Abstract: An apparatus for picking up, carrying and depositing loads is made as an attachment for a machine such as a backhoe having an articulated boom provided with a hydraulic ram normally used to operate a digging bucket. The attachment includes co-operating frames pivotally connected together as a grapple assembly readily mountable on an outer end of the articulated boom. One frame is supported to swing about a transverse axis normal to the longitudinal axis of the boom. The other frame has an end releasably secured to the boom. The swingable frame is pivotally connected to the ram through linkage originally intended to operate the bucket and the grapple assembly is then operable by the same hydraulic controls and power units of the backhoe.