A PICTURE WITH A FEW QUESTIONS

[quackers]

I'd go with just downstream of Cossington Lock on the Soar, for the location of both pictures.

 

Although,interestingly - the towpath is on the other bank at this location.

 

Tony

Edited December 24, 2012 by quackers

[Tam & Di]

The well-known illustration of the Duke of Bridgewater below shows several sailing barges, all being towed from the top of their masts. It is easy to suggest artist's license, but there certainly were sailing barges working on the L&L and Bridgewater canals, and I have just had an article published on the subject in Topsail, the journal of the Society for Sailing Barge Research. There are certainly some benefits in towing from higher up a mast, but there are also problems. As with all such 'skilled' operations, each boatman would have their own solution. There certainly seem to have been extended masts on the Thames, Soar and Trent, which would suggest that they could have been used elsewhere, depending upon local conditions.

 

I used to have a couple of reproduction prints of boats being towed by a team of horses on the Thames around Windsor and Maidenhead. They showed a loose line from the top of the mast to the bottom, with the tow line attached more or less in the middle of it. I never did fully work out to my own satisfaction how this system worked. It meant the tow was effective from about half way up the mast and spread between the top and bottom, but going around a tight turn the effort was maybe lowered, rather as a short bridle line would move the effort from the mast to the fore end stud on a butty or horse boat in similar circumstances.

 

Thomas Shepherd comes to mind as the artist, but I can't find the prints from an internet search to refresh my memory.

[Pluto]

I used to have a couple of reproduction prints of boats being towed by a team of horses on the Thames around Windsor and Maidenhead. They showed a loose line from the top of the mast to the bottom, with the tow line attached more or less in the middle of it. I never did fully work out to my own satisfaction how this system worked. It meant the tow was effective from about half way up the mast and spread between the top and bottom, but going around a tight turn the effort was maybe lowered, rather as a short bridle line would move the effort from the mast to the fore end stud on a butty or horse boat in similar circumstances.

 

Thomas Shepherd comes to mind as the artist, but I can't find the prints from an internet search to refresh my memory.

All the contemporary illustrations of vessels being towed on rivers seem to have this type of configuration, the line from top to bottom of the mast possibly allowing the position of the tow rope to be altered depending upon circumstances, such as trees or shrubs on the river bank. Although it seems contrary to what has happened recently, so many illustrations include towage from masts that it is likely to be correct. We just don't know exactly how.

[John Holden]

All the contemporary illustrations of vessels being towed on rivers seem to have this type of configuration, the line from top to bottom of the mast possibly allowing the position of the tow rope to be altered depending upon circumstances, such as trees or shrubs on the river bank. Although it seems contrary to what has happened recently, so many illustrations include towage from masts that it is likely to be correct. We just don't know exactly how.

 

There are many early eighteenth century clocks around with paintings of wild animals on them. There is some consistency in the way the animals are depicted but do we really believe that an elephant is a horse with a long nose, a giraffe a horse with a long neck or a lion a horse with a long mane?