Name Atilla

ATILLA started life in 1906, as composite Fellows, Morton and Clayton Butty NORWAY. NORWAY was built at Saltley, near Birmingham and was one of several butties named after countries. Its josher fleet number was 111 and was registered in Birmingham No 1165. Originally NORWAY was 70ft long, 7ft wide and horse drawn. By the 1920s it would have been paired with a diesel powered motor narrow boat or more rarely a steamer. During the war in the early 1940s it was sold to Messers, Boots of Nottingham. NORWAY was bought by Malcolm Braine and In 1968 the Lorenz Brothers- Roger and Paul bought it with the plan for Malcolm to make it into a 57 foot boat so they could explore the whole of the waterways.

Malcolm cut it into two bits and the bow end was made into 57ft ATILLA while the Stern end became NORWIND. The Lorenz Brothers fitted ATILLA out and installed a National 2DM engine then ran it as a pleasure/working boat, exploring the inland waterways system. It then became a liveaboard for Paul. In 1974 the Lorenz brothers converted ATILLA into a trip boat and it worked on the Bridgewater Canal from Worsley for 16 years. 

After sinking and falling into disrepair Paul Lorenz took over sole ownership of ATILLA in 1994, and it lay in the back of Bedford Basin on the Bridgewater Canal until it was craned out into Bedford Basin yard in 2008 and over the following 9 years substantial work was done to the whole of her. Steel bottom plates were fitted, a new swim and cabin sides then she was relaunched in May 2017. The traditional back cabin fit out was completed by Steve Kelly at Ashton Packet Boat Co, Audenshaw on the Ashton Canal between August and December 2017 and then the main cabin conversion was completed at Bedford Basin. Paul rebuilt and fitted a 1933 lister 18-2 diesel engine. Fit out and paint job completed, since 2024 she has become the Lorenz family’s pleasure boat.