Operations
The boats were 65 feet (20 m) long, 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 m) wide and carried 22 tons of cargo when fully laden. The last narrowboat built on this canal was 'Grace Darling' in 1918 at the Godre'r Graig boat yard.
The opening of the canal caused an increase in industrial activity along the valley, with a number of manufacturing companies setting up works by its banks. Four short branch canals were constructed, and a network of tramways gradually linked mines and quarries to the canal. In 1804, 54,235 tons of coal and culm were carried, and profits were sufficient to enable a dividend of 3 per cent to be paid. Receipts and dividends rose steadily, reaching £10,522 and 14 per cent in 1840, while in 1860 they were £13,800 and 18 per cent. There are few records of how much traffic was carried, but estimates based on the amount of coal and culm shipped from Swansea Docks suggest around 386,000 tons in 1839. The opening of the Tennant Canal to Swansea Docks in 1824 resulted in the Swansea Canal's riverside wharfs being improved, and tolls were reduced to maintain trade levels.
The harbour facilities at Swansea were upgraded in 1852, when the river Tawe was diverted into a new channel to the east, and the original channel, which included the trans-shipment wharfs, became a floating harbour. A lock was constructed to give the canal boats direct access to the half-tide basin above the North Dock, and a loop of the canal was constructed along the edge of the new harbour.
Read more about this topic: Swansea Canal
Famous quotes containing the word operations:
“You can’t have operations without screams. Pain and the knife—they’re inseparable.”
—Jean Scott Rogers. Robert Day. Mr. Blount (Frank Pettingell)
“It may seem strange that any road through such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, when the snow is three or four feet deep, but at that season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost as a railway.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)