Refloating the "Bass Rover".

Refloating the "Bass Rover". (The vessel was already afloat when I shot this video!)

Bit of exitement this morning on the Leven river, Ulverstone TAS.
The vessels bow wound up on the river bank after the bow mooring line snapped. The tide went out & the vessel rolled to starboard & filled with water.


http://youtu.be/jEXpJ2L0BUM

 

The picture is the same as the video. The u-tube was 10 minutes and nothing happened.

 

Well it sank on the Saturday & I shot some video on the following Monday when I was made aware of the incident.
Besides I couldn't sit there for 2 days could I, & of course the vid has the same picture, I could have put a picture of the Titanic on it but that would have been even more "inappropriate" wouldn't it samsam!

I could tell you more about the vessel, it's history & the circumstances surrounding the sinking (still under police investigation by the way) but I presume you wouldn't be interested. I have also edited the thread title for you samsam, hope that makes you feel better.

God what is it with people, the positive train has left the station, lets jump on the negative band wagon then!

 

It's fine Dirk.

What could be even better next time would be a time lapse.

I've been wanting to get a gopro for this kind of event.

 

I got a surprise when I saw the phot in the paper the other day. I immediately thought that someone must have removed some bungs to get the Rover to roll like that. We had a few problems here quite a few years ago with someone removing bungs from boats moored at the Wynyard Wharf and more recently, a fibreglass boat was substantially damaged by fire. I believe that the fire was started by "kids" floating burning pieces of styrofoam from up river a bit and one or two ended up against the side of the boat.

I hope there wasn't too much damage, it would be heartbreaking for that sort of thing to happen to your pride and joy after all the effort put into the restoration. How long did it take them to get the water out of her? Some of those firefighting pumps have a pretty serious output. From your video description I presume there were no suspicious circumstances.

Simon

 

The story did make the papers after the boat was reported to police on Sunday morning. It also happens that on the same Saturday night a group of teens (drunk no doubt) did the rounds here in Ulverstone. Police suspect the incidents of property damage that night & the bass Rovers sinking may be related. From what I could see it looked as though the bow line had simply snapped due to age & wear, but if it had been cut I guess it would've looked similar. The 3 strand rope was well split (by a good 10"), I could see the individual strands that were floating in the water.

It should be noted though that the vessel was on an isolated mooring between the wharf & a single pylon so someone would had to have swum out to it to cut the bow line or shimmy down the stern line from the wharf on to the deck.

I myself, living not to far from the wharf, overheard a young girls screams as the alleged group of teens made their way through the streets at roughly midnight. On Sunday morning fences were found to have been pushed over or had panels kicked in & many letter boxes were damaged. My mums letterbox also fell victim.

Unfortunately it's the nature of small towns. The youth who reside in them have no supervision & no respect.

It is a real shame as the boat is a kind of "fixture' of the Ulverstone community, & beautifully restored.

I put this thread up in an effort to "contribute" to this forum. If anything it serves as a reminder to be vigilant with boat & mooring maintenance.

 

The Bass Rover has been under the ownership of a man for about 20 years. He found the boat in a dilapidated state in a paddock & slowly restored it. It was originally from the west coast of Tas.
When it was found sunk on Sunday the owner was notified & an oil spill boom was placed around the vessel. On the Monday it was raised via crane & pumped dry.
Right now it is back on it's original mooring & afloat. The electronics onboard would most likely be toast as the cab was submerged for sometime.