Canal boat sinks after becoming trapped in Batchworth Lock, Rickmansworth

6:05pm Monday 4th March 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Ben Endley, Senior reporter

Canal boat sinks in Rickmansworth lock Canal boat sinks in Rickmansworth lock

A canal boat has sunk after becoming trapped in a Rickmansworth lock this afternoon.

The boat, thought to be from the 1920s, was travelling from Stockers Lock up to Casssiobury Park when it became trapped in Batchworth Lock at around 3.30pm.

As the lock filled with water the boat’s owner tried to prevent his vessel from becoming submerged.

Christa Williams of nearby Cafe @ Lock 81 witnessed the sinking.She said: “He (the owner) came down to get some food but the swan neck tiller got caught in the lock.

“He ran straight over trying to get it under control but it was too late.”

“The front of the boat went up with the water but the back couldn’t so it started taking on water.”

Fire crews and the Canal and River Trust both attended but could not prevent the sinking.

Floating booms were placed downstream to catch a small quantity of diesel that had spilled into the water.

Comments(13)

TRT says...
10:42pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Expect more of this kind of thing when the traffic through the lock goes up seven-fold if they change the mooring rules.

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Tillerman says...
11:08pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Why would any PROPOSED mooring changes cause this sort of accident to rise.? Only poor boating or a feak accident will.

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TRT says...
11:32pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Same as the width restriction at Woodmere Avenue. Sheer bludy statistics.

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davedobbin says...
10:10am Tue 5 Mar 13

From the way the report is phrased, the cause was that there was nobody aboard, or nobody watching the boat,as it changed levels. You should *never* leave a boat unattended in a lock with paddles open as this type of emergency is happening all the time all over the canal system, but it can be recovered quickly by dropping the paddles as soon as the situation is noticed. If the owner was doing something else instead of watching the boat then by the time they saw what had happened it would have been too late.

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Tillerman says...
10:15am Tue 5 Mar 13

I'm led to believe he went to commiserate with the cafe@lock81 owners having read about their double break-in over the previous weekend that he'd read about in the Watty O....

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Watford_Chick says...
5:46pm Wed 6 Mar 13

i am confused to why he left his boat in the lock... instead of mooring up after or before to get some food...?
Kinda his own fault that he wasn't watching his boat....
Am i meant to be sympathetic that he lost his home?

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englishrose123 says...
10:36pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Of course he didn't leave his boat unattended to get food. He was travelling past the cafe, not TO the cafe.

This story should really be about the terrible and frankly crap way in which the waterways trust behaved.

instead of helping a man in need, whos boat only sank due to the lack of maintenance of the lock, they tried everything possible to make it impossible for him to re float his boat on his own. THEY wanted to take his boat and then re float it themselves, thus costing him a small fortune.

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davedobbin says...
5:22pm Sun 24 Mar 13

From other reports, the rudder was trapped when the gates were closed. The boater, rather than closing the paddles to stop the water rising further, wasted time trying to release the rudder.
As for the 'small fortune' charged for salvaging the boat, the insurance company should pick this up - he was insured wasn't he?

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englishrose123 says...
9:30pm Sun 24 Mar 13

No actually he was not wasting time trying to release the rudder. He had to get back on to rescue his dog. The water he risen too far as it was and helped by ventilation grills, water was pouring in fast.

He was quite able to re float the boat using his own contractors at a much cheaper price then to claim on insurance and have a huge jump in premiums.

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pancake39 says...
8:32am Tue 26 Mar 13

He had to get back on, so he did get off, whether to go to the cafe or not, he left his boat. first rule of boating never leave your boat especially in a lock and always be aware of the cill. A sad accident but none the less always a risk.

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englishrose123 says...
9:48pm Tue 26 Mar 13

of course he got off. what a stupid remark from some one that obviously doesn't have a clue. - first rule of boating?

he had to get off to actually operate the lock. otherwise this would have been a very different story about a man who starved to death in a lock because he followed the 'first rule of boating' and couldn't leave his boat.

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davedobbin says...
10:55pm Tue 26 Mar 13

I think the point that we are making is that he failed to notice that there was a problem and drop (not wind-down) the paddles as soon as it occurred. Yes, he had to get off to open the paddles (obviously!) but he should have been watching the boat and should have noticed the situation (and reacted to it) before the problem developed into an emergency. So what was he doing that distracted him?

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englishrose123 says...
11:09pm Tue 26 Mar 13

When there is that much water moving around it turn in to an emergency VERY quickly. there are holes and vents all along boats, often only a few inches above the water line. So it does not take a lot for the water to rise above those, and once the boat is taking on water there is little you can do except save the 'valuables'.

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