Starvationers

Roger Watson.  Focus on History.  The Transport Revolution.  London:  Longman Group Ltd., 1971.

In 1759, work started on the Bridgewater Canal in England, built to move coal from the Duke of Bridgewater's coal mine at Worsley to Manchester.  The two smaller tunnels on the right lead into the coal mine, which consisted of 46 miles of underground workings.  The boats in front carried coal, and were so narrow  and skeletal in appearance that they were called "starvationers."  Inside the tunnels, men laid on their backs in the boats and moved the vessels by walking their feet along the roof of the tunnel.  More information is available from the Boat Museum Society.