Bow Hauliers Brigs and Severn Schooners

Running Gloucester's Link to the Sea and the World

At low tide the Severn could get shallow enough to walk across, and the strong currents tested even the best captains. Some Gloucester citizens took advantage of this and became `bow hauliers'. These were teams of men who, by hand, pulled ships through the difficult stretches of water. Unfortunately for the bow hauliers their jobs eventually disappeared. By the 1830s it had become cheaper to move ships with horses than humans.

In the wide Severn Estuary and on the open sea trows became difficult to control. A different kind of ship was needed. Valuable commodities, such as coal from the Forest of Dean and salt from Droitwich, had to go to where they were needed on the coasts of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Brigs and schooners were the ships of choice. There were hundreds bringing back cargoes as diverse as china clay from Cornwall, grain from Ireland and Welsh roofing slates to the many little ports along the Severn and to Gloucester. In fact they brought most things that householders needed. Things changed in the 19th century. Instead of the river ships used the new canal to get to Gloucester. By the 1900s, railways and lorries were taking over and soon the Severn trading sailing ships had gone forever.