Page 22 - SAFFER 05

Feeding the Monster

(from Ireland’s Waterways)

The title I have chosen comes from a River Shannon or continue towards
saying I used almost ten years ago while Dublin has yet to be decided. This month
recording the progress of an old canal I will again dig into the history archives
boat along the Royal Canal. My then and fill you in on the crewmen on the
fourteen-year-old son was employed to commercial work boats and the unique
skipper the camera boat for a five-week engines that powered them.
journey which was to be turned into
a six-episode television series. I began Irish canal crews were totally male, unlike
a blog on a boating forum and spent the English and Continental workboats
considerable time in the countryside with their family crews. The original crew
seeking internet access in order to “feed members of a motor barge were four in
the monster”. number - Master, Engineman, Deckhand
and Greaser. The Master was the captain
Corona Lock-Down is still strictly in of the barge and had overall charge. The
force in Ireland and will be for another engineman’s title is self- explanatory,
while. This world pandemic has naturally while the deck-man had the job of
taken the spotlight away from normal generally keeping an eye on things. The
things like work and hobbies with the greaser, who was often a son or nephew
focus on life itself, correctly, being the of the master, used to cook meals and
main issue. Myself and my son have keep quarters tidy etc. He was usually performed as they arose by whichever
for a number of weeks been posting along on the boat with a view to getting crew member was available at the time.
videos and picture stories of waterways experience to enable him to keep on The boat crews would load and unload
interest so do check out the Heritage Boat family tradition. their own boat except in an emergency
Association / Joe Treacy and Ben Treacy where a boat had a leak for example,
facebook pages. When the hours of the boatmen were when available crews would work
reduced in 1946 the number of crew together unloading and drydocking the
The family canal barges are still at their members was reduced to three – the barge. The crew lived in a cabin to the
Winter mooring in Mullingar on the greaser being omitted. After this, there front of the barge in a fairly cramped
Royal canal and it looks like it will be was not the same demarcation between area with three bunks, a table, a stove and
late Summer before any movement is the various duties. The Master was still some cupboards. On deck was the water
permitted. Whether we retreat to the in charge, but the other duties were barrel painted in each crew’s distinctive
colours.

The boatmen were a hard-working bunch
operating in all weather conditions and
there were quite a number of fatalities
amongst them. Trading was discontinued
in 1960 and within a short time they
were mostly jobless. Presently there are
very few survivors from the workboats
although their lives and experiences have
been well documented.

The Grand Canal Company had
long been aware of the problems of
transportation on a mixed navigation
of canal, river and lake. When internal
combustion oil engines became available,
they carried out trials in 1910. In May
1911 they ordered six Bolinder engines
and two complete motor barges equipped
with the same engines, from the British

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