Salvage of sunken Norfolk Broads streamboat reveals damage

Banjo sank last month after an underwater object tore a hole in her as she steamed along the River Yare in choppy conditions.

Seven people were on board at the time but they managed to get to safety before the vessel, built in 1897, went down.

Banjo, a historic steamboat, in better days (Image: Philip Webster)

Owner Philip Webster, who spent ten years restoring the vessel in the 1980s and 1990s, was confident she would steam again once raised from the riverbed. 

However, her future is now in doubt after the extent of her damage and rot was revealed as she was lifted from the water, with the hull partly collapsing.

The steam stack poking out of the water in the River Yare after Banjo sunk (Image: Philip Webster)

The boat - which once belonged to the Norwich mustard tycoons, the Colman family -  has been at the bottom of the river near to the village of Buckenham for about three weeks, with just her steam stack above the water.

Terry Everitt, centre, and Jon Newstead, second right, of Everitt Marine Services, with divers, Roger Smith, left; Sean Sizeland, second left; and Nick Schiller, after the salvaging operation to lift Banjo, a historic steamboat, after it sank in the River Yare at Buckenham. (Image: Denise Bradley)

The recovery operation began with divers braving the cold waters to recover parts of the boat, including the stack.

Divers recover parts of the boat while it sat at the bottom of the River Yare (Image: Sean Sizeland)

An attempt was then made to lift the hull out of the water by a commercial salvage company.

But as she was being raised she began to disintegrate.

Banjo's steam stack recovered from the depths of the River Yare (Image: Anglian Divers)

Sean Sizeland, from Anglian Divers, said: "People were mortified.

"Sadly the boat was so rotten that during the commercial lift it completely collapsed.

"They did their absolute best but it didn't work out.

Banjo being lifted out of the River Yare (Image: Sean Sizeland)

"Unfortunately it is an old boat. It is what it is."

Seeing the treasured boat in such disrepair left onlookers heartbroken and dashed hopes she could be restored quickly and before long be back out on the Broads waterways.

Mr Sizeland added: "It was quite emotional, some of the onlookers had been on board when it sank.

"We managed to retrieve some of the important bits which will be returned to the owner who will at least have some souvenirs of Banjo."

Banjo has been left badly damaged after it sank last month (Image: Sean Sizeland)

BANJO'S BIOGRAPHY

Owner Philip Webster, who has been in and out of boats on the Broads all his life, saved Banjo "from the bonfire" in the mid-1980s and managed to restore her back to her former glory.

He would venture out along the waterways at least once a week prior to Banjo's sinking, trundling along at a maximum speed of six knots.

The steamboat was originally built in 1897 - more than a decade before the Titanic - and she used to belong to Russell Colman, from the mustard family.

He later left her to a friend before she ended up in the hands of Broadway Cruises in Oulton Broad.

The vessel was used to pull cruisers off the mud in Breydon, among other activities.

The wreckage of Banjo being taken away (Image: Denise Bradley)

Mr Webster took on Banjo in the mid-1980s, finding her as an empty hull with no engine, no boiler - the only machinery left was a prop shaft with no prop.

After a decade of restoration, she was back out steaming along the Broads in 1995.

She averages five miles an hour and is powered by coal, using as much as fifty kilos for a nine-hour trip. 

Mr Webster was on board for the vessel's fateful last voyage.

She struck a steel object which punched a hole in the wooden hull.

Mr Webster was able to steer the boat towards the bank before issuing the 'abandon ship' order and allowing all on board to escape to safety.