Canal drama as boat stranded in Saddleworth lock

A VETERAN boatman was praised for his quick-thinking in a dramatic attempt to free a stranded 60-foot canal boat.

John Lund abandoned his own craft to assist the crew of the boat which completely blocked the Huddersfield Narrow Canal after getting into difficulties between lock gates near the Limekiln Cafe at Dobcross.

All waterborne traffic came to a standstill on the popular canal, which links Saddleworth to Marsden after the boat was left stranded in the lock at a steep angle.

But brave-hearted skipper John, 53, who has plied his 70-ft pleasure boat, Moonraker, on the canal for 23 years, alerted an emergency crew from the Canal and River Trust (CRT) and raced to the scene to help.

Watched by scores of passengers-by, John, from Springhead, and a team from CRT spent more than six arduous hours attempting to free the boat.

John said: “My priority is to help people. I had a call for help and I just dropped everything.

“I called CRT and they turned an emergency team out. We met, calmly talked about the situation, then got on with tackling the job.

“The boat has a large front deck and was taking on water. We needed big pumps but the team said they would have to be brought from Chester.”

Independent reader David Wheeler, 51, from Greenfield, who took this pictures, said: “It was a very dramatic scene.

“The boat finished up pointing downwards at a sharp angle into the water. But no one was hurt.”

The boat remained firmly lodged overnight but was finally removed 24 hours after the incident.

A spokesman for The Canal and River Trust said: “Mr Lund notified us of the incident. It is at times like this the waterway community really pull together which is great to see.

“The barge was caught on a cill, an underwater ledge that the top, smaller gates in the lock sit on.

“The front end took on water. We had a team helping to pump out water and try to refloat the boat.

“It’s rare for boats to get caught on the cill and there are lines painted on the lockside to help boaters avoid them. Thankfully no one was injured.”

They added: “The  boat has now been re-floated and freed from the lock.

“Our specialist contractors, Commercial Boat Services, used larger scale pumps to help pump water out of the boat and re-float it. The canal is now back open.”