Labour shortages brought women onto paired motor boats and unpowered butties carrying steel from London to Birmingham and coal back to canalside factories. The example of a new helm taking charge after one training trip conveys both the urgency of mobilization and the skill demanded by the work. The waterways also served as defensive obstacles, pillbox lines, and targets for German bombs and mines, linking civilian freight movement directly to home-front defense.
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Women boat crews and canals on the British home front
Women crews moved steel and coal along inland waterways after brief training, while the canals themselves became defended transport arteries and anti-invasion lines.