Firstly apologies for starting a topic which appears to be "off
topic" for a group cocerned with canal structures. In fairness my
original query was whether if anyone knew any physical constraints
at loading and unloading wharves which might have dictated the
length of some of the tugs. Anyway several people seem to have
found the discussion of interest - maybe we could have a subsection
for BCN boat stuff?

So back to barges. I tend to agree with Max that many if not the
majority of workers on the BCN called the boats barges. The
steerers were not a race apart like the long distance boaters and
were just part of the working population who might have worked in a
coalyard one year, barges the next and a steelworks after that.
Most would never have been out of the area and certainly would never
have seen a 14ft wide boat so there was never a need for a
distinction. And "narrow boat?" Narrow compared to what? Andy's
family seem to be different in having some ancestory away from the
BCN and I suspect Elements were different too because of their long
distance carrying down to Stourport.

I had always believed that the term Joey was originally only applied
to the boats built by Joe Worsey. He was responsible for a sizeable
proportion of numbers of the standard wooden dayboats. Yates
Brothers were of course also big builders but may have been better
known for Hampton Boats. The iron boats could all be described by
other names - railway, tube boat, station, hotholer etc.

Paul