal. She was later bought by Martin Knott from Corwen and moved to Ellesmere Port for two years, before being purchased by the Roberts family.