In bad weather canals freeze and stop the traffic. This was a serious problem for the BCN Company and the canal carriers and required a serious solution.

The BCN Company had many iceboats. Most of them were built of wood, but very few of these wooden boats survive and none are in working condition. In the 1830's and 1840's six iron iceboats were constructed for the Company; remarkably, five of these survive. The 'Ross' is the only one not to have been motorised.

My hunch is that the wooden boats, which were generally lighter and with finer lines,, were preferred when the ice was moderately thick. The iron boats were more effective when the conditions were severe. The 'Ross' was always used on the higher and more exposed northern section of the BCN (No 4 District). In the twentieth century it was particularly important to keep this part of the canal open for the coal traffic that ran continuously between the pits on Cannock Chase and the power stations in Walsall and Wolverhampton.

The 'Ross' can be seen at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley moored in the canal arm by the village. She is occasionally used in horsedrawn demonstrations. www.bclm.co.uk

The 'Ross' is named after Sir James Clark Ross (1800- 1862) who spent his life exploring the polar regions and led an expedition to the Antarctic in 1839-43 where he discovered the Ross Sea and the Mountains Erebus and Terror.

 
Technical details

Length 37'5" Beam 6'9" Draught 2'0" Carvel construction of '/2" wrought iron plates riveted to wrought iron frames and joined with internal butt straps. Round bottomed with quite fine lines underwater.

Built 1847 and owned by the BCN Company until nationalisation in 1948. Then owned by British Waterways (BW) until 1971. After a working life of 124 years they sold her to Alan Picken. Purchased by Bill Brookes, the present owner, in 1972. She is currently on loan to the Black Country Living Museum.

Originally horse-drawn, the 'Ross' is being pulled by a tractor and two horses in the 1954 photograph. This is described in the caption in the Wolverhampton Express and Star of 08.02.1954. The BW icebreaking records from 1963 and 1966 detail her as being pulled by either one or two tractors, depending on conditions.

Bill Brookes.
April 2002

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