Saul Junction c 1960

Boats and boat lovers

By Dennis Floyd

Photo:The yacht YOYO moored near Junction House, 1959.

The yacht YOYO moored near Junction House, 1959.

Donated by Dennis Floyd

Photo:Another view of the YOYO

Another view of the YOYO

Donated by Dennis Floyd

Photo:Boats moored at Wheatenhurst, the Junction in the distance.

Boats moored at Wheatenhurst, the Junction in the distance.

Donated by Dennis Floyd

Photo:Mrs A Perrett and her dog Wendy on the Glosser, a 72 foot barge.

Mrs A Perrett and her dog Wendy on the Glosser, a 72 foot barge.

Donated by Dennis Floyd

Dennis has given us photos of his yacht YOYO which he kept at Saul Junction around about 1960. He also has memories of two families who lived in their boats all the year round.

The YOYO

This was built, not from a design but from a scale  model in the traditional way.  It was 32 ft long and built by strip planks in a back garden in Gloucester and then load on its side on a coal lorry to get through the street to the docks where it was completed.

The Beth

The Beth was  an old torpedo boat . The owner spent a lot of money and time on her.  He owned the Pheonix glass company, I believe, which was a rival to Pyrex.  He also owned race horses and when asked for a tip for the Grand National he replied " That's gambling".

This page was added by Iris Capps on 10/06/2009.
Comments about this page

Please note that YOYO was owned by Gordon Higgs and was built in his garden at Gloucester from a model, to his own design.It was transported to the docks on its side by a coal lorry.

By Dennis Floyd
On 19/06/2009

This is an interesting page in that we moored our narrowboat 'Somerset of Saul' on the Stroudwater between 1956 and 1960. I don't remember either of the two vessels mentioned, which I find quite interesting because I mapped the position of most of the boats, at least those towards the Walk Bridge end of the canal. Immediately astern of us was a former WW1 American submarine chaser. Ahead of us was Peter Scott's former narrowboat, at that time being lived on by a family. The man of the boat was a lorry driver who boasted that he had been involved in three fatal accidents. Right by the bridge was a very smart former landing craft personnel lived in by a neat couple who rather disapproved of us kids mucking about in our sailing dinghy. Further down towards the Junction was an expensive yacht called 'Tranquillo', and a not so expensive cruiser 'Coombe Royal' which was riddled with dry rot. There was an old narrowboat 'Nelson' with a single cylinder Petter hot bulb engine. It was a wonderful place then and I have many memories of it.

By David Wheeler
On 14/08/2009
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