G-boats
From "Inland Waterways News"
Vol 30 Nº4 Winter 2003.
- G-boat being transported
through Barrack Street, Carlow (Thompson Engineering)
Most people will have
seen ex-Grand Canal trading boats, now converted into spacious pleasure
craft, and still making their way around the waterways system. The
M-boats, formerly Grand Canal Company (GCC) motor boats are most common,
but B-boats survive too: they were owned by "bye-traders", independent
individuals or companies, rather than by the GCC itself. E-boats were
run by the GCC Engineering Department. Boats could change categories and
sometimes GCC boats were hired out as hack boats, often to their own
skippers.
However what about the
G-boats? Well, back in 1939, much of the world was engaged in a spot of
bother that became known as the Second World War. Independent Ireland
was officially neutral, but was affected by developments elsewhere.
Accordingly, on 3 September 1939, the Oireachtas declared a state of
emergency. Incidentally, it didn't get around to rescinding that state
of emergency until 1976, when it declared another one instead.
During the main part
of The Emergency, 1939–1945, fuel was in short supply, so the government
sought to have more turf brought to Dublin. As the canals conveniently
pass through bogs, the government funded the construction of 29 wooden
horse-drawn canal-boats, which were leased to various traders but were
marked as G-boats. Matt Thompson remembers them.
Canal knowledge
Matt Thompson
When the Second World
War broke out in 1939, even though we were not directly involved, it had
severe repercussions on Ireland: coal shortages affected almost
everything. Railway services were cut down and in some cases branch
lines were closed. The two canals running into Dublin were working flat
out; everything that could float was brought into use including the
E-boats, if they were available, drawing briquettes from Lullymore to
Spencer Dock in Dublin. My dear friends the Smullen family had a turf
bank near Mount Street Bridge: people came from all over to buy. This
family were working 28B
and 7M; they also leased out
7G.
It was great to see the canal so busy.
Big crowds gathered at
Mellons Lock (Grand Canal St Bridge) on the day
1G set out on its
maiden voyage to Turraun for its first load of machine-cut turf. To mark
the occasion, the horses were put aside and GCC
36M was detailed
to tow the new barge. The Irish Times
had a splendid
weekly issue called the Times Pictorial
and the newspaper
sent a reporter to travel with the crew to Co Kildare to record this
great event. The working life of the G-boats was not very long, but
during their time they played a very important part in the Emergency.
Although the war ended in 1945 and the nation was slowly coming around
to some kind of normality, the worst winter for years was to occur in
1947. The Grand and Royal Canals worked flat out to keep the city of
Dublin from freezing: logs, turf (some very wet),
briquettes and even sawdust were used. After that, the G-boats became
redundant. They could be found tied up or waterlogged all over the
system. One became a home for a gentleman and his dog at the mouth of
the River Dodder at Ringsend: Mickey Blue told me he was very happy in
his beautiful G-boat.
Thompson
Engineering
Thompson Engineering
in Carlow built Ireland's first suspension bridge over the Liffey in
1906. The following year they built Kilmaroney Bridge Levitstown and, in
1938, the Royal Oak Bridge was built in Carlow. Then, during the
Emergency, they built some G-boats (others were built in Dublin), and
they have very kindly supplied the photograph shown on this page. Since
then, Thompsons have built the Liffey Millennium Bridge; the central 41m
span was manufactured at their workshop and transported 55 miles by road
to be lifted into place in one piece. They also supplied the Eastlink
Bridge and the first RoRo linkspan bridge at Dublin Port in 1962.
What happened to
the G-boats?
Built of native
timber, the G-boats were not designed to have a long life. The falling
off in canal traffic after the Emergency meant that most of them were
abandoned and then broken up, although a few became B-boats and lasted
for a few more years.
Gerard D'Arcy's “Portrait
of the Grand Canal” lists the boats. Sean O'Reilly of the
Heritage Boat Association has added some information, but would welcome
any details that might fill in the gaps: email
info@heritageboatassociation.com
or
pass information through IWNews.
For the following
boats, all we know is that they were scrapped: 1G, 4G, 5G, 6G, 8G, 9G (See
photo above for this boat), 12G, 13G, 14G, 15G, 17G,
18G, 19G, 20G, 21G, 22G, 23G, 24G, 25G, 28G
3G was hired by the
government to the Turf Supply Company on 13/11/1942. Carrying 56 tons,
it drew 3' 10.5". It was scrapped. 2G, 11G and 16G briefly became
B-boats (127B, 128B and 129B respectively) but were broken up at
Portobello, where older readers will remember that there used to be a
canal harbour, in September 1948. 127B was owned by Taylor Keith & Co.
7G, mentioned by Matt Thompson, was indeed on hire to Mrs A Smullen.
Carrying 60 tons with a draught of 4' 1.25", it was scrapped at
Tullamore. 29G became Michael Lawlor's 130B, broken up; 10G became John
Gill's 131B, broken up by a Mr Murphy on 18/10/1949; 27G became John
Gill's 132B, broken up at Portobello and 26G became Denis Lynch's 133B.
He lived at Portroe, near Garrykennedy on Lough Derg. The boat was 61'
6" by 13' 0", with a height of 6'0" at both stem and stern. Laden with
36 tons (when weighed on 11/08/1947) it had a draught of 3' 3.5", giving
a higher freeboard for lake travel. It too was scrapped, and none of the
G-boats survives.
Source: Inland Waterways News Vol 30 Nº4
Winter 2003. Transcribed by Terry Curran
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