French fishing boat in Brixham harbour on sale for £1

A French fishing boat in Devon has gone on sale for just £1.

The Saint Christophe 1 trawler, towed at Brixham Harbour, is property of Torbay Council and the Torbay Harbour Authority.

Although the boat can be bought for just £1, it would cost £50,000 to tow it away.

The historic vessel, now called Accumulate, sank alongside the Embankment at Dartmouth in March 2016. It was one of three French fishing vessels which came to Dartmouth to shelter from bad weather. 

The trawler was told to stay by the quay wall and when the tide went out it ran aground and capsized. It flooded and sank with the incoming tide, and was declared a write-off.

Once it was refloated, the blue and white boat was then towed to Brixham harbour for repairs. It has been there ever since. 

A Government inquiry concluded that Dart harbour staff and the five-man crew of the trawler had been unable to understand one another when discussing the danger of the boat grounding on the falling tide.

The boat was renamed Accumulate when it was sold to a new owner, but is now the responsibility of Torbay Council as the harbour authority.

Harbourmaster Rob Parsons of Torbay harbour committee said: “We’d sell it for a pound. People think we are just letting it sit there, but we are actively trying to get rid of it.”

Mr Parsons told the meeting that although the boat could be bought for just £1, it would cost around £50,000 to tow it away from the harbour, with breaking-up costs to add on top.

He added: "People had talked about making it a house-boat or even taking off its superstructure to use it as a barge.

“It is very hard to do, but we are actively trying to sort it out.”

Credit: Guy Henderson, Local Democracy Reporting Service