80-tonne ship stuck on Somerset slipway

Dramatic scenes occurred as an 80-tonne boat grounded – on a lifeboat slipway.

The massive vessel balanced on the narrow slipway after it ran aground earlier this week, according to the Somerset County Gazette.

The landing vessel was stuck for several hours next to Knightstone Island, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, as it waited for a coastguard team to free it at high tide later that night.

The Weston-Super-Mare Coastguard Rescue Team’s plan was to refloat the Severn Sins RoRo Ship on the evening’s 12.2m high water at 22:13.

“Word had spread and a large crowd was gathering,” says a statement on the coastguard team’s Facebook page, which highlighted the power of social media to get the word out. “Unfortunately, this posed a rather dangerous situation. The vessel would be using engine and winch power to clear its predicament, a tensioned winch cable is not something you want to be near if it should snap.”

Spectators were ushered to a safe distance by the Harbour Master, the Weston Seafront Rangers, Avon and Somerset Police, and the coastguard.

“Some of the team were prepped with life jackets just in case the vessel listed and any crew fell overboard,” says the Weston-Super-Mare Coastguard Rescue Team.

“Fortunately, a textbook operation took place, high water hit the hull, the engines fired up and the winch gently hauled, and within minutes she was back where she belonged.”

Image courtesy of Birnbeck Regeneration Trust

According to the Daily Mail, the boat, from Falmouth, Cornwall, was helping with the RNLI’s restoration of Birnbeck Pier.

It was carrying machinery and scaffolding to be assembled at the mainland end of the pier to inspect the abutment wall and pier bearings.

And the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust posted on Facebook that, despite the slight hold-up, work is continuing at the Pier.