canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat February 2018 57
BOAT NAMES
A number of boats have names with
literary references such as The Merchant
of Little Venice and Forty Two being
Douglas Adams’s answer to ‘Life, the
Universe and Everything’. Its owner had
chosen an idyllic spot to moor in the long
pound leading to Avoncliff.
A couple of chaps seemed to me to be
very brave in naming their boats. When I
asked the present owner whether
Maelstrom was a harbinger of the
imminent bad weather. “No,” he replied,
he understood the boat had been named
after the wife of a previous owner who had
a bit of a temper.
When asked what the second lady
thought of the name of his boat The First
Lady, the skipper replied: “Not much
really...”
When it comes to boat names size really
doesn’t matter – or does it? Although by
no means the shortest boat on the cut, the
miniscule, 23ft My Newt made up for its
lack of size by having its name
emblazoned in foot-high lettering!
A quick trawl through Douglas Maes’s
Inland Waterways Boat Listing” P.1997 lent
to me by the present owner of Erskine May
lists a few boats with names relating to
size. I particularly like Along Shortly on a
20-footer.
As I passed A momentary loss of reason
its skipper was busy bashing in a mooring
pin with the biggest lump hammer I’ve
ever seen. In the circumstances I thought
it a wise precaution to offer up a silent
prayer that there wouldn’t be another
occurrence.
Moor and Peace brought to mind the
massed ranks of the Napoleonic French
and Russian armies. Sadly for its owner,
there was no peace a short distance away
as it was incredibly busy at Bradford on
Avon. Engine smoke, noise and confusion
reigned and conjured up echoes of the
Battle of Borodino.The owner of the Sea Otter aluminium
narrowboat Tin Tin laughed out aloud
when I politely suggested that perhaps a
more appropriate name might have been
Al Al.
A number of boat owners clearly relish
the slower pace of life on the cut. Good
examples include Slow Lorris and Ready,
Steady, Slow.
However, in the absence of any other
indication of the boat’s name, I can’t be
absolutely certain that the boat moored a
quarter of a mile from a major boat-hire
business was actually called FFS Slow
Down, which was hand painted on a
wooden panel propped up on its roof.
On many occasions I’ve been asked
what the name of my own boat Quidlibet
means. One chap even asked: “What does
it mean in Latin?” I honestly replied
Quidlibet. “No, no”, he said what does it
mean in Latin?” “Quidlibet,” I repeated but
in English it means what pleases you or
whatever you please.
So if you see there is Moor to Life than
Passing Wind then I guess you may also
see the meaning of Sailor Vee. CB