Destroyed boat recovered from canal

Last May, the Newbury Weekly News reported how the boat, built in 1939, and used in the war to carry men from larger ships back to port, sustained 90 per cent fire damage.
Thirty-eight-year-old Grant Greening-Steer, of Mount Road, Thatcham, spent hundreds of hours painstakingly restoring the 44-foot, timber framed boat.
He was left devastated when, on May 17 2013, it was destroyed when moored up at Tyle Mill Lock, near Sulhamstead, just days after he had finished the restoration - and with no insurance - he was left around £30,000 out of pocket..
After two failed attempts to move it by other companies, the boat was finally recovered at the third attempt earlier this month by Essex Boatyards.
Director at Essex Boatyards Ltd, Nick Barke, said: “The boat was very badly damaged and we needed a team of divers to go underneath it to support it on inflatable air bags as it would not float on her own keel.
“It took seven of us all day to successfully move it and we used twice as much equipment as we normally would. The owner spent a lot of time and money on the boat. It’s a very sad story.”
Mr Barke added that the owner of the boat has arranged for the boat to go to Southampton for repairs.