Registration number 1647
Status Registered
adminnhs

Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Narrow Boat
Location Northwich
Vessel type Narrowboat - Butty Star Class
Current use Ongoing conservation
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No

Construction

Builder Harland & Wolff Ltd, Woolwich
Built in 1935
Hull material Steel
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Motor
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Inboard
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
6.98 feet (2.13m)
Depth
4.00 feet (1.22m)
Length: Overall
45.00 feet (13.72m)

History

ACHILLES was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd., at Woolwich, in November 1935 and was commissioned by the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company. She was a 70ft 'Star' class narrowboat butty, designed to work as a pair, and was inherited by British Waterways in 1948. After 1965, ACHILLES was purchased by the Birmingham & Midland Canal Carrying Company and used to carry cargo alongside the motor COLLINGWOOD until the 1970s. 

Between 2015-2021, under the ownership of the boat restorer Roger Farrington, ACHILLES was cut in half and converted into two separate motor vessels at Braunston Marina.  The stern end of the vessel - still called ACHILLES - is now a 45ft small Woolwich tug and has been fully restored as of 2021, with a new stern, new base plate, all rotted steel replaced, and completely refitted interior.  

Update, February 2025: Under new ownership. 

Key dates

  • 1935

    Built by Harland & Wolf at Woolwich, London as a Star Class Butty boat for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co Fleet

  • 1935 - 1947

    Worked with a motorboat as a commercial cargo-carrying pair

  • 1948

    Inherited by the British Transport Commission

  • 1948 - 1965

    Continued working with a motorboat as a commercial cargo-carrying pair

  • 1965

    Bought by Birmingham & Midland Canal Carrying Company

  • 1956 - 1970s

    Continued use in traditional cargo trade with motor Collingwood

  • 1970s

    Interior converted for camping

  • 2005

    Vessel in care of and livery of Birmingham Canal Boat Services Ltd, a successor to the Birmingham & Midland Canal Carrying Company.  Restoration not yet started

  • 2012

    Ownership unknown

Sources

Alan H Faulkner, The George & the Mary (1973) pub: Robert Wilson
Waterways World (October, 1999, pp50-54)

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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