Historic floating cafe sinks in Bristol Harbour after 'catastrophic failure'
Investigations are underway after two historic barges sunk to the bottom of Bristol Harbour following a "catastrophic failure".
Moored not far from SS Great Britain, Greenshank operated as a popular floating cafe but sank at around 3am on Tuesday 15 June.
The Greenshank was tied to a second boat - a Dutch barge called the Robert H - which has also sunk to the bottom of the harbour.
Now all that can be seen of the popular cafe is its white roof and red sign beneath the harbour waters.
Boat tour agency Bristol Packet spent six years restoring the Greenshank, which was first built in 1936, before finally opening up the vessel as a cafe in 2017.
Co-director of the company Luke Dunstan said it is "overwhelming" seeing the two boats lying at the bottom of the harbour.
"I jumped out of bed freaking out when I heard what had happened this morning," he said.
"I've seen a few boats go down over the years but I've never seen one of my own go down. It's a bit overwhelming and just really sad.
"So much effort has gone into it and now it's sitting at the bottom of the water."
Luke said it is not yet known whether the Greenshank will be able to operate as a cafe in the future.
But there are already plans to salvage both sunken boats. Divers are surveying the boats tomorrow, with hopes that airbags can be used to bring them back to the surface.
"We don't know what's happened yet," added Luke, whose family took over Bristol Packet in 1980. "It's a catastrophic failure of some description and we will investigate.
"All we know is that it's somehow filled up with water and gone down."
A nearby resident said it "sounded like massive fireworks going off" as the boats started to sink beneath the water.
Luke said the "saving grace" is that the other boats in Bristol Packet's fleet - Tower Belle, Bagheera, Redshank and Flower of Bristol - which are moored next door were unaffected and can still be used to give tours.
"Thankfully our other boats are above water and we can still operate them," he said. "We'll be keeping our spirits up as best we can.
"It's not impossible to get Greenshank up and it could well run again. At least it hasn't burned to the ground and we know where it is."
Read more: