I wonder ( and may be miles off with my guess ) there used to be a hansom cab - which was a cariage for hire - could it be some sort of aquatic equivalent - which has lost it's original meaning /intention .
It's a long long shot - J. A. Hansom an Inventor ( of the Cab amongst other things ) and Architect was born in York, and was apprenticed first in that town and then in Halifax - couldn't be that he designed some sort of ferryboat ??? After writing this,I don't think so either, but in a different time and place it might ahave made a good bluff.