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PRESS INFORMATION: PAT FINDS ITS WEY HOME AFTER 80 YEARS |
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Issue Date: 13 January 2005 Ref: MKM05/01 (Revised) The only surviving example of a motor boat made by Edward Hayes of Stony Stratford has returned to Milton Keynes after 80 years. Built in 1924 “The Pat” is a 45 foot tug weighing around 30 tonnes that spent its working life on the River Thames. This unique boat, renamed “The Wey” during the 1930s, has been given to Milton Keynes Museum by owners the Environment Agency. It was transported to the Museum on 23 December by CMG Rescue Services and is now on public display. During her working life The Pat undertook some unusual assignments. In 1940 she was used to break the ice on a frozen River Thames, shunting backwards and forwards, after the bows had been fitted with additional iron plating. She was also used to transport fuel for larger boats during the Second World War. In 1959 she was used by the Metropolitan Police to find and remove a car from the river in which a young couple had committed suicide. In 1966 she helped to help recover an old sailing boat that had sunk. |
It was highly unusual, possibly unique, for vessels of The Pat’s size to be made so far from the tidal waters and rivers for which they were designed. Most boat builders are located on the coast or on major navigable waterways. Like other vessels made by Edward Hayes The Pat was built in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire and towed by traction engine to the nearest navigable water, the Buckingham Arm of the Grand Union Canal, over a mile away at Old Stratford, Northamptonshire. Because of her length she was launched sideways into the canal and towed to London by horse where the engine was fitted. The Pat was one of the last of over 300 boats of various sizes built by Edward Hayes. The smallest were 15 foot motor launches and the largest were over 85 feet long. The biggest vessels were made in sections and assembled abroad at customers’ sites. Edward Hayes was one of the first companies to experiment with this type of prefabricated boat construction. Early vessels were steam powered but later designs like The Pat were driven by diesel engines. Edward Hayes was a major manufacturer of boats and agricultural machinery based in Stony Stratford between the 1860s and 1920s. The company built up a considerable reputation for the design and manufacture of steam launches. Frederick Rebbeck, who completed his apprenticeship at the company, went on to work on the design of the Titanic, later became chairman of Harland and Wolff in Belfast and was knighted. Boats made by Edwards Hayes were delivered all over the world to work on rivers, lakes and inland waterways. Many found themselves in unusual situations. One is known to have transported pilgrims across the Sea of Galilee, one operated as gun boat in South America and another was used to chase submarines during the second world war. The Pat was lifted from the Thames on Wednesday 22 December and transported by road to Milton Keynes Museum overnight. She was placed on a special support platform at the Museum on Thursday 23 December. The Pat will be on display every weekend until Easter and then Wednesday to Sunday, 11am-4.30pm. “The Pat has gone straight on display and I am sure she will create a lot of interest locally and further afield,” says Bill Griffiths. “We would love to find more items made by or associated with Hayes including boats and agricultural equipment.” The Pat is a major addition to the growing collection at Milton Keynes Museum. Other significant exhibits include the largest tram car ever built for use in England, on the Wolverton & Stony Stratford tramway, and the earliest known steam powered cultivators, built by William Smith of Woolstone (now in Milton Keynes). The Museum has thousands of exhibits associated with the history and development of North Bucks and South Northants. |
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Milton Keynes Museum is an independent museum run by a charitable Trust with almost all work carried out by a team of volunteers. It is situated on the site of a farmstead, once occupied by tenants of the Radcliffe Trust, whose rents paid for the running of the infirmary, library and observatory at Oxford. It lies of the edge of Wolverton, the world’s first “railway town”. Started by a group that saw Milton Keynes as a threat to their heritage it has become a thriving local social history museum with a wide range of exhibits. Collections include social, domestic, industrial and agricultural items with a connection to the area. The displays follow the history of the Milton Keynes area, including North Buckinghamshire and South Northamptonshire, from 1800 to the present day. During this period the area changed greatly, culminating in the decision in the 1960s to create the UK's last "new city" of Milton Keynes. For further press information please contact:
Bill Griffiths, Museum Director. or
Keith Wootton, Public Relations Consultant |
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