Liddesdale was one of a number of these clinker canoes built by the Ray Motor Company and other boatyards on the Thames, mainly to service the fastgrowing popularity of day trips on the various parts of the river intersected by train lines. Teddington, Waltonon-Thames, Chertsey, Weybridge, Marlow, Maidenhead and Henley all had rowing skiffs for hire, and these powered canoes were the crème de la crème of the hire fleets. At a time when the typical house cost £300, a car £250 and the average wage was £161, these canoes represented power and wealth for those who could afford one. The first electric canoe built by The Ray Motor Company in 1920 was Aris, and cost £460. The three-year project to research and restore Liddesdale has cost nearly £150,000, much of it raised from donations started with £9,000 to buy the boat, from two benefactors keen get the project under way.
Nowadays, at a time when it’s hard enough to find a charging point for electric cars between London and Oxford, it may surprise readers to learn that back in the 1920s there were 36 charging points on the Thames between Teddington and Lechlade, with more than 400 electric boats registered on the river during that time.
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Need For Speed
Saving lives at sea has always been bound to the speed of rescue, from the first rowing boats to the 60-knot, all-weather motorboats of today
ROW YOUR BOAT
There has been a steady rise in recreational rowing over the past few years, and the choice can be bewildering. What’s the right boat for you?
Traditional Tool
JOINER’S NAME STAMP
Classic misuse of a word
Real classic ownership involves rot, rust and reward
SCUD MISSILE
Herreshoff’s newly-restored Bar Harbor 31 Scud lit up the classic racing scene in the Med in 2020 with a double win at Cannes and Saint-Tropez
BOSUN'S BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man
Vietnam vet, park ranger, dentist, small-craft conservator and tugboat skipper.... meet Ranger Doug!
CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl
Chances at Albert Strange ownership don’t come up often, and Sheila II is the quintessential Strange – and one with a great history, too
AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls
A friend and I once decided that walking might make a change from sailing. So we set forth to walk from Branscombe to Bigbury, a 100-mile stretch of the south-west coastal path marked by knackering climbs and knee-wrenching descents.
Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!
A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.
