Icebreaker 2.

The canal had refrozen after Muchgigglin came through on Monday and we heard it cracking again early this morning. ‘Renfrew’ was on the move with three men breaking the ice with long boathooks.

    

They were going around the corner to tow FMC Clent along to Braunston Marina to be craned out and brought back around by road to the Phobox Co for refurbishment work. They were held up because Bob Mitchell’s Narrowboat Workshop was on fire with three fire appliances in attendance. It is thought that the fire for heating the workshop was to blame.

It was late afternoon by the time Clent was unloaded from the Tuckey’s lorry onto its special cradle ready for work to begin.

Clent was the last wooden working boat built at Uxbridge for Fellows Morton and Clayton in 1947, her fleet number was 354 and she has a Bolinder Pup engine.