Midlands & Coast Canal Carriers Ltd.
Completed by W.J. Yarwoods & Sons of Northwich on the 21st of August, 1935 (yard No. 515) as an iron composite motor boat for Midlands & Coast Canal Carriers Ltd., Wolverhampton to replace an older Midlands & Coast Canal Company Ltd. horse boat of the same name. Originally Powered by an 'S' type Petter 10hp semi-diesel.
Gauged on the B.C.N on the 26th August 1935, register number B.C.N. 1871.
Registered with the Health Department at Wolverhampton as number 1143. The master given as a Richard Aston with the route as Birmingham to Ellesmere Port.
Midlands & Coast Motor 'Jubilee'
Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd.
Sold to Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd, Birmingham on 1st July 1938 and used in their Northern fleet and given F.M.C. Ltd. fleet number 351 (one F.M.C. Ltd. document gives purchase date as 03/1938).Docked at Saltley, Birmingham in November of both 1939 and 1943.
British Waterways
Sold to 'British Waterways' which was actually the British Transport Commission (Docks & Inland Waterways Executive) on 1st January 1949, becoming British Transport Commission (British Transport Waterways) in 1953 then British Waterways Board in 1963.
At some point in the 1970's Ariel was transferred to the 'British Waterways' maintenance fleet, and latterly (by 1972) based at Northwich and cut into two when a maintenance boat with stern end becoming ARIEL I (dumb) and fore end becoming ARIEL II. Ariel II was cut up after being stuck on land following a flood on the River Weaver in around 1980. Both boats were 35ft in length.
Private Ownership
At some point before 1993, the boat was sold into private hands. The new owners fitted a poorly built cabin and a 4 cylinder Alisa Craig engine. In 1993, the stern end was sold to a Mr Ed Mortimer of Macclesfield. The boat at this time had been sunk, and after raising was put up for tender under the section 8 procedure. Ariel by this time was full of spoil and was lifted onto the bank at the BW Maintenance Yard. Ed Mortimer then towed the boat to Macclesfield Marina.
Ariel on the bank at Rodeheath on the Trent & Mersey Canal
After being looked at it was decided that some of the hull was not worth keeping and so a further 16ft was removed and made into another boat.
The remains of the boat was placed on bank at Warwickshire Fly Boat Co., Stockton. The removed side plates were trimmed down and refooted then a new welded counter stern, back cabin and engine room was added and sold as 45' open motor with Ruston Hornsby to new owners at Bristol. This section is a house boat (undercloth conversion) at Bathurst Basin, Bristol, named ARIEL.
In 2002 a new fore end was fabricated onto the old stern end (with a major rebuild) by Stockton Drydock Co., Stockton. Advertised for sale via W.F.B. Co. 12/2002 to 2004 but not sold.
In 2005 the hull was completed as a 50ft carrying motor boat with a new rivetted back cabin. Due to the original 'Ariel' being a 'one off' from Yarwoods it is unknown what sort of cabin the boat would have had but there was evidence that the boat would have had a rivetted cabin originally. At the time Ed Mortimer spoke to Bill Atkins (whose father had 'Ariel' from new) and he had remembered the rivetted cabin aswell. He described its very plain flat shape without any port holes, hence the reason why Graeme at Stockton built the cabin the boat now has. The engine that was placed into the boat, which still remains, was a Lister HA2M. This was provided by Roger Lorenz and was ex Atilla. The engine is also beleived to have powered another vessel at some point but until I find the complete engine number this cannot be confirmed.
Ariel at Stockton in 2004
Whilst in Ed's ownership 'Ariel' attended the 2007 Braunston working boat show, part loaded with retail coal and also travelled on the Bow Back Tidal Rivers which means 'Ariel' could possibly be the boat up them before they were modified by the new lock as part of the new Olympic site.
Ariel under Ed Mortimer's ownership.
I purchased Ariel on the 15th May 2009 from Ed Mortimer via Tim Higton at Warwickshire Fly Boat Co. and bought the boat back between the 16th and 20th May to it's new home mooring, now at Sale, on the Bridgewater Canal. The plan is to restore 'Ariel' into a British Waterways tug style maintenance boat painted in the 1950's livery with a planked over hold - whilst the research is still ongoing!
Passing through Stone after acquiring Ariel from WFBCo.
Ariel at Middlewich in October 2009