A BOAT that has lain partially submerged in Lydney Canal for 18 months has been refloated ready to be towed away.

The boat, Rosa Mystica, had been in the canal for some time and was righted by specialists from marine engineers RW Davis based at Saul on the other side of the Severn.

They have been commissioned by the Environment Agency to remove the vessel and arrived on Thursday morning last week (August 23) to pump out hundreds of gallons of water.

The vessel was built in Banff, Scotland, in the 1950s and converted to a sailing ship in the early 1990s.

Yard manager Craig Glassonbury, who was working as part of a team of three, said: “We came across from Sharpness on our workboat.

“Dave (Penfold) the harbourmaster has been really helpful in lowering the water level for us, it makes such a difference.

“It had to be arranged around the tide times – if it had been the spring tides we wouldn’t have been able to do it because, by the time we got over here, the water in the river would have been too high.

“With it being the neap tides, it was just perfect, it meant we could get over here and just get on with it.”

They were hoping to find pictures of the Rosa Mystica when it was in use to help them assess the layout.

Craig added: “We’ve got photos of this boat on the bottom, but none of her afloat apart from one in the Bristol Channel Guide book which shows her in Watchet.

“You could see a porthole on the port side forward and we got some sheeting in there. There was one on the port side by the engine hatch which the picture did not show.

“Once the water level was down you could see the water rushing in there and once we’d dealt with that we were fine.

“Now she’s not ta-king on any water at all.”

When he and colleagues Steve Lacey and Clive Selfe arrived, the boat was “pretty well under and you can see the tide line.”

It took about two hours to pump out the water that had sunk the vessel.

She will stay in Lydney for about a fortnight until they are sure she can be moved safely and then will be towed across the Severn by a tug from Cardiff where she will go into dry dock before disposal.