Name Bream

This is the Stern section of the original BREAM, with the Bow 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 15’ Stern section was converted to a pusher tug/icebreaker by riveting the 30’ fore end of an LMS day boat. At this point, her original engine was replaced with her current engine, a more powerful Armstrong Siddeley AS3, but retained her original Bolinder fuel tanks. BREAM’s Stern section is one of the few survivors of boats that were specially created from earlier boats at a time when costs of new craft were prohibitive.