Chapter 3: A Catastrophe on the Canal

Thursday morning Lewis and Ron woke up late. After coming to, they lay there in each other’s arms, happy to be close, yet feeling sad that this was their last day together, possibly forever. Eventually hunger took over, so they took turns to have a shower. The idea of having one together was suggested, but on a narrowboat, this was definitely not a practical option.

In the galley, as it was now well past eleven am, Ron decided that he would do them a brunch. He cooked bacon, egg, fried bread, hash browns and beans. By the time they had eaten it, cleared up and had a coffee, it was nearly one o’clock. They cast off and set sail.

They reached the next lock and went through it with ease, Lewis being quite the expert now. This was the lock were Lewis and Ron had first met. It was also the nearest point on their journey to Lewis’s home. However, at four miles an hour, even if they sailed at full speed for the rest of the day, it would still be easy for Lewis to cycle home.

They planned to sail to the next village about six miles further along so that Ron could stock up with food supplies. The next four miles was just meandering canal with no locks. Then as they approached the last lock before the village, they could see several boats looking as if they were waiting to go through the lock. Reaching the back of the end boat, the guy ahead called back to them, “Someone’s got stuck in the lock.” They pulled into the bank and moored, then decided to wander up and see what had happened.

There were five boats ahead of them waiting. They walked past and reached the lock. It was quite a deep one and would take them down to a lower level. In the lock was a longboat about forty feet long. It looked that little bit posher than the hire boats, so they guessed it was someone’s private boat.

As they had sailed into the lock, they had managed to jam the bow of the boat between the lock gate (B) and the corner of the gate recess (P) in the lock wall. It hadn’t seemed to matter until they opened the paddles and the water level started to fall.

Once it was clear that the bow was remaining firmly stuck, it was unclear why on earth no one was attempting to close the paddles. Perhaps they kept hoping that it would come unstuck at any moment. More likely, Lewis thought, all the people watching were holiday hires with little experience. They probably didn’t realise that if it dropped from a height, it could break the back of the boat.

Yet for some reason, despite there being several other boaters standing watching, no one did anything as the water went lower and lower. As Ron and Lewis arrived on the scene, the boat had reached the stage shown in the second picture. Another few minutes and the stern (R) would be pushed under the water. The inrush of water into the boat, apart from the water damage, would add weight to the back of the boat and most likely yank the bow out.

If that happened, the boat would drop like a stone. It could well sink in the bottom of the lock, it might break it’s back and even if it did neither, the water that flooded over the back end would rush through the length of the boat damaging all the insides.

Lewis stood and looked taking it all in, then looked around at the people standing watching, now about twenty. Not a sole was moving so Lewis shouted as loud as he could in the direction of the lower gates, “Close the paddles, CLOSE THE PADDLES RIGHT NOW” No one moved for a second, then two of the men with winding handles jerked into action and rushed to the gates. The first one crossed over to the second gate and started winding, the second man did the same on the nearest gate. Within a minute no more water was leaving the lock, so the boat was, at least for the moment, saved from sinking.

Lewis borrowed a winding handle and went to the upper gates. The paddles usually took about ten turns to open fully. He opened the nearest paddle one turn, then crossed to the far gate and did the same. By only opening then a fraction of normal, the inrush of water into the lock was very much gentler than usual, in fact hardly noticeable. Whilst it would take very much longer to refill the lock, the movement on the boat would be gentle and would hopefully not pull it loose until the water level was very much higher. This would lessen the impact on the boat when it came loose and fell.

The people who were with the boat came over to Lewis. He explained what he had done and why. “All we can do now is watch and wait,” he told them, “And hope that it doesn’t come loose until the water is very much higher. As they waited, the couple explained that it wasn’t a hire boat, it belonged to the husband’s boss, who had lent it them for a fortnights holiday. Although neither of them had even seen a canal before, he had assured them it was all easy to learn. Lewis assured them that was usually the case and Ron who had much more canal experience told them he had never seen or heard of anything like this happening before.

It took half an hour for the water level to rise halfway up the lock and the boat happily stayed stuck. Keeping an eye on his watch, Lewis waited another quarter of an hour, then asking the couple for their winding handle, he took Ron with him to the upper gates. Instructing Ron to go over to the far paddle, he told him, “Wait until I shout OPEN, then open the paddle to maximum as quick as you can.

Lewis watched and waited until the water was just eighteen inches below the bottom of the front of the boat, then shouting, “OPEN,” to Ron he turned his handle as fast as he could, whilst Ron did the same.

The increase in water flowing in made the water in the lock more turbulent which Lewis hoped would then shake the boat loose. When it hadn’t happened in a couple of minutes, he turned to plan ‘B’

Whilst they had been waiting, he had assembled four of the fittest looking of the watching men and given them his instructions. The four of them were now standing on the lock side nearest the back of the boat. Lewis shouted “JUMP’ then one after the other they all jumped down onto the rear deck by the tiller. It was by now only a drop of about two feet from the lock side. As soon as each one landed, they moved to the far side and held onto the rail. As the fourth man landed, the series of shocks plus their added weight was just enough to jerk the bow free.

The front of the boat dropped like a stone, but only having six inches to fall by now, the impact as it hit the water was much gentler than it could have been. The four men on the back soon felt the reason Lewis had told them to hang on tight as soon as they landed. The impact sent a shock wave through the boat and the water disturbance cause by the falling boat made it sway all over the place until the water settled back and became calm once more.

The boat soon steadied, and the four men stepped ashore. “Well done chaps,” Lewis told them. He and Ron returned to the upper gate and closed the paddles, then went to the lower gates and opened the paddles fully. As water started emptying from the lock, the boat now sitting freely in the water dropped with it until soon the lock water was level with the lower canal. The couple with the boat had been unable to get back on the boat as they felt unable to climb down the vertical wet and slippery ladder in the lock side. Instead, Lewis had sent Ron down to take it out of the lock. The gates were soon opened and as Ron sailed the boat out unharmed, it was to tumultuous round of cheers and applause.

Lewis walked back along the tow path with the couple as Ron sailed along and stopped just behind his own boat. By the time they had reached him, Ron had tied the boat up. Peter and Gwyneth insisted they both came aboard and had a drink with them. They showed them around the boat which was very posh. Apparently, Peters boss owned an engineering factory. “I could well have lost my job if we had sunk his pride and joy,” Peter told them, “We’re forever in your debt.”

Ron assured them that he had had little to do with it, it had been Lewis taking command that had solved the problem. They were interested to hear about Ron living on his boat and asked how long Lewis had been afloat. When he told them this was only his third day ever, they were amazed. They chatted over a coffee, then before they parted, they insisted on taking Lewis’s address so they could send him a thank you gift.

Lewis assured them that it wasn’t necessary, he’d been glad to help, but he gave in to their insistence and wrote it down for them. As Peter and Gwyneth sailed away, Ron and Lewis stood on deck and waved them off into the distance.