Bessie is a historic, single ended riveted iron day boat, built in 1895^[1] for the Hartshill Iron Company. It is now owned by theBlack Country Living Museum,Dudley,West Midlands, England, where it is based.^[2]

These open 'day' boats worked short distances carrying bulk cargoes such as coal and iron ore. The name refers to the short journey, where the crew would take the boat to its destination and then swap to another, empty boat to sail home the same day. Though often referred to as a 'Joey', a Joey was a double prow ended vessel that moved the rudder from one end to the other, so it didn't need to be turned around in a congested canal Although most working boats at the time were wooden, larger firms used riveted iron boats like this one as though more expensive to build they lasted longer. From the 1930s Bessie was used byStewarts & Lloyds tube works inHalesowen.

It is now owned by the Black Country Living Museum, where it is based and can be seen dockside in the Lord Ward's Canal Arm at the museum.

• Black Country Living Museum official website
• National Historic Ships Register

This article about a specific civilian ship or boat is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Canal boats of the United Kingdom
• Black Country Living Museum
• Ships and vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels
• 1895 ships
• Individual ship or boat stubs

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2017
• Use British English from February 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• All stub articles