Mayflower (tugboat)
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''Mayflower'' is a steam tug built in Bristol in 1861 and now preserved by Bristol Museums Galleries & Archives. She is based in
Bristol Harbour Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out per ...
at
M Shed M Shed is a museum in Bristol, England, located on Prince's Wharf beside the Floating Harbour in a dockside transit shed formerly occupied by Bristol Industrial Museum. The museum's name is derived from the way that the port identified each of i ...
(formerly
Bristol Industrial Museum The Bristol Industrial Museum was a museum in Bristol, England, located on Prince's Wharf beside the Floating Harbour and which closed in 2006. On display were items from Bristol's industrial past – including aviation, car and bus manufactur ...
). She is the oldest Bristol-built ship afloat, and is believed to be the oldest surviving tug in the world.


Building

''Mayflower'' was built by GK Stothert & Co, who were connected with the Bath-based engineering company
Stothert & Pitt Stothert & Pitt was a British engineering company founded in 1855 in Bath, England. It was the builder of various engineering products ranging from Dock cranes to construction plant and household cast iron items. It went out of business in 1989 ...
. A branch of the family came to Bristol to build railway locomotives (later to become the
Avonside Engine Company The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company. Origins The firm was original ...
). After 1852, a separate shipbuilding company was established which survived in business until the 1930s. The tug has an iron hull. She is long, her beam is , her depth is and her tonnage is . Her United Kingdom
official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...
is 105412.


Service

''Mayflower'' was built to work on the
Gloucester and Sharpness Canal The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal (also known as the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal) is a ship canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness; for much of its length it runs close to the tidal River Severn, but cuts off a sign ...
and in the
River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...
, one of three tugs ordered after trials had shown they were much more efficient than
horse-drawn boat A horse-drawn boat or tow-boat is a historic boat operating on a canal, pulled by a horse walking beside the canal on a towpath. United Kingdom The Romans are known to have used mules to haul boats on their waterways in the UK. Boat horses were t ...
s. Altogether they cost £3,000. ''Mayflower'' started work between
Sharpness Sharpness ( ) is an English port in Gloucestershire, one of the most inland in Britain, and eighth largest in the South West. It is on the River Severn at , at a point where the tidal range, though less than at Avonmouth downstream ( typical sp ...
and
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
Docks, towing trains of small sailing vessels such as
trow A trow was a type of cargo boat found in the past on the rivers Severn and Wye in Great Britain and used to transport goods. Features The mast could be taken down so that the trow could go under bridges, such as the bridge at Worcester and ...
s and
ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...
es, and, after the new docks at Sharpness were completed in 1874, larger steamers one at a time. By the late 1890s she was the most seaworthy tug in the fleet, and she was altered to make her suitable for work in the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...
. Her original single-cylinder engine was replaced in 1899 with a vertical two-cylinder
compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
condensing engine supplied, along with a new boiler, funnel, propeller and shafting by W Sisson & Co of Gloucester for £940. The steering position, which had previously been abaft the funnel, was moved forward, and a waist high iron steering shelter added to give the skipper some comfort. She went back to work outside Sharpness, towing sailing vessels through the dangerous stretches of the Severn Estuary to the mouth of the
river Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of Wal ...
and back again. Around 1907, the Canal Company decided to compete on the River Severn upstream of Gloucester to
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. In 1909 ''Mayflower'' was again altered when the funnel was arranged to hinge down (counterbalanced with large weights which can still be seen) to enable her to pass under the fixed bridges on this stretch of water. She was now capable of working on every part of the navigation from Worcester to
Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western ...
, and because of this, became regarded as the training tug in the canal's fleet, which she continued to be until the end of her working life. In 1922, she was again altered when the entire deck was raised by which meant that the area beneath the deck at the stern could become another cabin albeit with very low headroom. At the same time the bulwarks were cut away down most of each side and replaced with stanchions and chains; this reflected the increased barge traffic on the canal, allowing the crew to step onto laden barges easily. In the late 1930s, a wooden wheelhouse replaced the steering shelter, and some time after this the bulwarks were replaced. In 1948 the
British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...
Board took over the canal and made efforts to modernise the tug fleet. All the tugs were either scrapped or had diesel engines installed, except ''Mayflower'', as she was too old to be worth bothering with. She was given the job of 'mudding tug' – towing the mud hopper barges filled by the canal dredger to the discharge point. Sometimes she was needed to turn ships at Sharpness Docks and assist them in the entrance lock. In 1962–1963, when the winter was so cold that the canal froze and the diesel tugs had difficulty in working, ''Mayflower'' once again took on ship-towing work in the canal. Finally, British Waterways sold ''Mayflower'' for scrap in 1967.


Preservation

She was saved from being scrapped by Anthony H Barrett Great Wyrley, who at the time was setting out in his business career and regularly attended auction sales throughout the UK. ''Mayflower'' had been bought by an illegal auction ring which Barrett Great Wyrley had to join if he stood any chance of acquiring it. Barrett Great Wyrley who was the highest bidder in that 'ring' and he bought the tug for a sum of £400, borrowing the money to pay for her from his older cousin, George Billingham. A consortium was then formed to fund the purchase, and Barrett Great Wyrley was joined by Kevin Donaghy and Len Sanford, two Walsall engineers. All three men took a third share in ''Mayflower'' and agreed to share the expenses of keeping her moored at Gloucester Docks. Barrett Great Wyrley, who was about 20 years old at the time, was already involved in the restoration of vintage Rolls-Royce cars, and he saw the importance of preserving ''Mayflower''. He wrote to many people and organisations, including Prince Charles who was going through his investiture at the time, to find help in preserving the tug, but to no avail. In the late 1970s the two other investors pulled out after some vandals went aboard in the night and opened the
seacock A seacock is a valve on the hull of a boat or a ship, permitting water to flow into the vessel, such as for cooling an engine or for a salt water faucet; or out of the boat, such as for a sink drain or a toilet. Seacocks are often a Kingston va ...
s, scuttling the tug. This event cost the consortium more than £1,400 to re-float the boat. Barrett Great Wyrley continued alone until 1981 when, because of a financial crisis, he decided he too must pull out and let someone else take over as custodian. In 1981 Charles Phillips Auctioneers auctioned the tug from outside Barrett Great Wyrley's home at Sneyd Farm Essington. Bristol Museums & Art Gallery bought her and her towed back to the city where she was built. Over the next six years ''Mayflower'' was restored to working order by a team of volunteers, and she steamed again in 1987. Early in 1988, she steamed back to Gloucester on a courtesy visit. ''Mayflower'' regularly steams during the summer months carrying visitors on trips in Bristol Harbour. She marked her 150th anniversary in May 2011. In May 2021 Mayflower was returned to service after her boiler was re-tubed.


References


External links


''Mayflower''
at the Register of National Historic Ships {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayflower Steam tugs Tugboats of the United Kingdom Bristol Industrial Museum 1861 ships Ships and vessels of the National Historic Fleet Museum ships in the United Kingdom