As you will have seen through the history of the project, the fleet began with the craft Atlas. The fleet soon grew to a fleet of 10 craft which until recently is how the fleet remained. The fleet includes two boats that are out of water – a Piling Rig which forms a static display at Hatton Locks, Warwickshire, and an ice breaker called Birmingham which is on display at the BW yard at Tardebigge in Worcestershire.
There was one main craft change during the earlier days of the project which swapped Carina from the original fleet to Swift which remains very much within the fleet today.
Due to the clear need to rationalise the fleet of boats to ensure future sustainability, the decision was made to reduce the fleet by 3 craft (witih full support from the HLF). The decision was made by subjecting the craft to a set of criteria to help inform the decision. The boats that fell short were Atlas, Malus and Sagitta.
Atlas & Malus are on lease from BW to the Birmingham Canals Navigation Society (BCNS) and Coombeswood Canal Trust (CCT) – two canal societies based in the heart of the Birmingham Canals Navigation (BCN). To find out more about the BCNS, please visit www.bcn-society.co.uk or CCT, please visit www.hawnebasin.org.uk .
The Craft that make up the Fleet
To find out more about each craft, please explore our pages about each craft in the fleet.