Joseph Hewer (1857-?)

Registration District of Stroud

1857. Birth in the Sub-district of Bisley in the County of Gloucester

No. 400

December 15 1896

DROWNING CASE AT SALTFORD An inquest was held yesterday at the Crown Inn Saltford, before Mr Craddock, coroner, on the body of William Mees, who was drowned at Saltford on the 10th inst. Joseph Hewer stated that deceased was a boatman, of Bradford-on-Avon, and was 24 years of age. He (witness) was captain of the boat Knot. Whilst proceeding to Bristol they met the boat Curlew at Saltford going to Bath. The current was very strong at the time, and when the boats had passed each other the rope of the Curlew by some means caught Mees and threw him in the water. He saw him fall in but could render him no assistance as the current was so strong, and neither deceased nor himself could swim. Joseph Haltham said he saw the rope on the Curlew catch deceased on the chest and throw him overboard. He could render no assistance. He was 50 yards away when he saw Mees sink, and he could not swim. PC Trebey deposed to finding the body on the following morning about 50 yards from where he was supposed to have sunk. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death” but commented on men being employed at such work and unable to swim, and also not having a sufficient number of hands on board to work the boats properly.

THE RE-OPENED THAMES AND SEVERN CANAL.

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STAFFORDSHIRE TO CIRENCESTER BY WATER.

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CRUISE OF THE COAL BARGE “STAUNCH”.

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There is a popular lyric, of which a localised version is extant, whose numerous stanzas, set to a not exceedingly exhilarating melody, describes in picturesque detail the various and startling incidents in the “The Cruise of the Calabar.” Now, the ‘Calabar’ was a clipper boat, copper fastened fore and aft, she is said to have sailed the placid waters of the Thames and Severn Canal, and to have been capable of at least “two knots an hour,” and, in fact, she was to averred to be “the fastest boat on the whole canal, though only one ‘oss power.” We have not the poem to hand, but we have a vivid memory of the manifold dangers that beset the devoted craft, and thus:

And when she came to the Tunnel House,

A very dangerous part,

She ran bow on to a lump of coal,

Which wasn’t marked down in the chart.

The song also describes how neatly the ship weathered “the straits of Smerrel Bridges, where you can pass two at a time,” while still more thrilling was her escape from the rascally pirates who essayed her capture, but to whom she showed a clean pair of heels, thanks to the energy of all hands thus stimulated by her heroic commander:

“Put on full steam,” the Captain cried,

“For we are sorely pressed.”

And the Engineer from the bank replied

That “th’ ‘oss was a doin’ is best.”

Well, the good barge “Staunch” (owner and captain, Joseph Hewer, from the port of New Swindon, and a native of the famous inland shipping resort of Chalford) has not the stirring adventures of the “Calabar” to recount, but she has been traversing the same classic waterway and on Tuesday last she made the port of Cirencester with a cargo of some 37 tons of Staffordshire coal – the first consignment of water-borne coal that has reached the town for we are afraid to say how many years. The cargo was brought to the order of Messrs. F. Gegg and Co., coal merchants, of Cirencester, whose business is conducted at the Canal Wharf, and who therefore determined to charter a trial trip on the re-opened canal.

Captain Joseph Hewer, to whom belongs the honour of re-inaugurating what it may be hoped will be a considerable coal traffic on the old and historic waterway, has been in the boat business all his life. His father, Mr. Francis Hewer, of Chalford, broke him in when he was about seven years old, and when business on the Thames and Severn Canal fell off, owing to its increasingly dilapidated condition and the consequent difficulty of navigation, he took himself to New Swindon, and for 12 or 15 years he had four boats regularly plying between that place and Bristol. But three years ago the Wilts and Berks Canal, and although Captain Hewer had plenty of work – Messrs. Butt and Skurray, the millers, were willing to keep him regularly employed – he had to seek other occupation, and though he did not actually burn his boats, he broke up two, sold a third, and retained the fourth, appropriately named the “Staunch.” Naturally he looks back with regret to the interruption of his old calling – “I should have been a hundred pounds better off today if the Wilts and Berks Canal had kept going” – but, being an experienced “old salt,” if of the freshwater variety, he kept his weather eye open, and seeing that his boat was becoming more and more hopelessly stranded, he fifteen months ago headed for the Thames and Severn Canal via Latton, attracted thither by the restoration works in progress. For ten months the “Staunch” lay up at Latton Wharf, but two months ago she once more kissed her native waters. By way of testing her capabilities in a “sea way”, she carried some gravel from Cerney to Cirencester for Messrs. Gegg and Co., and some hundred tons of road stone from Siddington to Cerney Wick, and a month ago she entered on her Staffordshire voyage. Sailing “light” to Gloucester, she there took up a load of timber Baulks, which she carried to Old Hill, near Dudley, and then went some 25 miles further on to the Hednesford Colliery, Staffordshire, to embark Messrs. Gegg and Co.’s load of coal.

The homeward voyage was begun on Wednesday morning in the last week, the following several systems of navigation having been traversed:

Like the “Calabar,” the “Staunch” is a boat of one horse power, and Captain Hewer’s single horse hauled the “Staunch” to Staffordshire and back unaided, including the Severn stretch, which is sometimes accomplished by means of a tug. The 120 miles were covered in five and a half working days, divided by the following stopping places:1^st day, Birmingham; 2^nd day, Hambury [Hanbury] Wharf; 3^rd day Tewkesbury; 4^th day, Dudbridge, Stroud, where the “Staunch” lay up for the Sunday; 5^th day, Tunnel House, Coates; 6^th day (10 o’clock), Cirencester Wharf. The fifth day was no child’s play, for 29 locks had to be negotiated between Dudbridge and Coates (two of them on the Stroudwater Canal, and 27 on the Thames and Severn in the ascent from the valley to the summit level, and the dark recesses of the Sapperton tunnel had to be penetrated. The tunnel, nearly 2½ miles in length, was got through in 3¼ hours, the boat being propelled by means of tunnel sticks manipulated by Captain Hewer and his “mate” Richard Bentley. The canal was found to be in capital order throughout, including the tunnel, and at no point was there the slightest difficulty with the heavily loaded boat drawing 3 feet 7 inches of water. The tunnel Hewer found to be greatly improved as compared with his former experience of it, and the influx of water through the roof at Caseywell much reduced. As regards the commercial aspects of the undertaking, Captain Hewer accepted at the same rate as that charged by the railway companies, viz., 7s. 6d. per ton, so that assuming his load to be 37 tons his freight would come to £13 17s. 6d. the tolls he had to pay to the several navigations traversed amounted to between £5 and £6, and the balance is what is available for the labour, horse and other expenses, use of boat, &c. what is needed, of course, to make the venture successful is the development of a traffic in round timber to pay for the outward voyage.

We believe that Mr. E. N. Edmonds has had a cargo of corn carried to Kempsford; Mr. G. Durnell, of Watermoor, has had several cargoes of timber; and last Sunday a boat with 24 tons of road stone, carrier Mr. Barnes, reached Kempsford from the Gloucester end. Mr. P. J. Trouncer, of Chester Lodge, has this week placed an electric launch upon the canal.

Boats associated with Joseph Hewer

• Victory
• Alice
• Annie
• Staunch
• Knot
• Violet
• Fanny

Victory and Alice belonged to his father, Francis, as they are recorded as such in the Thames & Severn Canal tonnage records for 1 January to 31 May 1881. The 1881 census says that Francis employed two men and we can surmise that these were his son, Joseph, and his son-in-law, William Gardiner:

Most of the barges collected coal from Lydney or Bullo Pill (or roadstone from Bristol or Chepstow) and delivered to wharfs along the Stroudwater and Thames & Severn Canals as far as Chalford. Only a few passed over the summit to Cirencester and Lechlade. Those bringing coal from Bullo Pill entered the canal at Framilode …

… Around one third of the narrow canal boats made the short but potentially hazardous trip across the River Severn to collect coal from Bullo Pill on occasions. …

Table 2. Summary of Narrow Canal Boat Traffic on the Stroudwater Canal Jan-May 1881

Source: Hugh Conway-Jones, Traffic on the Stroudwater Canal 1881 (Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, April 2007), pages 2-5

On 28 February 1893, Annie was registered in Swindon to a Joseph Hewer of Ashton Keynes.

The news article from the Bristol Mercury in December 1896 refers to Joseph being captain of the Knot.

The 1904 article in the Wiltshire & Gloucestershire Standard states that Joseph had four boats – Staunch being one. It has been suggested elsewhere that he bought her in around 1899.

Joseph bought Violet in about 1927. Nothing is known about Fanny.

Source: based on information provided by Chris M. Jones in Narrowboat magazine, Summer 2009, page 44

What happened to Joseph Hewer after 1913?

We know little about what Joseph did after 1913. The following information is taken from a letter to Narrowboat magazine following a previous article about the 1904 voyage of Staunch:

Readers may wonder what happened to Hewer and Staunch. Records show that he moved away from the Gloucestershire area to Oxfordshire, working on the River Thames and Oxford Canal into the Midlands. In September 1912 he was looking for boating work by enquiring at the Oxford Canal toll office at Sutton Stop, and started doing trips for firms like Halls Oxford Brewery and Weedon Brothers of Goring, who traded as coal merchants from Benson wharf on the River Thames.

Staunch, being a ‘longboat’ designed for working on the Severn, was ideally suited for working on the Thames too, and a number of similar craft were used by various carriers in the area. She could load well over the 28-30 tons normally carried by Oxford boats. Because he was now working over the Oxford Canal, Staunch was subsequently weighed for gauging purposes at Hillmorton weighing dock as No. 5489 on 21^st November 1912.

Staunch was later sold to John Frederick Cox of Longford Wharf, Coventry, who traded as a coal merchant and factor, and scrap merchant. She probably ended her days there, as Cox had quite a number of old craft working as day boats from the pits around Bedworth to Coventry Power Station at Sandy Lane, and various other works in Coventry.

After a spell working hired boats, Joseph replaced her with another second-hand craft named Violet, registered at Banbury on 18^th October 1927. What happened to Joseph Hewer after this I don’t know, but considering that he would be well into his sixties he probably retired.

Let’s hope captain Hewer’s story brings more information to light as he must surely be one of the last Wilts & Berks boatmen still working at the late 1920s.

Source: from email from Chris M. Jones in Narrowboat magazine, Summer 2009, page 44