Boat sinks after warnings ignored

IT WAS two years ago that  Gloucester Waterways Museum was warned that an historic barge was in danger of sinking, that it ignored, and which has now sunk.

Maritime historian Paul Barnett told its owners, Gloucester Waterways Museum that the historic concrete barge was in danger of sinking, which it ignored, and it subsequently sunk, and is now a danger to navigation at Purton on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, with just a traffic cone showing the position of its tiller, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Pumped-out

A spokesman for the museum told that it made regular checks, but it seems they were not very thorough, and it was not made safe, other than it being pumped-out occasionally.

The barge was on the historic ship register, and was one of the Purton Hulks, that regular readers may remember have often been featured in narrowboatworld.

Floated to Gloucester

It was pulled out of the Severn around 20 years ago and floated to Gloucester Docks then eventually to Purton.  It was built in 1941 and was used during the war to transport raw materials to factories.

With many others, it was beached in the Severn at Purton in an attempt to safeguard the bank against erosion.