Charlotte Dundas

1803 · Canal Tug · Work 161 of 1,871

Charlotte Dundas, 1803, Canal Tug

Charlotte Dundas towing two loaded barges along the Forth and Clyde Canal, single stern paddle wheel turning in a recess cut into the wooden hull, horizontal cylinder driving a crosshead.

What it was used for
The 1803 tug — not to be confused with Symington's boat of 1801 — was built at the instigation of Lord Dundas, governor of the Forth & Clyde Canal Company: hull by John Allan of Grangemouth, engine by the Carron Company, first run on 4 January 1803. Its job was to haul barges where horses otherwise walked the towpath. On Monday 28 March 1803, according to the Glasgow Courier of 31 March, it towed two laden vessels, "burden of both not less than one hundred and thirty tons", from Lock 20 over 18½ miles to Port Dundas in Glasgow in nine hours and fifteen minutes, against a strong headwind for most of the day. It had cost £3,000, according to the National Maritime Museum.
What was new
Symington's patent no. 2544 of 1801 describes — British patents then had no numbered claims — an engine producing rotary motion "without the interposition of a lever or a beam". The horizontal double-acting cylinder of 22 inches bore and four feet stroke drove the crank directly through the piston rod; where beam engines were tall and top-heavy, this one sat low enough for a canal hull. The paddle wheel ran in a recess in the stern, according to the National Maritime Museum precisely in order to avoid damage to the banks. Nothing further was ordered all the same. Museums Victoria gives as reasons the wash of the paddle wheels against the banks and, explicitly, the expense of the experiments; the National Maritime Museum instead names the opposition of the towing companies' horse owners. No contemporary document stating the reason is known. The hull later served, without its engine, as a dredger; it was broken up in 1861, the National Maritime Museum says.

Further reading