Building the Wilts and Berks Canal, 1793–1810

Abstract

He calculated that 6 or 8 men sailing in one ship between Leith and London could carry 100 tons of goods, and 50 broad-wheeled wagons, attended by 100 men and drawn by 400 horses could carry the same weight of goods. The typical coastal vessel of the 18th century carried about 100 tons of cargo whereas a typical broad-wheeled wagon was limited to a load of 2 tons, so Adam Smith’s figures seem reasonable, but his assumption of 8 horses per wagon may be overgenerous. Some 135 years earlier, in 1641, John Taylor, London’s water poet, had made almost the same calculation and come to the same conclusions. Taylor writes: