Hull-built Victorian steam dredger found in Norway

RESTING PLACE: The serene backdrop in Norway for the hut housing the steam-powered dredger built in Hull. Photographs by Bryan Slaughter

Now & Then, a column by Angus Young

Retired engineer makes discovery on camping trip

A rare piece of Hull’s maritime history was the last thing Bryan Slaughter expected to come across when he arrived at a campsite in Norway.

But that’s exactly what he found after parking his campervan for the night.

The retired engineer, who worked at St Andrew’s Dock in the days when half of Hull’s trawling fleet was still steam-powered, now lives in Norway with his wife and was holidaying in the Telemark region at the time.

“I came here twenty-five years ago when jobs in the Merchant Navy were hard to find,” he said. “I stayed here and retired a few years ago.

“We had re-routed our tour due to flooding in the area we had planned to visit so we ended up in the county of Telemark by accident and at a campsite in the town of Lunde.

“The campsite turned out to be really well appointed as most sites are in Norway so after setting up our campervan we set off to walk our two whippets and soon found the dredger.”

There, moored in water and protected by an open-sided wooden-roofed structure, was what Bryan immediately recognised as an old steam-powered dredger complete with an onboard crane.

As a Hull lad, he also recognised the distinctive vintage crane.

An information board next to the boat confirmed his thoughts. It stated the dredger had originally been built in Hull and brought to Norway in 1890 to work on the construction of the locks on the Telemark Canal.

The 105km-long waterway actually consists of two canals. It’s almost certain the dredger was used to complete the later one which has not been changed or modernised since. All the locks along the route are still operated manually while the canal itself has a total height difference of 72 metres.

Thanks to the information board, Bryan discovered the dredger had been used until it was retired in the 1960s – around the same time he started work as an apprentice fitter on the fish dock in Hull.

He also believes it was originally made by Hull engineering firm Priestmans although this has yet to be confirmed.

‘IT WILL STILL WORK’: The Hull-made Victorian steam dredger in the Telemark region of Norway

“In the research I’ve done since coming across it I’ve tried to find out who built the machinery. There were various companies active at the time who could have made it and I’ve had some communication with people who have a connection with Priestmans.

“One guy in particular says Priestmans could not have produced it but from my research I’ve found they could have. And other similar companies in the area were unlikely to be building dredgers. It’s all a bit of a minefield.”

Based at a foundry bought by his father in Williamson Street in East Hull, William Dent Priestman established the family-run engineering firm in 1870. Three years later his brother Samuel joined the business which became known as Priestman Brothers.

The company’s first order was an unusual one – a paddle steamer for Peru. A British engineer working for the South American country’s government had written to William asking for a price to build it.

Priestman’s low quote was accepted but the job proved too big for the company’s yard so nearby land was rented to lay the keel. In the event, the company built everything, from the hull and the steam engine to the paddle wheels and the crew’s accommodation.

The next major order, from a consortium of wealthy London-based businessmen, was equally strange as it involved providing ‘winch and grab’ machinery to recover a suspected haul of shipwrecked gold from the sea off Spain.

IN DEMAND: A Priestmans steam dredger in action in Crooks River, Botany Bay, Australia, in 1888

No gold was found during the nine-month search but the crane and grab bucket designed by William for the job inspired him to build a better one and in 1878 he secured a patent for it, subsequently selling the firm’s purpose-built steam dredger to the Hull Dock Company.

In the following year the dredger was taken to the World Exhibition in Sydney, Australia, to showcase this pioneering piece of engineering made in Hull. Soon the Priestman dredgers complete with steam-powered cranes with grab buckets were in big demand.

As well as being deployed locally on the expansion of Hull’s docks and on dredging work on the River Hull, they were also put to work around the world.

An 1891 company advert proudly lists 14 different governments as customers, including in China, Chile and Denmark. Offices were opened in London followed by a factory in Philadelphia.

Of around 500 dredgers built by the company only three still survive today. As well as the one Bryan believes is a Priestmans’ crane in Norway, the remains of another are stored in a museum in Swansea while the third is in Australia.

Two land-cased dockside cranes built by Priestmans in the 1890s also survive in Australia where volunteers have recently carried out restoration work on them.

INTEREST: Plans are being made to restore the historic machine

Back in Norway, the absence of a manufacturer’s nameplate means Bryan can’t be 100 per cent certain that it’s a Priestmans’ dredger but he’s convinced it is.

Despite stumbling across it by accident, he’s also now taking an active part in discussions over a potential restoration project for the vessel.

He said: “Some remedial work was carried out in the 1990s and since then it had been moved about a bit.

“It now resides in an open-sided shed at the side of the canal near one of the locks. It’s in a slightly sorry state.

“I suspect that even though it is over 100 years old it will, with a bit of care and attention, continue to run.

“The assembly is in three parts – the steam-driven crane, with all its gears and accessories; the grab used for dredging and a boiler to generate the steam.

“It’s the boiler that is the cause of concern because it may be corroded internally and a technical inspection will be required to determine this.

“Then, the whole lot is sitting on top of a barge that is built of wood that can only be described as being of significant proportions. A lot of the wood needs replacing.”

Known locally as ‘Mudder’n’, the dredger currently has two parties with ownership interests in it – the local council and the Telemark Canal Friends’ Association.

With agreement already reached on the need for restoration, a steering group is now being formed and Bryan is hoping to play a part when work starts.

Closer to home, you can see a 1921 Priestman land excavator – known as Ditcher Model Number 1 – at Hull’s Streetlife Museum in High street along with an original Priestman oil engine from 1894, the only surviving example of the world’s first internal combustion engine to successfully use oil.