Narrowboat home is lost under waves

[Josher]

Sad but all still smiling!

 

Friday 6 January 2012 Goole Courier

 

SINKING: Norman and Pauline Brown with their cat Sammy and dog Billy. Their Narrow Boat sank at Rawcliffe Bridge.

 

AN elderly couple lost their home, after 15 foot waves on a district canal caused their narrowboat to sink. Pauline and Norman Brown, whose barge sank at Rawcliffe Bridge last Wednesday, were just able to save their pet cat and 24 year old dog, Billy, before their boat, Little Nell, met its watery end. “It was just freak weather,” said Norman, aged 69. “It was around 2pm and the weather changed dramatically. The water was very rough and the waves were ten and 15 feet high. They burst the canopy at the front of the boat and then the water started to get into the barge.” Norman heroically managed to steer Little Nell to the bank, and was then able to get Pauline, and pets Billy and Sam to shore. “But the boat didn’t go without a fight,” Norman said. “We got to the riverbank and it took her about half an hour to go down. We tried to save her but she sank about half an hour after we got on dry land.”

 

The couple have been living on their narrowboat, which they bought 25 years ago, for the past eight years and had travelled from the Blue Water Marina at Thorne, where Little Nell was berthed, to spend the New Year at Rawcliffe Bridge. “It was very bad luck really,” Norman continued. We were just 100 yards away from the marina when it happened. If we’d got in there, we’d have been safe.” They are still waiting to hear which of their possessions are salvageable. We’ll have to wait until they’ve got the boat to the surface before we know anything,” Norman said. “It is our home, so everything we own was on there.” However, the kindness of their fellow boat enthusiasts and the people of Rawcliffe Bridge were the silver lining on the couple’s storm cloud.

 

The owner of the Blue water Marina is lending them a narrowboat to live on temporarily, until their insurance cash comes through and Paul Smith, owner of the village’s Black Horse pub, put them up for free whilst they stayed in Rawcliffe Bridge. Fellow boat lover Nigel Lipp attempted to help the couple save the boat and also gave them the use of his motorhome as they faced their first night of homelessness. “I could see they needed a bit of help and if you see people in trouble you help don’t you?” Nigel, who also lives on his boat, said: “We tried to secure the boat but it was too far gone by then and we just had to watch it sink. It must be upsetting for them to lose their home.”

[KevMc]

It must have been a terrifying experience ...... I have no idea where Rawcliffe Bridge is but I think I will be avoiding anywhere that can generate 15ft waves

[cheshire~rose]

How terrible and such an awful shock for the couple. I hope the insurance sort them out as soon as possible but inevitably there will be so many things they have lost which are irreplaceable. It is certainly good to see they are smiling after their ordeal and I hope they can continue to do so. Thankfully they managed to save their pets and they got off physically unharmed.

[Dyad]

It must have been a terrifying experience ...... I have no idea where Rawcliffe Bridge is but I think I will be avoiding anywhere that can generate 15ft waves

 

It's near Goole where the M62 meets the M18. It's quite touching that there were so many offers of help for the couple.

[carlt]

Always a shocking experience and respect to everyone who has mucked in and helped them.

 

A 24 year old dog though! I thought Tommy was old at 17.

[Chickadee]

So sad, glad they have people looking out for them. 15ft waves though! Blimey! And a 24 year old dog wow!

[WJM]

15 feet?! You sure?!

[john6767]

What waterway is it on?

[jim and pat dalton]

Its on the Aire Calder

 

I'm completely puzzled by this story?

Sorry not trying to be mean just trying to understand the events

 

 

I Google earthed it, am I looking in the right place? Ive found the right pub by the bridge thats for sure

 

How can a location like this have a 15ft wave and waves to 10 feet with Goole and its lock nearby and lots of houses in the village and sharp bends in the other direction. How could a 15ft wave and other high waves be contained by the canal without reports of houses being swamped and the nearby river and fields being breached?

 

Surely national news!!!!

 

They wouldn't be on the river if they were trying to get to the marina on the canal. Yet they quoted the "river bank"

 

I feel very sorry for this couple and hope they can be back on the water ASAP with everthing resolved and they are luck to be alive.

 

I just cant get my head around this event btw passed by there at about midnight before hand (nice ish evening relative to rest of UK)

 

They had come from Thorne, were they on the river then? or can anyone explain how we get regular waves of 10ft and more on a very ordinary canal, I'm very interested in the full story

 

http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppage/detail/6079/Rawcliffe+Bridge+near+Goole

 

 

Jim

Edited January 6, 2012 by jim and pat dalton

[churchward]

5 or 15ft they have sadly lost their boat and home. Thankfully they are safe and have saved what is likely to be their most precious cargo. The pets.

 

Despite the reputation for meanness with money I have always known many of the good people of Yorkshire and Hull to be generous of spirit and help out when the chips are down. They seem to have risen to the challenge again, respect to them.

[steven wilkinson]

I would say you just can't get waves that big on a UK canal! Obviously this would have been a terrifying experience for the couple involved, and their very old dog - and I think these events must have had a bearing on their judgement of wave height!

 

Fair play to all those involved in helping and supporting the couple. I hope they get sorted very soon!

[carlt]

Despite the reputation for meanness with money

Yorkshire folk are 'mean' with money because most of us haven't got any.

 

Things and practical help, on the other hand, are given out generously.

[AJLintern]

Wouldn't a bilge pump sort out any water that entered the boat? If it took half an hour to sink where was the water entering?

[carlt]

How could a 15ft wave and other high waves be contained by the canal without reports of houses being swamped and the nearby river and fields being breached?

 

When Lucy sank I was wading through shoulder deep water, whilst getting my family safely off the boat, even though the actual depth was less than 3 feet.

 

It's strange how, when disaster strikes, adrenaline exaggerates the danger, making you act with greater urgency.

[cheshire~rose]

Wouldn't a bilge pump sort out any water that entered the boat? If it took half an hour to sink where was the water entering?

It reads as if the water had broken through a cratch cover and so probably filling the well deck and entering front doors? A bilge pump would only work if you happened to have a mobile one handy and I would not have wanted to be scrabbling around in the well deck on a sinking boat in those conditions. Perhaps a young and fit person might have managed but the couple did the right thing to be safe on bank I am sure

[by'eck]

Very sad to hear of the loss - but 15 foot waves

 

A case of never ruin a good story with the truth

[AJLintern]

Oh I kind of assumed boats were fitted with a bilge pump in both cabin and engine bilge!

[magpie patrick]

They had come from Thorne, were they on the river then? or can anyone explain how we get regular waves of 10ft and more on a very ordinary canal, I'm very interested in the full story

 

 

Jim

 

I don't think you can describe the Aire and Calder as a very ordinary canal, it is very wide, very deep and very straight in places. On the River Severn Val and I encountered waves over two feet high when down below very low banks. On the G and S, it is certainly possible for the wind to make waves several inches high, perhaps a foot or more and the spray as you hit them to then be thrown over the cabin. In the extreme winds we've had recently, I can see a freak series of events ripping a canopy off and the throwing enough water around to create a problem, and of course once the boat is down a bit and wallowing the trouble gets worse

[lewisericeric]

How awful - I had a dream on Wednesday night that our boat sank. I was dreaming that i'd left a tea pot on the roof (OK, I know this is ridiculous but might lighten an otherwise depressing thread up!).....Anyway, the teapot was on the roof and I was trying to get it back in just incase the wind blew it off. Well, I stepped on to the roof to get it (I dont know why I had to get on the roof to get the teapot off the roof) and the whole front of the boat just sank instantly. It was awful!

 

I woke up in a cold sweat and then couldn't sleep all night because of the continuing wind outside!

[Guest]

Tim (mrsmelly) who is on the A&CN did mention the other day the size of the 'waves' on the navigation and whilst not 15 feet clearly they were significant enough for comment.

 

I'd go with the theory about the drama of it all affecting recollections possibly with a bit of 'journalistic licence' thrown in for good measure.

 

and yes good that they are all OK.

[Mick_B]

How awful - I had a dream on Wednesday night that our boat sank. I was dreaming that i'd left a tea pot on the roof (OK, I know this is ridiculous but might lighten an otherwise depressing thread up!).....Anyway, the teapot was on the roof and I was trying to get it back in just incase the wind blew it off. Well, I stepped on to the roof to get it (I dont know why I had to get on the roof to get the teapot off the roof) and the whole front of the boat just sank instantly. It was awful!

 

I woke up in a cold sweat and then couldn't sleep all night because of the continuing wind outside!

Steppin on the roof and making it sink..... DIET PLEEEEEEZ

[mrsmelly]

I don't think you can describe the Aire and Calder as a very ordinary canal, it is very wide, very deep and very straight in places. On the River Severn Val and I encountered waves over two feet high when down below very low banks. On the G and S, it is certainly possible for the wind to make waves several inches high, perhaps a foot or more and the spray as you hit them to then be thrown over the cabin. In the extreme winds we've had recently, I can see a freak series of events ripping a canopy off and the throwing enough water around to create a problem, and of course once the boat is down a bit and wallowing the trouble gets worse

 

We are on the exposed Aire and Calder at the moment. In the past few days the weather has been the worst we have encountered in well over 20 years as liveaboards. We have had waves bashing us about where we are moored that have kept us awake all night and hitting the stern of the boat and breaking OVER the top of the boat and we are higher than a narrowboat at the stern. The location this poor unfortunate couple where in is not clear to me. Rawcliffe bridge is on the canal and Rawcliffe is near the tidal ouse. If they had been on the tidal ouse in that weather they should not have been there it would have been similar to crossing the Irish sea. If on the canal section the waves couldnt be that high but this location is a very very different place to the narrow canals of the midlands. I hope the insurance company pay them out as it must have been dreadfull.

Just been thinking I think Rawcliffe is actualy on the River Aire, again a very serious river not to be on in the weather of the last few days.

Edited January 6, 2012 by mrsmelly

[Mac of Cygnet]

I've moored several times at Rawcliffe Bridge (in preference to Goole). Although the canal is wide and deep, making for an uncomfotable trip in a gale, 15ft waves would be totally impossible - I suspect the newspaper of getting this wrong as usual. Also, there is no 'marina' at the site - just moorings with pontoons on a wide stretch. It certainly would have been a terrifying experience, though. Glad to see the Black Horse (canalside) is up and running again, after being closed for a couple of years or more.

[lewisericeric]

Steppin on the roof and making it sink..... DIET PLEEEEEEZ

If only, the funny thing is i'm only about 10stone!

[Hairy-Neil]

Also, there is no 'marina' at the site - just moorings with pontoons on a wide stretch.

 

You're splitting hairs, but agreed, baisn or layby would be a more accurate term than marina

 

CLICKY

Edited January 6, 2012 by Hairy-Neil