9/6/2008

e-mail from Thames side resident

 

Yesterday afternoon at around 17.15 a boat got into trouble just past our house. There were two novices on board who took their boat out for the first time when they really should have stayed tied up. The stream was running at around 7 knots and they lost power as they were going in to moor. The current took the boat sideways down to the weir where it, luckily, got wedged against one of the pilings just in front of the weir sluices. The lock keeper had the sense to call the emergency services and within minutes a fire engine was at the scene. The two men were rescued by rubber dinghy and their boat is still there today!

If there were not lockkeepers around the story could have been very different.
I guess that when the lockkeepers houses have been sold off and there are no lockkeepers around after hours, the only thing to do would be to call out the holidaymakers to assist!!
 
Peter