The steam narrowboat "PRESIDENT" and its butty "KILDARE", having attended the Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice on the preceeding bank holiday weekend had been moored at the London Canal Museum during the following week. The pair were planning to continue down the Regents Canal and then cruise up the Thames tideway from Limehouse to Brentford and so it was.
NUGGLER crew were up at the usual early hour and the dogs given their customary walk. The now traditional "full english breakfast" followed for the skipper and first mate and then cleaning routines, shopping and more dog walking. Pat found the towpath blocked just up the start of the regents canal as there was contractor activity under the derelict railway bridge there. A real effort was made to get the brass up to scratch after the recent rain and a quick polish followed. President and Kildare arrived at about 12:45 and moored up just in front of the tidal lock. Much tinkling of engine room signals, chuff chuffing and a very professional arrival. The crew went off in search of food, but the local pubs were closed - seemingly a local power failure. There was then a full team briefing by Roger Squires on procedures to be followed for the cruise. Firstly safety and emergency procedures. A buddy system was to be employed. Any boat in trouble would sound their horn 4 times, the captain raise his hand and put the tunnel light on. The nearest boat would then come alongside, breast up and maintain steerage way while the problem was investigated. Secondly, as there were some 11 boats, four lockings would be needed and to keep the flotilla together, the first series would proceed out into the tideway and moor up on a nearby wharf until the Presidential pair emerged and then peel off to follow. A warning was given of likely hazards.
As before Nuggler was first out in company with Cherie (VHF equipped) and Birdsong (first time on the tideway). Cherie led as Eric, the skipper, knew where the wharf was. We turned around the nearby barge buoy to face into the tide and approached the wharf simultaneously with the wash from a trip boat. Getting the boats moored up abreast as they pitched and rolled was (a) very difficult and (b) undoubtedly dangerous. The rear counter of a narrowboat offers little protection against being thrown overboard and with three boats crashing against one another there must be a risk of getting crushed.
I carry some large triangular fenders (which double up as life buoys and seats) which now came into their own. The main problem appeared to be firstly getting a line around the huge wooden barnacle encrusted piles, and secondly every time a trip boat passed, with the consequent pitching, the rope would slip down the pile and then lock as the boat rose again thus contributing to a significant rolling motion, whereas my boat breasted up alongside Cherie was not rolling at all, just pitching and crashing against Birdsong and Cherie. Pat later found the cabin to be a disaster zone with gunwale cupboards open, our vast emergency stores of baked beans rolling over the floor and other furniture displaced from its designated positions. We appeared to have suffered no damage, but Birdsong had a wayleave sheer off. It was with some relief then that President emerged and the cruise started. Peeling off I got preoccupied watching Pat attempting to remove the forward fender and nearly missed spotting the fast approaching barge buoy. Application of positive avoiding action was required watched, no doubt with amusement, by the nearby police launch. She was instructed in the end to cut the fender clear to retrieve it. I did not want her to get washed overboard.
After that all proceeded as planned through the centre of London. President's stoker arranged to stoke just before the Palace of Westminster so that a plume of dense black/brown smoke drifted towards the building accompanied by much whistling and tooting. Cherie and Nuggler were at the rear by this time.
Beyond Chelsey Bridge Cherie appeared to be faltering and then gave the emergency signal. They had lost power and were drifting slowly turning broadside onto the stream. As instructed we performed a looping manoevre and came up along their port side and carried out an immaculate breasting up manoevre. The crew, who had been briefed before leaving Limehouse knew just what to do which was good because by now Cherie was drifting broadside on towards the central pier of Albert Bridge. The bowthruster was employed to minimise the risk, but by now steerage way was gained and passing through the "wrong" arch we regained the correct side of the river. Fortunately there was little traffic about. Hearing that there was a problem, the Harbourmaster's launch Londinium 1 came back to check on us, but by now were were out of danger, still breasted up, but now falling way behind the bulk of the flotilla. Eric set about diagnosing his problem. About 30 minutes later, as if to test us further I felt a dull thump through the boat and a sudden increase in vibration through the tiller. It appeared that we had a visitor on the propellor. However the propellor was still turning and there was still some thrust. Intermittently engaging reverse did little, so we carried on, now slower than ever. Clearly, should the tide turn, we would now have no hope of fighting it and my thoughts were given over to thinking of options. Sometime after Putney Brige, Eric got his engine going again, so it was my turn to shutdown and go down the weed hatch. Putting the gear in drive with the engine off seemed to stop any tendency of the propellor to turn in the wake of the forward motion and after a bit of fishing, the remains of a football were removed from the prop. Power thus fully restored to both boats we separated (after the customary drink) and continued up river arriving at Brentford to join the tail of the queue for Thames Lock.
At Brentford the organisation seemd to get a little confused. President's crew wanted to moor up, but seemingly arrangements had been made for a pub in Hanwell for us to have a meal and a few beers together. So we carried on eventually reaching the bottom of the Hanwell flight at about 20:00 hours, six hours after leaving the wall at Limehouse. As it turned out, although there had been preliminary discussions with the landlord at the Dolphin, Hanwell, nothing had been confirmed, so we were not after all expected. Those that arrived before 9 p.m. got fed and the majority who arrived after had to make other arrangements.
So ended a rather exiting day
Tuesday 11th May 2004
Somehow Grannie got the time wrong and burst into the Galley (next to our make-up sofa bed) at 5:30 saying "Time to wake up - its 6:30". Too late then to go back to sleep, so we got up, and I walked the dogs with the intention of getting an early start before PRESIDENT. Went up the flight, but as usual, the third pound was way down. No sign of any BW activity, but there was the tiniest of trickles of water from the bywash and the locks above and below were nearly full. My diagnosis is a leaking pound, so resolved after breakfast to go up to the top Hanwell Lock on the bike and let some water down. This I did, and on return found that President had a head of steam and crew were starting on the first lock. So much for getting a head start. However it didn't matter. We were joined for the flight by nb Lotus and the presidential team were helpful in opening the bottom paddles for us as we followed. The third pound was OK for us, but it sounded as if PRESIDENT had a little trouble in getting over the upper lock cill. Once at the top a routine cruise to Harefield.
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