Awful incident a Autherley Junction today.

[churchward]

I have not seen anything on local news as yet today but there was a nasty incident at Autherley Junction today.  Other than the name of the boat which I don't want to say I do not know who exactly was involved but a man was Fairly badly injured with lacerations and broken arm when he fell off the back of a boat and got snagged by the prop which was still running. I do not know if they were trying to moor or just get around onto the shroppie but it happened just by the bridge.  A person also jumped into the water to try and rescue him after the prop was stopped and got him out. I think he likely saved the man's life as he may well have drowned without assistance as I think he was unconscious in the water.

 

The police and ambulance crews were here quickly and a helicopter landed in a nearby field. The man was given urgent aid from the ambulance crew/paramedics by the canalside and taken off to the hospital. The person did regain consciousness at the canalside and I assume he was taken in the helicopter to the hospital as it did not look like he was taken by the ambulance crew who left without their lights flashing. 

 

There was a bloody patch on the towpath as witness but I think this has been washed away now.

 

I hope he is OK and at least comfortable now in the hospital and on the road to recovery.  A very disturbing afternoon indeed for all concerned.

Edited May 31, 2023 by churchward

[IanD]

1 hour ago, churchward said:

I have not seen anything on local news as yet today but there was a nasty incident at Autherley Junction today.  Other than the name of the boat which I don't want to say I do not know who exactly was involved but a man was Fairly badly injured with lacerations and broken arm when he fell off the back of a boat and got snagged by the prop which was still running. I do not know if they were trying to moor or just get around onto the shroppie but it happened just by the bridge.  A person also jumped into the water to try and rescue him after the prop was stopped and got him out. I think he likely saved the man's life as he may well have drowned without assistance as I think he was unconscious in the water.

 

The police and ambulance crews were here quickly and a helicopter landed in a nearby field. The man was given urgent aid from the ambulance crew/paramedics by the canalside and taken off to the hospital. The person did regain consciousness at the canalside and I assume he was taken in the helicopter to the hospital as it did not look like he was taken by the ambulance crew who left without their lights flashing. 

 

There was a bloody patch on the towpath as witness but I think this has been washed away now.

 

I hope he is OK and at least comfortable now in the hospital and on the road to recovery.  A very disturbing afternoon indeed for all concerned.

I hope the casualty is OK, incidents like this can cause horrible injuries.

 

I wonder if it will be made public what caused the accident, assuming this can be established?

 

Not because of any ghoulish curiosity, but it might help prevent a similar incident in future.

 

Before anyone says "well that's not very likely", the report on CWDF of the sinking in the lock on the HNC a few years ago saved us from the same fate a couple of weeks later -- forewarned is forearmed, when we got stuck I knew what had happened and what to do -- not obvious! -- to avoid sinking.

Edited May 31, 2023 by IanD

[PCSB]

Sounds truly horrific. I hope he is ok and makes a full recovery. 

[magnetman]

Sounds very nasty. 

 

Hard reversing while standing in the arc of the tiller bar is a possible candidate. Tiller whips round and pushes you in while the prop continues turning and boat goes backwards. 

 

Presumably if the person fell off the back and met the propeller it was most likely in astern gear and if it was an emergency stop type of thing it could have been turning very fast. 

 

Terrible really but probably avoidable. 

 

 

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Sounds very nasty. 

 

Hard reversing while standing in the arc of the tiller bar is a possible candidate. Tiller whips round and pushes you in while the prop continues turning and boat goes backwards. 

 

Presumably if the person fell off the back and met the propeller it was most likely in astern gear and if it was an emergency stop type of thing it could have been turning very fast. 

 

Terrible really but probably avoidable. 

 

 

That's one possibility but right now only speculation, as is "probably avoidable" -- most accidents are avoidable if you have a crystal ball or with the benefit of hindsight, but they still happen...

[MtB]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

Before anyone says "well that's not very likely",

 

When a death is concerned, the MAIB usually publishes report on what and how happened, which can be very informative in understanding how the accident came about and how to avoid it happening again.

 

Dunno about this type of incident where the victim survives though. 

 

 

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

When a death is concerned, the MAIB usually publishes report on what and how happened, which can be very informative in understanding how the accident came about and how to avoid it happening again.

 

Dunno about this type of incident where the victim survives though. 

 

Without joking or being provocative, I wonder what kind of stern setup the boat had, and whether this contributed to the accident?

 

There have been several discussions about the risks of things like seats and trip hazards and different types of stern...

[Tony1]

12 hours ago, IanD said:

 

Before anyone says "well that's not very likely", the report on CWDF of the sinking in the lock on the HNC a few years ago saved us from the same fate a couple of weeks later -- forewarned is forearmed, when we got stuck I knew what had happened and what to do -- not obvious! -- to avoid sinking.

 

Can I ask what the recommended procedure is, and whether it varies in any way for a singlehander? 

I've not really given any thought to how I would respond to getting stuck in a lock (other than to adjust the paddles), and as a card-carrying klutz, I would rather not rely on my instinctive reactions, if the time ever comes. 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

33 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Can I ask what the recommended procedure is, and whether it varies in any way for a singlehander? 

I've not really given any thought to how I would respond to getting stuck in a lock (other than to adjust the paddles), and as a card-carrying klutz, I would rather not rely on my instinctive reactions, if the time ever comes. 

 

 

 

One example of a 'lock problem'

 

We were travelling with another boat heading from Newark to Llangollen. Somewhere around Middlewich, he was in the lock and it was being filled, BUT, his boat, at the stern,  wasn't rising with the water level.

 

All resolved quite quickly as we were watching what was happening (our rule is one person always watches the boat and doesn't participate in "lock-meeting-banter") - dropped the paddles and let water out boat recovered. The steerer was not aware of what was happening and shouted something like "what are you doing".

 

What happened ?

Yes - we know he shouldnt have, but his stern mooring line was coiled up on the deck near the base of the tiller, it had fallen off the stern as he came into the lock and was trailing out behind him.

Lock gates were closed trapping the mooring line , as the water rose, the line got tighter and tighter until it was holding the sten down - it wouldn't have taken much longer for the stern to have been under water.

 

Lessons learnt :

 

1) Someone should always remain aware of what is happening in the lock.

2) Don't leave line lying about on the deck.

[MtB]

41 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Can I ask what the recommended procedure is, and whether it varies in any way for a singlehander? 

I've not really given any thought to how I would respond to getting stuck in a lock (other than to adjust the paddles), and as a card-carrying klutz, I would rather not rely on my instinctive reactions, if the time ever comes. 

 

 

 

I don't know the lock but my own policy is to stay on the bank when transiting a lock.

 

This way, one is unlikely to get stuck in a lock.

[Tracy D'arth]

Are there many remotely operated locks on the system for single handers to use whilst staying on the boat in the lock?

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Are there many remotely operated locks on the system for single handers to use whilst staying on the boat in the lock?

 

 

I think they are called "Volocky" operated locks - although my own experience suggests they do tend to be more dangerous than other locks.

[Tony1]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

One example of a 'lock problem'

 

We were travelling with another boat heading from Newark to Llangollen. Somewhere around Middlewich, he was in the lock and it was being filled, BUT, his boat, at the stern,  wasn't rising with the water level.

 

All resolved quite quickly as we were watching what was happening (our rule is one person always watches the boat and doesn't participate in "lock-meeting-banter") - dropped the paddles and let water out boat recovered. The steerer was not aware of what was happening and shouted something like "what are you doing".

 

What happened ?

Yes - we know he shouldnt have, but his stern mooring line was coiled up on the deck near the base of the tiller, it had fallen off the stern as he came into the lock and was trailing out behind him.

Lock gates were closed trapping the mooring line , as the water rose, the line got tighter and tighter until it was holding the sten down - it wouldn't have taken much longer for the stern to have been under water.

 

Lessons learnt :

 

1) Someone should always remain aware of what is happening in the lock.

2) Don't leave line lying about on the deck.

 

I do wonder how we don't get a dozen or so hire boat sinkings every summer, given how easy it can be to make a mistake.

I regularly leave the stern line coiled next to the fuel filler, but I'll start bringing it down onto the deck surface now. 

I would've thought the steerer would be the first to notice the stern being held down, but not so....

 

The lock banter thing is so tempting to get involved in, but as a single hander I've nearly come a cropper twice, through gabbing to a bystander and not paying attention when there was an issue with the boat.

 

 

[PeterF]

One issue on the Huddersfield Narrow when I was based in that area was one of the locations where two locks were close together with a short pound between. The lower lock had badly leaky bottom gates. When going uphill you would go up the lower lock, but due to the leak leave the lock and ground the boat on the upper cill. If you grounded the front of the boat on the cill, then as the bottom gates were leaking the water level continued to fall, the rear of the boat drops and goes under. You can not close the upper gate, the only way out is to try and let water down.

10 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

One example of a 'lock problem'

 

We were travelling with another boat heading from Newark to Llangollen. Somewhere around Middlewich, he was in the lock and it was being filled, BUT, his boat, at the stern,  wasn't rising with the water level.

 

All resolved quite quickly as we were watching what was happening (our rule is one person always watches the boat and doesn't participate in "lock-meeting-banter") - dropped the paddles and let water out boat recovered. The steerer was not aware of what was happening and shouted something like "what are you doing".

 

What happened ?

Yes - we know he shouldnt have, but his stern mooring line was coiled up on the deck near the base of the tiller, it had fallen off the stern as he came into the lock and was trailing out behind him.

Lock gates were closed trapping the mooring line , as the water rose, the line got tighter and tighter until it was holding the sten down - it wouldn't have taken much longer for the stern to have been under water.

 

Lessons learnt :

 

1) Someone should always remain aware of what is happening in the lock.

2) Don't leave line lying about on the deck.

Similar effect to the boat getting the rudder trapped between the two bottom gates holding the stern down.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

 

Can I ask what the recommended procedure is, and whether it varies in any way for a singlehander? 

I've not really given any thought to how I would respond to getting stuck in a lock (other than to adjust the paddles), and as a card-carrying klutz, I would rather not rely on my instinctive reactions, if the time ever comes. 

 

 

This was one particularly unusual problem, not one normally encountered -- which was why knowing what had happened (and how to prevent a reoccurrence) was so valuable.

 

At the time one lock on the HNC Diggle flight had *very* leaky bottom gates, and also a very small pound above it which was therefore lower than normal. A boat going up was coming out of the lock but due to the low water level grounded on the bottom where the top gate closes, leaving the boat stuck part-way out grounded about a third of the way back from the bows -- trying to get out of the lock by going ahead just pushed the boat harder aground. The leaky gates then proceeded to empty the lock and lower the upper pound even further, water couldn't get past the boat fast enough to keep it full (the top paddles were in the gate so of no help) and the boat tipped backwards and sank in the lock.

 

The same happened to us, but having been warned by the posting on CWDF we were coming out of the lock very slowly -- as soon as the boat ran aground I knew what had happened, we immediately went hard astern to pull it backwards into the lock where it floated safely, I then ran up to the next lock to let some water down until the pound level had come up enough to get out of the lock safely.

 

This is a very unlikely combination of circumstances, I haven't heard of it happening elsewhere (and the leaky gates were fixed shortly afterwards) so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The most frequent cause of boats sinking in locks is getting the stern hung up on the top cill when going down, this happens maybe a couple of times every year, hence all the warnings about avoiding the cill. Less common are getting hung up when fenders jam the boat in the lock (which is why you should never go through narrow locks with them down), and occasionally getting hung up on a protruding stone or getting caught under a bottom gate walkway -- I've seen all these happen -- or getting a rope or rudder caught between the bottom gates.

 

In most cases all that's needed is to keep an eye on the boat and if anything starts to go wrong drop the paddles to stop things happening, and then refill the lock. The HNC case was a rare one in that this wasn't fixable by doing this... 😞

Edited June 1, 2023 by IanD

[Tony1]

12 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

I don't know the lock but my own policy is to stay on the bank when transiting a lock.

 

This way, one is unlikely to get stuck in a lock.

 

Joking aside, it can happen both ways for a single hander.

Most times you will be on the bank, and watching the boat descend, so in that case you can get to the paddles very quickly.

But quite often someone will offer to help, and you do end up going down (or up) with the boat, so if the boat gets stuck you have the extra time delay needed to get up a ladder. 

 

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

This was one particularly unusual problem, not one normally encountered -- which was why knowing what had happened (and how to prevent a reoccurrence) was so valuable.

 

At the time one lock on the Diggle flight had *very* leaky bottom gates, and also a very small pound above it which was therefore lower than normal. A boat going up was coming out of the lock but due to the low water level grounded on the bottom where the top gate closes, leaving the boat stuck part-way out grounded about a third of the way back from the bows -- trying to get out of the lock by going ahead just pushed the boat harder aground. The leaky gates then proceeded to empty the lock and lower the upper pound even further, water couldn't get past the boat fast enough to keep it full (the top paddles were in the gate so of no help) and the boat tipped backwards and sank in the lock.

 

The same happened to us, but having been warned by the posting on CWDF we were coming out of the lock very slowly -- as soon as the boat ran aground I knew what had happened, we immediately went hard astern to pull it backwards into the lock where it floated safely, I then ran up to the next lock to let some water down until the pound level had come up enough to get out of the lock safely.

 

This is a very unlikely combination of circumstances, I haven't heard of it happening elsewhere so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The most frequent cause of boats sinking in locks is getting the stern hung up on the top cill when going down, this happens maybe a couple of times every year, hence all the warnings about avoiding the cill. Less common are getting hung up when fenders jam the boat in the lock (which is why you should never go through narrow locks with them down), and occasionally getting hung up on a protruding stone or getting caught under a bottom gate walkway -- I've seen all these happen.

 

So it was a similar issue to the one described above by PeterF? 

Well at least I now know the best way to react if I ever feel the boat ground when I'm only halfway out of the top gates in a lock- i.e. do NOT try to proceed, but get the boat back into the lock as fast as possible, by whatever means available. 

I have to say, my few experiences of grounding part of the boat (on concrete/stone shelves) have shown just how hard it is for one person to move a 15-20 ton boat- but if the front grounds, perhaps jumping up and down on the stern (to make it bob) would help to loosen it- once you've stopped the water level dropping of course? 

 

 

 

My boat nearly sank at the very first lock I ever entered. 

A young lady had come forward from the boat behind to help out, and there were a couple of volunteers there, plus some bystanders hanging about, 

The head volunteer was an elderly lady, and she was at the bottom gates. Her instructions and advice were not fully audible over the water noise, and I was trying to marry up her information- plus the actions of the helpers- with my youtube video memory of how a lock should be worked.

I was given to understand that the best contribution I could make would be to hold the centre line as the boat descended, so I dutifully took up my position.

The young lady helping took hold of the stern line, and as I watched she looped it around a bollard, I think about four times.  

I had spoken to her earlier, and the conversation gave me the impression she had been boating for several years, so I assumed she knew what she was doing.

But the truth was she had only been aboard the boat for a few days, and had never done a lock. It was her male companion who was the old salt, and he was back on their boat. 

But as ignorant and inexperienced as I was, I did at least know that the boat was going to descend, and I did not like the look of the stern line looped around a bollard. 

It was only my third day aboard, and I had used similar bollards a couple of times, so I already had an idea that four or five loops around a bollard would probably hold the boat fast for a while.

I asked her above the water noise whether she was sure this approach was correct, and she assured me that it was. 

'The rope will give out as the boat goes down' she assured me. 

I retreated, looking dubious and scratching my head for a few moments, but thinking that if she had been boating for a few years she must have done many locks, and must surely know what she was doing.

Thankfully the elderly volunteers were being super safe and only partly opened a paddle, and as the boat started to go down very slowly, the slack on the stern rope was being taken up, 

I went back to the young helper and asked if she was absolutely sure that the stern rope was really going to pay out around the bollard.

It seemed to me that it was going to go taut, and fairly quickly too. I even wondered if she had used some kind of clever looping technique that would keep the line loose enough to pay out.

I still hesitated, but just before the stern rope became too tight to unwind (in a hurry anyway), I grabbed it and unwound the loops, and then put a single loop of it around the bollard. 

The helper was visibly disappointed at her technique being doubted, but I'm convinced that if I hadn't loosened the stern line, the boat would probably have hung up by the stern, and might have been sunk. 

Looking back now, the idea of people trying to help out by holding onto the stern and bow lines when going down in a lock seems unnecessary and daft, but back then I knew nothing. But thankfully I trusted my gut instinct about the behaviour of a rope around a bollard. 

 

 

[johnmck]

The nearest we have come to witnessing an absolute tragedy,  was about this time last year on the T&M. We had moored up below Weston lock the previous day, coming from Shardlow. Just as we were preparing to set off the following morn, a boat bimbled past and hailed us, enquiring if we would like to share the lock. Yep we replied. They were an elderly couple(even older than me!)

 

Ali walked up to the lock whilst I continued to cast off from our mooring.  The chap dropped off his partner on the lock landing and she walked up to the lock, joined by Ali.

 

I was still a good hundred yards away when I saw the chap drop off the bank into the cut beside the stern. I then realised the boat was full astern. Ali ran down to half whilst I pulled toward the bank. Just how he avoided the prop, I just don't know. He managed to climb onto the landing whilst his boat ploughed away in reverse, eventually embedding itself in reeds on the offside. He was shaken, but unhurt, his wife rather sanguine,  "He's done it before!".

 

It appears he had slipped and scrabbling for a hold, knocked back the morso into full reverse.

 

He was a very lucky chap, on this occasion,  but his antics subsequently climbing onto his roof to rope the boat in the lock, did not engender confidence in his life span, so we made the excuse of stopping for water a little further on and left him to carry on.

[magnetman]

It would be great to have kill cords attached to the morse control on canal boats. OK not everyone would use it but a really handy addition. 

 

It is a legal requirement for outboard motors. 

 

Easy enough to wire it to the stop solenoid. It could be a magnet on the end of a cord opening a reed switch. 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

Joking aside, it can happen both ways for a single hander.

Most times you will be on the bank, and watching the boat descend, so in that case you can get to the paddles very quickly.

But quite often someone will offer to help, and you do end up going down (or up) with the boat, so if the boat gets stuck you have the extra time delay needed to get up a ladder. 

 

 

But that is my point. I don't stay on the boat. Especially not when another boater kindly offers 'help' and tells me to 'stay on the boat'.

 

If something goes wrong (e.g. bow fender gets caught in the gate, or whatever) the last place you need to be is on the boat, at the helm.

 

Other boaters never have the interests of your boat foremost in their minds and after opening the paddles have a habit of either walking off to attend to their own boat, or get chatting with other people lockside etc whilst ignoring your frantic sounding of the horn.

 

DAMHIK. 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by MtB
Clarify.

[Mac of Cygnet]

1 hour ago, PeterF said:

One issue on the Huddersfield Narrow when I was based in that area was one of the locations where two locks were close together with a short pound between. The lower lock had badly leaky bottom gates. When going uphill you would go up the lower lock, but due to the leak leave the lock and ground the boat on the upper cill. If you grounded the front of the boat on the cill, then as the bottom gates were leaking the water level continued to fall, the rear of the boat drops and goes under. You can not close the upper gate, the only way out is to try and let water down.

Similar effect to the boat getting the rudder trapped between the two bottom gates holding the stern down.

There is now a water level warning indicator above the top gate of that lock - an upside down version of the indicators below river locks, with green at the top.

[alias]

1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

I have to say, my few experiences of grounding part of the boat (on concrete/stone shelves) have shown just how hard it is for one person to move a 15-20 ton boat- but if the front grounds, perhaps jumping up and down on the stern (to make it bob) would help to loosen it- once you've stopped the water level dropping of course? 

 

If you ground leaving a narrow lock with leaky bottom gates there is very limited time to react, as the grounded boat severely limits the flow of water into the lock as it can only go through the narrow gaps to the sides. I tend to look out for levels that seem a bit low, and if unsure of the situation check the water depth in the mouth of the lock with a pole. If in any doubt it's best to let more water down before attempting to get out of the lock. 

[Tony1]

14 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

But that is my point. I don't stay on the boat. Especially not when another boater kindly offers 'help' and tells me to 'stay on the boat'.

 

If something goes wrong (e.g. bow fender gets caught in the gate, or whatever) the last place you need to be is on the boat, at the helm.

 

Other boaters never have the interests of your boat foremost in their minds and after opening the paddles have a habit of either walking off to attend to their own boat, or get chatting with other people lockside etc whilst ignoring your frantic sounding of the horn.

 

DAMHIK. 

 

 

 

I'm too lazy to refuse offers of help from other boaters tbh, and especially when doing something like the Northampton flight on a hot summer day.

I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but I might as well be honest- I actually paid that homeless guy who hangs round there £20 to work the last 9 locks for me! 

 

 

[IanD]

30 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

There is now a water level warning indicator above the top gate of that lock - an upside down version of the indicators below river locks, with green at the top.

Indeed, I spotted that the next time we went though a few years later. But it wasn't there when we nearly got caught only a few weeks after the boat sank there... 😞

Edited June 1, 2023 by IanD

[Tacet]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

 

This was one particularly unusual problem, not one normally encountered -- which was why knowing what had happened (and how to prevent a reoccurrence) was so valuable.

 

At the time one lock on the HNC Diggle flight had *very* leaky bottom gates, and also a very small pound above it which was therefore lower than normal. A boat going up was coming out of the lock but due to the low water level grounded on the bottom where the top gate closes, leaving the boat stuck part-way out grounded about a third of the way back from the bows -- trying to get out of the lock by going ahead just pushed the boat harder aground. The leaky gates then proceeded to empty the lock and lower the upper pound even further, water couldn't get past the boat fast enough to keep it full (the top paddles were in the gate so of no help) and the boat tipped backwards and sank in the lock.

 

The same happened to us, but having been warned by the posting on CWDF we were coming out of the lock very slowly -- as soon as the boat ran aground I knew what had happened, we immediately went hard astern to pull it backwards into the lock where it floated safely, I then ran up to the next lock to let some water down until the pound level had come up enough to get out of the lock safely.

 

This is a very unlikely combination of circumstances, I haven't heard of it happening elsewhere (and the leaky gates were fixed shortly afterwards) so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The most frequent cause of boats sinking in locks is getting the stern hung up on the top cill when going down, this happens maybe a couple of times every year, hence all the warnings about avoiding the cill. Less common are getting hung up when fenders jam the boat in the lock (which is why you should never go through narrow locks with them down), and occasionally getting hung up on a protruding stone or getting caught under a bottom gate walkway -- I've seen all these happen -- or getting a rope or rudder caught between the bottom gates.

 

In most cases all that's needed is to keep an eye on the boat and if anything starts to go wrong drop the paddles to stop things happening, and then refill the lock. The HNC case was a rare one in that this wasn't fixable by doing this... 😞

Drawing the paddles of the next higher lock is about the best hope.  But it is not a great solution as it raises the level of the pound but not necessarily of the lock.  With the boat grounded on the cill and a tight fit widthways, there is not much of a passage to replenish the water being lost from the lock.

 

It's a horrible situation.

 

 

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

I don't know the lock but my own policy is to stay on the bank when transiting a lock.

 

This way, one is unlikely to get stuck in a lock.

 

Most single handed boaters will be on the bank when going through locks out of necessity, unless of course they've been offered and accept assistance to work the lock in which case they might stay onboard. I've often done this controlling the boat without using any ropes and to be honest it feels like the safest way, even on a narrow boat in a broad lock.