EAW002729 ENGLAND (1946). The Montague L Meyer Ltd timber storage site on Ditton Marsh, Widnes, 1946

incorrect, from Facebook A Short History of the OAKDALE

1929 the materials were ordered to construct 4 Mersey Flats, but the slump came along and then the Depression. In 1936 one was built called the FRED ABEL then the War came along.



After the War there was a steel shortage and so the OAKDALE was started in 1949 and launched on 15 September 1951, she worked for them until 1963 when Abel’s ceased trading and was sold to Rea's who then sold her in 1969 To Saint Thomas church Lydiate to use as a youth club .then she was sold to Frank Boothby Owner of restaurant boat Roland based in burscough who wanted to make her into a floating restaurant but that fell through and then I bought her for £300 in 1976 After some repairs and had it tow down the canal from burcough to liverpool to the yard of Bootle barges company in February 1977



The OAKDALE is 72' 6" long, 15' 9" beam, 6’ 6” moulded depth, she is 66 reg ton gross, 63 reg ton net, displacement in working order 52 tons, her official number is 183820, cargo capacity 120 tons. She is of composite construction. Iron frames run the length of her parallel body with wood frames from the forward and aft bulkhead. She has a green heart bottom and from the turn of the bilges to deck level is of oak, her decks are of Oregon pine.



She is second-to-last vessel built by Richard Abel's and the second-to-last wooden Mersey Flat ever built. The last, RUTH BATE, has been scrapped and thus the only other Flat still in existence is the Flat MOSSDALE. This smaller vessel is at Ellesmere Port Boat Museum and has been the recipient of a National Lottery Fund grant to help preserve her. She is a Chester-built Flat that was later bought, and rebuilt, by Abel's of Runcorn. OAKDALE was designed to work on Mersey and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal