It was a lovely day in May 2006 when we powered up our coastal barge 'Veracite' to start its journey from the lock and bridge at Oulton Broad to Norwich. When my husband bought 'Veracite' it was starting to sink and was full of rust, it had been left on the end of the old Esso jetty at Oulton Broad for 12 years.
There were many people who had stopped to look at our boat we had lovingly restored with help of friends, we went through the lock and bridge all at once, as our boat is quite large ,our friends Neil,Anne and Hoarace were there to help us. Neil took the helm and we passed through with only inches to spare,it went perfectly.
The journey went smoothly all the way until we reached the new cut at Haviscoe. Behind us we were towing our lifeboat we use as a tender,and as we had to pull in tighter to the bank ,as we were coming up to a workbarge/dredger ,our lifeboat caught on the rockbasket walls, this in turn pulled the back end of our barge in and we ended up running aground. Luckily we got the life boat free but the barge was still stuck!
We had to wait for the returning high tide to float off, this took one and half hours. Our next problem arose when we called ahead for the Reedham bridge to open, this was having problems opening and waiting for an engineer to fix it . Finally after another hour we went through the bridge, my parents were there recording on camera some of our journey. We were off again with no more problems just a lovely journey of beautiful scenery of the Norfolk Broads to her new moorings at Thorpe St Andrews in Norwich.
'Veracite' started life in Holland, built in a design of a Hummber keel in 1928 for the royal navy as a water carrier supplying water for Merchant and Navel ships,working out of Rochester,then Bristol and then on to Hull for a company called 'Collingson Water Company'. She was bought in 1982 for 'Small and Co' ,and converted to carry diesel for another company called 'Hardy Craske' in 1984. Her name was changed to 'Craske', there is a model of her in Lowestoft Maritine Mueseum. She supplied diesel to the fishing industry and oil rig supply ships. Her piece of fame came when she refuelled the Virgin Alantic Challenger that won for Richard Branson.
Even though we have recently sold her to friends as with work commitements we could not bestow upon her the love and upkeep that she deserved, we are hopeful that the new owners will .
We know she is admired from people who walk along the Whittlingham Lake for the lovely boat she is, its so sad that many boats of our history are lost and sold for scrap. Luckily my husband Peter had a vision which I gladly joined, in coverting the inside to a home but trying to keep the outside looking like a traditional Hummber keel. And, to think we dont have to go anywhere to enjoy the Norfolk Broads even if now its from a narrow boat .
Jane Collins