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Description: | An icebreaker boat, possibly the 'Scott', on the Birmingham Canal Navigation' (BCN) canal system. It would have had a round bottom (most canal boats had flat bottoms), and a special reinforced, sharply pointed bow to cut through the canals that regularly iced up in winter (the bow can be clearly seen in the photograph). The boat would have been rocked by the men in it, causing a shock wave from the bow that rippled through the ice. If the ice was too thick to break, the boat would be pulled out and across the ice by horses. However, if the ice was thicker than 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm), all canal boats would cease working until it thawed. Ice can be clearly seen on the canal. (Courtesy of the T. W. King collection held at Dudley Archives & Local History Service). | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Dudley Archives | Rights holder: | Mrs. R. Collins | Subjects: | Canals | Temporal: | 1955 | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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