It must be obvious to most that Canal & River Trust does all it can to make out that the canals and particularly the locks are safe for boating, writes T. Lang.
I thought it rather clever, if dishonest, of the Trust describing boats sunk in locks as 'boat damage' in its stoppage notices, that will of course be picked up by the various publications, so as not to put prospective hirers off taking a boating holiday.
Too far back
But it is very easy indeed for any boater, not only hirers, to have the boat too far back in a lock when emptying and getting caught on the cill. I have friends who hired a boat, and though I told them to get the shortest they could manage with, they had the cash so went for a 65ft boat, and though they did take my advice and go to the front of the lock when going down, so did not get hung up, they complained that it was very difficult to handle if there was any wind, it acting like a sail.
My point is that other hirers too would tend to go for the longest boat they could afford, all that space being an attraction, and there of course is the rub, the longer the boat the more chance of it getting caught up on the cill.
'Stuck' to the paddle
I have to admit that both of us have been so caught after our boat came back in the lock for one reason or another, usually the wind, but always making sure one of us remains 'stuck' to the paddle, it was no problem to simply drop them and let more water into the lock until the boat floated free.
With those who spend their time at locks busy 'yapping' and not taking notice, or newbies who do not realise the danger, or what to do, then comes the problem of a hung-up boat and nothing being done to avert a disaster. This not only ruining their cruise but that of others held up by a 'boat damage' lock. Remember the one at Bath where some useless contractors messed about for a week trying to rescue the narrowboat stuck in the deep lock there? Until a more knowledgeable contractor [RCR] came and had it out in hours.
[We have 128 photographs of sunken boats on our files, that are obviously just a small fraction of boats that have been sunk in locks, and have included a few here, the last one being the boat sunk in the Bath lock—Editor.]