Wyvern Shipping Co Ltd

Canal holidays and cruising is designed for every member of the family. Canalboat hire (rental) brings the English countryside alive with the excitement and adventures of boating. English canals offer a real change from every day routine and bring one in touch with a new unexpected England remote from main roads and railways, free from crowded motor coaches and noisy trippers, peaceful, pleasant and unspoilt.

Our History

The Wyvern Shipping Company Limited was founded in 1953 as a carrying company with three pairs of narrow boats.

The boats mainly carried coal from the Coventry coal fields to the London area and timber from Brentford to Birmingham. However times were already changing and in 1956 it became clear that carrying would continue to decline and cruising holidays would become the canal trade of the future.

Some boats were sold and others converted. 'Benevolence' being converted into an 8 berth, 'Duchess of Athol' was cut in half to make two 4 berths. The stern half named 'Lady Flora' was destined to travel backwards for the rest of her life. An ex London Tug 'Tyburn' was purchased, renamed 'Perseverance' and converted into a six berth cruiser along with the ex horse drawn icebreaker 'Princess'.

In 1960 the company was bought by Major and Mrs. Griffin. The company also ran a passenger boat and over a period of 30 years operated five different boats the first of which was horse drawn.

In 1965 workshops and a modem dry-dock were built. As new craft joined the fleet the original boats were sold and by 1978 the whole fleet had been purpose built in the new workshops.

In the spring of 1979 Major & Mrs. Griffin retired and their two sons, John & James, took over. During the past 25 years John and James have continued to build up the fleet and Wyvern operates 30 of the finest narrow boats. As you can see Wyvern Shipping has an extensive tradition and envied reputation of building, maintaining and hiring luxury narrow boats.

Over the past 47 years many thousands of customers have found the fastest way of slowing down is to have a relaxing holiday on a Wyvern Shipping Co. Ltd. narrowboat. Indeed last year in excess of 70% of our trade came from previous clients and their recommendations.
Even if you have no previous narrowboat hire experience you will be surprised just how easy it is to become a confident skipper of your narrowboat. (Some people call them 'barges' or 'charterboats'.) All the canalboats are purpose built for easy and responsive handling and if you have any doubts over any aspect of waterway cruising we will do all we can to assist. All our hirers are taken for a free tuition cruise by one of our experienced pilots at the start of your boating holiday and shown through a lock. Instruction continues until you are confident of how to handle the boat. This will insure a most enjoyable and memorable boating holiday.

Short Breaks
How about a few days away on a Wyvern boat?
If you have less than a week to spare or you would like to try a short cruise before booking your main holiday our short breaks are just the thing.

Weekend Breaks
We are able to offer weekend cruises on the canals from 1.30 p.m. Friday afternoon finishing at 9.30 a.m. Monday morning. These cruises are available aboard all Friday start boats. If preferred the boat may be picked up any time before 3.00 p.m. (by prior arrangement) on Friday and returned Sunday evening instead of Monday morning. The hire period is from 4.00pm. but we aim to have the boats ready for you by 1.30pm.

Mid Week Breaks
Hire starts at 1.30 p.m. on a Monday and finishes at 9.30 a.m. on a Friday morning.
Saturday boats may be booked for shorter periods than a week but these can only be confirmed at two weeks notice. Please phone with your requirements. Click to see our 3 or 4 day routes.

Winter Breaks
We will be offering winter breaks again this year until 15th December and from 13th February 2004.
These breaks may start and finish any day to suit you.

10, 11 Day Hire or Longer
Friday/Monday boats can be booked for ten day hire from Friday through to Monday week or 11 day hire Monday to Friday week. These boats can also be hired for two, two and a half or three weeks

Come and See Us
We are always pleased to invite customers to view the boats before (or after) deciding to hire. The best time to see our boats during the season (April to October inclusive) is midday on a Monday, Friday or Saturday when the boats are being serviced.

We offer:

• Canal boat holidays
• Boat hire

Services for your boat

• Boat service & repairs
• Diesel
• Bottled gas
• Pump out
• Dry dock
• Wet dock