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A flatiron is a type of coastal trading vessel designed to pass under bridges that have limited clearance. Her mast(s) are hinged or telescopic, her funnel may be hinged, and her wheelhouse may also fold flat.
Flatirons were developed in the UK in the latter part of the 19th century. Most were colliers built to bring coal from North East England and South Wales to
''Industrial Archaeology'', edition 147
Ship types Merchant ships History of the River Thames Transport in London
A flatiron is a type of coastal trading vessel designed to pass under bridges that have limited clearance. Her mast(s) are hinged or telescopic, her funnel may be hinged, and her wheelhouse may also fold flat.
Flatirons were developed in the UK in the latter part of the 19th century. Most were colliers built to bring coal from North East England and South Wales to gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space.
Early gasworks
Coal ...
and power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many ...
s on the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
that were upriver from the Pool of London.
Development
Until the middle of the 20th century flatirons were built with triple-expansion steam engines. The largest steam flatirons were more than 1,550 gross register tons. The last steam-powered flatirons were built in the 1950s. By the middle of the 1940s flatironmotor ship
A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V.
Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by th ...
s with marine diesel engine
Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electri ...
s were being built. The largest motor flatirons were more than 1,870 GRT and more than 2,800 deadweight tons
Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provis ...
.
Fleets
Some of Stephenson Clarke and Associates' fleet were flatirons. William Cory and Son's fleet included at least one flatiron. The Gas Light and Coke Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serve its gasworks at Fulham and Nine Elms. The London Power Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serveBattersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) ...
. The Metropolitan Borough of Fulham
The Metropolitan Borough of Fulham was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith to form the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was a riverside ...
had a flatiron fleet to serve Fulham Power Station
Fulham Power Station was a coal-fired power station on the north bank of the River Thames at Battersea Reach in Fulham, London
Station A ran from 1901, with station B opening in 1936, until their decommissioning in 1978.
History Fulham A
Th ...
. The Wandsworth and District Gas Company
The Wandsworth and District Gas Company was a maker and distributor of coal gas in southwest London from 1834 until 1949.
History
The Wandsworth gasworks was built in 1834 on the Surrey bank of the River Thames near Wandsworth Bridge. Its supplie ...
had a flatiron fleet to serve Wandsworth Gasworks.
When Britain nationalised its electricity suppliers in 1948 and gas suppliers in 1949, the new British Electricity Authority (later the Central Electricity Authority
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a r ...
), North Thames Gas Board
The North Thames Gas Board was an autonomous state-owned utility area gas board providing gas for light and heat to industries, commercial premises and homes in south-east England. The board's area of supply, encompassing , included parts of ...
and South Eastern Gas Board
The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council.
History
From the early 19th centur ...
all inherited flatiron fleets from their predecessor companies. North Thames Gas had one diesel flatiron built in 1949 and the SEGB continued to have diesel flatirons built until 1956.
Decline
After the middle of the 1960s the need for flatirons started to decline. In 1966 gas suppliers started to convert from coal gas to North Sea natural gas, so that by the early 1970s coal gas gasworks were being closed and demolished. Secondly theCentral Electricity Generating Board
The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s.
It was established on 1 Janua ...
reconfigured its generating capacity with small numbers of larger, more modern power stations away from the centre of London, which led to the decommissioning of Battersea A power station in 1975, Fulham Power Station in 1978 and Battersea B Power Station in 1983. By the mid-1980s the need to carry thousands of tons of coal on the Thames above the Pool of London had ceased.
Redundant flatirons were sold to private shipping companies who used them as conventional coasters. By the middle of the 1970s several had ended up with Greek or Cypriot owners. One, the SEGB's MV ''Kingston'' (1956), was renamed ''Tsimention'' in 1971 and survived until 1983 when she was broken up.
References
Further reading
*{{cite book , last=Duff , first=Peter , year=1949 , title=British Ships and Shipping, A Survey of modern Ship Design and Shipping Practice , place=London , publisher= George G. Harrap and Co.External links
''Industrial Archaeology'', edition 147
Ship types Merchant ships History of the River Thames Transport in London