Railwayman rescues 1951 sunken lifeboat
‘Everything is in working order so now it’s about upgrading her’
A 66-YEAR-OLD former lifeboat which saved numerous lives and once rested on the bottom of the Crinan Canal now floats in Campbeltown harbour.
Campbeltown man Sean McCallum, 43, who works as a road rail operator, has spent the past four years painstakingly restoring Bassett Green to its former glory and, last weekend, it came ‘hame’ to Campbeltown.The Liverpool-class, twinscrew boat, built by Groves and Gutteridge in 1951, originally served Padstow until 1962 as the number two lifeboat, where she was launched 13 times and saved six lives, before being sent to Poole between 1962 and 1969, where she was launched 17 times, saving nine lives.
More recently, however, the boat now berthed in Argyll, was in a more dire situation when a huge hole in the hull meant it languished at the bottom of the Crinan Canal.
It was when its owner decided to sell it, that
Mr McCallum, who has no previous experience with boats, saw the advert in the Courier.
‘I was sitting across from Davaar when I saw the advert and I thought, “Why not?”, and before I knew it I had a boat,’ Mr McCallum explained.
And so began Mr McCallum’s painstaking project, made even harder by the fact that he lives in Campbeltown, works all round the country and the boat was moved to a mooring at Achnamara.
Mr McCallum took every chance he could to work on his first boat, and over the years he fixed the hole, building up layer upon layer, extended the wheelhouse, making the roof slope, replaced the oak trims, painted it royal blue and white with red piping, and a touch of green, in line with its moniker, made new, personalised wooden signs for the front and much more.
And, once she was completely seaworthy, it was time for Bassett Green to make the perilous voyage round the Mull of Kintyre to Campbeltown, travelling with the tide. ‘I left on Saturday and travelled to Gigha. The worst bit of the journey was coming out of Loch Sween, around the MacCormaig Islands – my tools were flying off the shelves,’ Mr McCallum said. ‘And leaving Gigha on Sunday heading for the Mull, I couldn’t see 100 feet in front of me with the fog, but it was nice and calm.’
Mr McCallum, who plans to use the boat for pleasure pursuits, stopped off in Southend bay for a play about before continuing round into Campbeltown.
‘There’s still a lot of work to do,’ added Mr McCallum. ‘I think I’ll be working on her all over winter, but it is a lot easier now that she’s berthed in town.
‘Everything is in working order so now it’s about upgrading her.’
Mr McCallum plans to use Bassett Green for fishing trips, sailing around Campbeltown Loch and visits to other places, like Portavadie and Arran.