Shoreham houseboat owners evacuated due to high tide

Five houseboat owners were evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night because of high tides.

A 55 foot vessel based in Surry Boat Yard in Shoreham began listing to starboard due to the high tide and caused the gangway connecting four other boats to become destabilised.
 

The houseboat owners were led to safety at about 3am this morning by Shoreham firefighters and Sussex Police officers and spent the night in the nearby coastguard station at Humphreys Gap.
 

It is believed the boat’s owners, a couple in their 50s, had lived on the boat for the last six years.
 

Firefighters said half of the boat’s hull had filled with water.

Comments(10)

Whitehawkian says...
10:17am Thu 18 Oct 12

So is there boat half empty or half full..hmmm,

Telscombe Cliffy says...
10:47am Thu 18 Oct 12

Hmmm, it's not a boat anymore is it?

Whitehawkian says...
11:02am Thu 18 Oct 12

Telscombe Cliffy wrote:
Hmmm, it's not a boat anymore is it?
Are they Ships then?
I remember being told......
A Ship has to be big enough to carry Boat and Boat has to be small enough to be carried on a Ship.

HULKS ... THAT is the name I was looking for......

Old Ladys Gin says...
1:34pm Thu 18 Oct 12

A boat in the Royal Navy is a submarine....apt I'd say!

paul76 says...
1:46pm Thu 18 Oct 12

I always thought that once berthed they became stuck in the mud around them and didn't really move. Apprently not.

ShorehamBeachcomber says...
3:40pm Thu 18 Oct 12

As they were led away they were heard singing that ex houseboat residents favourite anthem 'I am sinking'

Knightly says...
3:51pm Thu 18 Oct 12

Whitehawkian wrote:
Telscombe Cliffy wrote:
Hmmm, it's not a boat anymore is it?
Are they Ships then?
I remember being told......
A Ship has to be big enough to carry Boat and Boat has to be small enough to be carried on a Ship.

HULKS ... THAT is the name I was looking for......
Beached Houseboats or Waterborne non Travelers

Hove Actually says...
4:54pm Thu 18 Oct 12

I drive past these every day and was waiting for the day they started to sink, mind you I did think it would be the one on the end that someone has put 3 foot portholes in and not finished them off on the outside.

Having Garden sheds on them can't help either.

John Steed says...
5:07pm Thu 18 Oct 12

total lack of nautical skills and awareness, which judging by the eyesores some houseboats appear to be goes hand in glove with lack of design and carpentry skills.
i am surprised that having apparently lived afloatish for some 6 years they hadnt noticed the smelly mud gets covered up twice a day now and again rather well covered.

Chattel-in-Law says...
8:59pm Thu 18 Oct 12

Hove Actually wrote:
I drive past these every day and was waiting for the day they started to sink, mind you I did think it would be the one on the end that someone has put 3 foot portholes in and not finished them off on the outside.

Having Garden sheds on them can't help either.
It wasn't the houseboats you drive past which got into difficulties, it was the ones in the Surry Boat Yard. The tide was much higher than forecast (rather like the winds twenty-five years ago!) which resulted in exceptional conditions.

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