Canal Terms
A list of all the popular, and not so popular canal and boat related terms you’ll hear around the system.
Admiral Class
Narrowboats built by Isaac Pimblott of Northwich for British Waterways. They are named after admirals from Anson to Mountbatten.
Aft
Behind or towards the stern of a boat.
Amidships
The centre or middle part of a craft.
Anser Pins
Hooks and shackles at the stern of a boat used for breasting up or strapping.
Arm
A branch from the main canal.
Balance Beam
The beam projecting from a lock gate which balances its weight, and by pushing against, the gate is opened or closed.
Barge
A large commercial craft used for conveying goods over the inland waterways of more than 7 foot beam. Also a small passenger or pleasure craft.
BCN
The Birmingham Canal Navigations.
Beam
The maximum width of a boat.
Big Engine
A Josher fitted with a 15hp Bolinder engine.
Blade
The propellor on a motor boat
Blue Tops
The last commercial narrowboats built by the British Transport Commission which were fitted with distinctive blue fibreglass hatch covers.
Boat
Any type of small craft on the inland waterways which is normally less than 7 foot beam.
Boater
A person living or working on a canal boat.
Bolinder
An early single cylinder diesel engine fitted to many trading boats.
Bollard
A wood or metal post used for typing boats up at locks and moorings.
Bow Haul
To manually pull a boat by means of a line from the bank. So called because one makes a loop, or bow, in the rope to fit over the shoulders. Sometimes called “bow hanking”.
Breasting up
Two or more boats secured side by side for river navigations or passing through a double lock.
Bridge Hole
The opening and channel beneath a bridge
Butty
Non-powered boat of a working pair, on the narrow canals. Originally a horse boat but later towed by a motor boat.
BW or BWB
British Waterways and its predecessor the British Waterways Board.
Bye-wash
The overflow weir that allows canal water to by-pass a lock.
Caulking
Making the seams of a wooden boat watertight by sealing them with oakum.
Change Boat
An alternative boat used by working boaters when their own boats were being docked.
Check Pin
A horn shaped pin on the lock side, to hold boats on their checking straps.
Checking Strap
A rope attached to the stern of a butty boat, which was put around a bollard to slow the boat.
Cill or Sill
The brick, masonry or concrete bed at the bottom of lock gates.
Clinker Build
The construction of a wooden craft with overlapping side planks.
Cockpit
The open space at the rear of a narrowboat’s stern cabin.
Compartment Boats
Also called “Tom Puddings”. Once used on the Aire and Calder Navigation and formed into trains to be pushed and/or pulled by a tug.
Contour Canal
A canal built to follow the natural levels, or contours, of the terrain thus reducing the number of locks and earthworks required.
Counter
The rounded stern of a motor boat which lies above the blades. It is intended to protect them from knocks and contact with coping stones, gates etc.
Cratch
The triangular front board of a narrowboat.
Cross Beam
Wide planks across the hold of a boat, slotted into stands.
Cross Straps
Two short ropes used to tow an empty boat.
Cross Wind
To enter a lock or another narrow place at an angle and thus colliding with the sides rather than going down the centre.
Crossover Bridge
A bridge carrying the towpath from one side of the canal to the other. Also called a Turnover or Roving Bridge.
Cut
An artificial channel or canal.
Cutter
A small pipe with a vertical loop of brass, fitting above the upright exhaust pipe of a motor boat to break the force of the exhaust when passing under bridges and through tunnels.
Day Boat
Also known as a Joey boat. A boat often used for day trips, sometimes without a stern cabin.
Deck Lid
A hinged cover over a locker at deck level.
Dipper
A metal bowl with a handle used as a multi-purpose utensil.
Dolly
An iron or steel stump on the counter of a motor boat, used for tow ropes.
Double Lock
Two-rise staircase or normal locks placed side by side to increase traffic capacity.
Downhill Strap
Another name for a checking strap - a rope attached to the stern of a butty boat, which was put around a bollard to slow the boat.
Draw
To raise, as in drawing a paddle to allow water through a lock or weir.
Drop
To lower, as in dropping a paddle to shut off the flow of water through a lock or weir.
Elum or Ellum
The combined rudder and tiller of a butty or horse drawn boat.
Engine hole
Engine room space on a motor boat
False Cratch
A triangular wooden construction forming the rearward part of the cratch.
False Floors
Remove floors raising the cargo above the bottom of the boat.
Fellows, Morton & Clayton
A famous canal carrying company which sold its fleet to the British Transport Commission in 1948.
Fender
Protective pad or buffer used to protect a boat from damage. Traditionally of rope work, but now rubber and plastic materials are also used.
Flash Lock
A sudden release of water used to assist navigation on rivers and also an inland lake, often caused by subsidence due to salt mining.
Fly boat
A swiftly moving canal boat carrying priority cargoes.
Fore
The front or forward part of a boat
Freeboard
The space on the side of the hull between the rope and the water line.
Gang Planks
Planks used for access between the bank and a boat.
Gauging
The measurement of a boat’s freeboard in order to calculate the tonnage carried. The scale was established by placing known weights into a boat and recording the measurements appropriate to each weight.
Gongoozler
An inquisitive bystander often found by locks and other places where boats gather.
Ground Paddle
Paddles or sluices that admit water via culverts built into the ground rather than via openings in a weir or lock gate.
GU and GUCCCo
The Grand Union (canal) and the old Grand Union Canal Carrying Company.
Guillotine Gate
A vertically rising lock or stop gate.
Gunwhale
The upper line or egde, along the hull, of a boat or ship.
Handspike
A length of wood used to operate lock paddles instead of rack and pinion gears. Still used on the Calder & Hebble Navigation
Hatches
Covers over a cargo space or the entry to a cabin, also the rear entrance to the stern cabin of a narrowboat.
Head
Immediately above the top gates of a lock is the head of a lock.
Head Post
Also called a Breast or Mitre Post. The vertical post farthest from the hanging point of a lock gate.
Heel Post
The vertical post on which a lock gate hangs and turns.
Helum or Elum
Combined rudder and tiller of a butty or horse drawn boat.
Hobbler
A man casually employed by working boatmen to assist them through a lock flight. Also an alternative term to lock wheeling.
Hold
Cargo space below deck level.
Hold Back
Go astern, to slow or stop the boat.
Hold In
Hold or turn the boat in the direction of the towing path.
Hold Out
Hold or turn the boat in the direction away from the towing path.
Horse Boat
Narrowboat drawn by a horse or other animal, also a pontoon or ferry to take horses across a river where there are no bridges and the towing path changes sides.
Ice Plates
Metal plates attached to the front and side of a wooden narrowboat at the waterline to protect the hull from ice sheets.
Inclined Plane
A device on wheels that lifted boats from one level to another without the use of locks.
Inside and Inside Turn
Inside is the boaters term for the towpath side of the canal, thus, an inside turn is one where the deep water is on the towpath side.
Ippey Cut
The Wilts and Berks Canal.
Jam Hole or ‘Ole
Kearley and Tonge’s jam factory at Southall on the GU. A regular destination for narrowboat cargoes.
Joey Boat
A day boat often used for short trips, sometimes without a stern cabin.
Joshers
Boats of a distinctive design which belonged to Fellows, Morton & Clayton.
Keb
An iron rake used to retrieve coal from the canal bed and to remove rubbish from behind lock gates.
Keel
A type of boat once in extensive use on the Yorkshire rivers and canals, they measure approximately 58 feet long by 14 feet beam.
Keelson
An inner keel, fitting above or in place of the keel.
Knobstick
An Anderton Canal Company working narrowboat of a distinctive design.
Lade Hole
A well in the floor (or shutts) of a narrowboat to facilitate pumping out.
Land Water
Water in a river that has drained from the land, as distinct from water forced upstream by the wind or tide.
Lee Boards
Boards fitted to the side of sailing barges and lowered to decrease the leeway made when sailing close to the wind. These boards act as a keel.
Leggers
The people engaged in legging a boat through a tunnel. These may have been the boat crew or professional leggers that were stationed at most long tunnels.
Legging
The method of propelling boats through tunnels by two people pushing the boat with their feet against the tunnel walls. Widely used with horse drawn boats, as most tunnels had no towpath.
Legging Boards
Boards that could be attached to the front of the boat and which projected out to the sides, on which the leggers lay while legging through a tunnel. Most boats would carry two sets, one for wide, and one for narrow tunnels. Also called wings.
Lengthman
A person in charge of a particular length of canal.
Lighter
A term including a variety of vessels from the Fens, the Thames, the River Stour and the Bridgewater Canal.
Lock
A construction for navigating between different water levels on rivers and canals using controlled changes in water levels to float the boat to its new level. See also Flash Lock and Pound Lock.
Lock, To
To work a vessel through a lock.
Lock Wheeler
Someone who goes ahead (originally on a bike) to set the lock.
Long Boat
River Severn term for a narrowboat
Loobey, Looby or Luby
A swivelling piece of metal on the top of a boat’s mast to hold a towrope, sprung so as to return to a vertical position.
Scoop
A wooden shovel, about five feet long, for bailing water out of a narrowboat’s hold.
Scour
A bank of mud or sand caused by water flow.
Scouring
Clearing out a canal or navigation to improve its use and appearance.
Screw
A screw propellor.
Severner
A Severn & Canal Carrying Co. narrowboat
Shaft, To
To propel a boat through a tunnel with a long shaft as an alternative to legging.
Shafting
Punting or poling a boat, as well as the shafts which connect up the propellor to the gearbox and engine on a motor boat.
Short Boat
These canal boats (length 62 feet, beam 14 feet, cargo capacity 50 tons) were designed to fit the short but wide beam locks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Originally of wooden construction, horse drawn or bow hauled from the towing path.
Shroppie Fly
A narrowboat, with a round bilge and streamlined. It was only 6 feet wide and was used for urgent and perishable goods over the Shropshire Union Canal. Towed by two galloping horses, round the lock in relays. They travelled at over ten miles an hour.
Side cloths
Protective covers drawn up or let down from the sides of a boat or barge to protect the cargo.
Side Lock
A lock linking two waterways running in parallel.
Side Ponds
A reservoir to take water to and from a lock as a water saving measure. Many of these can still be seen beside locks but very few that are in working order.
Sill or Cill
The brick, masonry or concrete bed at the bottom of lock gates.
Slack Boards
Side planks, also known as wash boards, used to prevent part of a cargo of slack or small coal from slipping into the water.
Slacker
A paddle, or small door, used to control the flow of water through a lock or weir.
Slat
A paddle, or small door, used to control the flow of water through a lock or weir.
Slide
Hatch cover on the top of a stern cabin. Made to open by sliding backwards and forwards.
Snatcher
A short rope used for towing.
Snubber
A long rope used for towing a butty.
Snubbing Post
An old Chester Canal term for a strapping post.
Staircase Locks
A series of locks having no intermediate pounds, so that the top gates of one forms the bottom gates of the next. Also called risers.
Stands
Flattened or attenuated uprights of a narrowboat, supporting top planks and side cloths.
Star Class
Grand Union Canal Carrying Company boats named after stars and constellations.
Station Boats or Railway Boats
Narrowboats operated by railway companies to take goods to and from Railway Basins.
Stem Post
The fore post of the boat that forms the apex of the bows.
Stern Gland
The aperture through which the drive shaft connects with the propeller. Normally packed and greased to minimise water seepage.
Stern Stud
A T-stud at the rear of a butty or horse boat.
Stop Gates
Wooden gates similar to lock gates that can be used to dam the canal in the event of a leak or the need for repairs, but which are normally kept open.
Stop Grooves
Places provided to fit Stop Planks to dam the canal in the event of a leak or the need for repairs. These are normally found at places where the canal narrows, e.g. bridges, aqueducts and locks.
Stop Lock
A lock provided to protect the water supply of one canal company from another rather than to affect a significant change in the level of the waterway.
Stop Planks
Wooden boards that can be inserted into Stop Grooves to dam the canal in the event of a leak or the need for repairs.
Stoppage
The temporary closing of part of a waterway for maintenance or repairs.
Stourlifter
A railway narrowboat operating between Wolverhampton and Stourport.
Strakes, Rubbing
Protective horizontal bars or bands protecting the sides, bow and stern of a boat or barge.
Strap
A rope used to stop a vessel by winding one end round a post or bollard on shore, the other end being attached to the vessel.
Strapping Post
A post, either on the lock side or the top gate, provided to hold the strap of a boat entering a lock.
Strings
Thin ropes used to secure side and top cloths on a working boat.
Stud
A tee shaped cleat fitted to the front or rear of a narrowboat to which mooring lines can be attached.
Summit Level
A pound with no locks which rise from it, therefore a key point for water supply.
Suttons Stop
Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal joins the Coventry Canal.
Swan’s Neck
Ornamental rope work on a butty, connecting the rudder blade with the top of the rudder post or ram’s head.
Swim
The shaping or tapering of a boat’s hull to allow a good flow of water around the vessel when moving.
Swim, To
A boat which answers readily to the helm is described as ‘a good swimmer’, or may be said to “swim well’.
Tack String
An extra line tacked onto the tow line of a horse boat.
Thick
Many locks close together.
Tiller
Wooden or metal beam attached to the rudder post of a craft for steering.
Tipcats
A round rope stern fender.
Tolls
Canal tolls were based on the distance travelled, the tonnage and the type of cargo. The charges varied from canal to canal, some tolls having set maximum due to the Act of Parliament under which the canal was authorised, and some categories of goods.
Tom Puddings
A compartment boat once used on the Aire and Calder Navigation and formed into trains to be pushed and/or pulled by a tug.
Top Bend
On a wooden narrowboat the top planks that were made with curves in two directions.
Top Planks
Gangway of planks down the length of the hold or cargo space of a narrowboat. Supported by stands and mast, between cabin roof and cratch.
Towing Path
Also known as the haling path or way. Canal or riverside paths used for towing boats.
Towing Post
The box mast of a boat or barge used for towing.
Towing Stud
A fitting on the cabin top of boats for fastening the towing line. This enabled the steerer to control the length of line used from the steering position.
Town Class
Grand Union Canal Carrying company boats named after towns and villages.
Transom
A flat, often D-shaped panel forming the stem of certain types of wooden craft.
Tumblehome
Inward-sloping sides of a stem cabin on a narrowboat. More pronounced on a butty or horse boat than on a motorboat or tug.
Tunnel Cutter
Metal ring fitted above or across the top of a funnel or stove pipe. This prevents soot or grit from entering the pipe when passing through a tunnel, and also helps to disperse smoke.
Tunnel Lamp
Original type of navigation lamp, fixed to the cratch of a narrow boat. Made with either a straight or a curved lens. Eventually replaced by an electric lamp of the van type.
Turk’s Head
Spliced and woven rope work decorating the top of the rudder post on a butty. This resembled the turban of a Turkish warrior.
Turnover Bridge or Roving Bridge
A bridge carrying the towing path across another canal or branch at the junction. Also called a Crossover Bridge.
Turns (Waiting or Working turns)
At times of water shortage boatmen were not allowed to empty or fill a lock that was set against them, instead they had to wait for a boat to arrive from the opposite direction so that no water was wasted by working empty locks.
Uprights
Detachable wood pieces stretching from the gunwale to the gang plank on a commercial (or working) narrowboat.
Waterman
Boatman or bargee, usually working on a river rather than a canal navigation.
Well deck
The stern deck of a butty boat which is enclosed by the sides of the boat.
Wind
To wind a boat is to turn the boat around (pronounced as in “the wind that blows”).
Winding Hole
A wide place in a canal provided for the purpose of turning a boat round. Pronounced as in kindling.
Windlass
An L-shaped tool used for opening paddles on lock gates. Often carried in the waist band or belt of a boater.
Wings
Boards which could be attached to the front of the boat and which projected out to the sides, on which the leggers lay while legging through a tunnel. Most boats would carry two sets, one for wide, and one for narrow tunnels. Also called legging boards
Woolwich
A steel narrowboat built by Harland & Wolff Ltd at Woolwich. There are large and small Woolwich boats.
