42B The Snark

42B was built in Portadown in 1913 for P & H Egan Ltd, Tullamore who had her weighed in Killaloe in 1913. She was used as a general cargo boat doing a scheduled run to and from Dublin every week.

A typical weekly timetable would have entailed leaving Tullamore early Monday morning to arriving in Dublin Wednesday morning. The crew would have to unload the boat of up to 50 ton of cargo and reload her before departure Wednesday evening. Typical cargos to Dublin included malt, whiskey, grain, with general cargo and Guinness on the back load. Back to Tullamore by Saturday where she would be unloaded and reloaded ready for the next run on Monday morning.

With the decline of canal traffic Egan's sold her on to S McKenzie in Dublin. She was subsequently converted in the early 1960's by a CIE engineer called Costello who also fitted a 1940's six cylinder Leyland diesel engine and a Commer gearbox of similar vintage.

She changed hands a number of times in the following years. Some of the owners included members of the Loraine Cycling Club in Dublin, Dr McGarry and Mr O'Reardon of Athlone who bought her in 1974. Joe McCoole and his wife Joan have had her since 1981

The interior layout has been changed very little since the 1970's, but everything above deck has been replaced in steel. It was fitted with hydraulic steering in 1999, replacing the wire rope one. The bow was re-plated in 2001 and the bilges were addressed in Shannon Harbour in 2005.

"Snark" was based in Athlone for years, spent some time in the 1980's in Hazelhatch but is now based in Shannon Harbour. It is used as a family boat cruising the Shannon and the Erne and with a family of six kids she gets a lot of use all year round.