1833: Fast Boats on Canals

From the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 11th July 1833

A wrought iron boat, originally built for the purpose of running between Paisley and Glasgow, upon the plans of Messrs. Graham and Houston, has recently been purchased by the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. She was tried as to her speed on the 4th inst., on the new line of the Oxford Canal, in Barley-fields. The distance run upon for the experiment was a mile and a half, divided into furlongs. The boat was drawn by two horses, the driver riding the hindmost one. The first mile and a half was performed in seven minutes thirty-five seconds, and back again in eight minutes eight seconds, thus averaging twelve miles in one hour, two minutes, and fifty-two seconds.

On passing the summit level of the Wilts and Berks Canal, she ran 1560 yards in four minutes. The committee of the Oxford Canal Company were in the boat at the time, and were fully satisfied that, at these high velocities, no injury was done to the banks; but they were tried more as matters of experiment than of intention to keep them up in a regular trade, which is now, however, carried on by several Canal Companies in Great Britain, at an average of little less than ten miles an hour.

As a proof that such boats meet the approbation of the public as passage conveyances, we need only instance the enormous increase of passengers between Glasgow and Paisley within the last three years:- In 1831, there were 79,455, in 1832, 148,516, and for the five months only ending May 1833, 91,466.

A swift boat is now running on the Lancaster Canal, between Preston and Kendal; the distance performed daily is 114 miles (including eight locks and one tunnel) which is accomplished in seven hours each way, a distance of fifty-seven miles. Fast boats commenced plying last spring on the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals, where they have answered beyond all expectations.