Tub boat

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Tub boats were a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. The English boats were typically 6 metres (20 feet) long and 2.0 metres (6 feet) wide and generally carried 3 to 5 tons of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to 8 tons. They are also called compartment boats or container boats.

The main virtue of tub boats was their flexibility. They could be drawn in trains of 3-10 or more boats using horse power, or later steam tugs, where the number of boats was varied according to the type of cargo. They could be lifted more easily than large boats and tub boat lift

Tub boat lift

Tub boats are small boats used to transport coal and other minerals, sometimes working singly, sometimes in long trains. When it is required to move them between different elevations of canal, Locks , boat lifts and Canal inclined plane have all been used in various locations around the world....
s and inclined plane

Inclined plane

The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights....
s were developed as an alternative to locking systems, particularly in or near a colliery or similar industrial works. At a lock or lift the train could easily be broken up and reassembled afterwards. Sometimes they used fitting non-waterproof containers which could be more easily lifted out. Because of their small size, the canals that were built for them could also be smaller, saving considerable cost in days when there were no mechanical excavators.

The first use of tub boats in England was on the Bridgewater Canal

Bridgewater Canal

The Bridgewater Canal is a canal in North West England that connects Runcorn, Manchester, and Leigh, Greater Manchester. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester....
. Other notable uses were on the Shropshire Union Canal

Shropshire Union Canal

The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen Canal and Montgomery Canal canals are the modern names of branches of the SU system and lie mostly in Wales....
and the Bude Canal

Bude Canal

The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Devon and Cornwall border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser....
.

Two tub-boats are preserved in the Blists Hill Victorian Town

Blists Hill Victorian Town

Blists Hill is an open air museum, one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley, Shropshire area of Telford, Shropshire, England....
museum.

In later years, larger versions of tub boats included the Tom Pudding

Tom Pudding

Tom Pudding was the name given to the tub boats on the Aire and Calder Navigation, introduced in 1863 and used until 1985, which were a very efficient means of transferring and transporting coal from the open cast collieries of the South Yorkshire coalfield near Stanley Ferry to the port of Goole, competing with rail....
on the Aire and Calder Canal and the Hargreave barge used on the same waterway.

List of Tub Boat Canals

Bude Canal
Bude Canal

The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Devon and Cornwall border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser....
, Cornwall
Chard Canal
Chard Canal

The Chard Canal was a 13? mile tub boat canal in Somerset, England, that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St Michael, over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four Canal inclined plane to Chard, Somerset....
, Devon
Donnington Wood Canal
Donnington Wood Canal

The Donnington Wood Canal was a five and a half mile private canal in East Shropshire, England, which ran from coal pits owned by Earl Gower at Donnington Wood to Pave Lane on the Wolverhampton to Newport Turnpike Road....
, East Shropshire
Dukart's Canal
Dukart's Canal

Dukart's Canal was built to provide transport for coal from the Drumglass Colleries to the Coalisland Canal, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland....
, Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Grand Western Canal
Grand Western Canal

The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton, Devon in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End....
, Devon
Ketley Canal
Ketley Canal

The Ketley Canal was a tub boat canal that ran about 1.5 miles from Oakengates to Ketley works in Shropshire, England. The canal was built about 1788 and featured the first Canal inclined plane in Britain....
, East Shropshire
Lydney Canal
Lydney Canal

|}This one-mile canal in Gloucestershire runs inland from the River Severn to Lydney. It was opened in 1813 to trans-ship iron and coal from the Forest of Dean....
, Gloucestershire
Shropshire Canal
Shropshire Canal

The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale....
, East Shropshire
Torrington Canal, Devon
Wombridge Canal
Wombridge Canal

The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted....
, East Shropshire