Gilpin Starts Removing Accumulate From Brixham Harbour After 10 Years
Work has begun in brixham to dismantle the vessel Accumulate, which has sat in the harbour since March 2016. Gilpin has been asked by Torbay Council to remove the boat piece by piece after more than 10 years in the water.
The council has put the disposal cost in the region of £120,000. Tor Bay Harbour Authority said the vessel had blighted the quay for years and wrote: "The demolition crew from our friends at Gilpins Demolition will remove her piece-by-piece after blighting the harbour for years. We won't miss her."
Accumulate In Brixham Harbour
Accumulate, formerly known as Saint Christophe I, sank in Dartmouth in March 2016 after running aground and toppling over while tied up alongside the embankment as the tide dropped. Its five-man French crew had sought shelter from stormy weather when it came into Dartmouth.
After the vessel was salvaged, it was sold to a new owner. Plans for its future included turning it into a floating disco, but those plans never came to fruition. The vessel then remained in Brixham Harbour, Devon, from March 2016.
Torbay Council Disposal Plan
The council says the removal is part of a wider initiative to deal with long-standing derelict and arrested vessels in the harbour. It has also said its priority remains the safety of harbour users, the protection of the marine environment, and the long-term stewardship of Brixham Harbour.
Rob Parsons, then harbourmaster, said he would sell the boat for £1 to anyone who would take it away after efforts to contact the new owner came to nothing. That offer now sits behind the present demolition work, which follows years of the boat occupying the quay.
Dartmouth Sinking Report
A report from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch said language difficulties between the crew and harbour staff contributed to the boat sinking. That finding sits alongside the wider disposal effort now under way in Brixham, where the vessel has finally moved from a long-running mooring problem to active removal.
