Sinking scare for historic ship

The Balmoral can accommodate up to 750 passengers

Partial repairs have been made to the historic ship Balmoral after it started taking on water in Swansea Docks on Wednesday afternoon.

The ship, which runs pleasure trips, is now on its way to Sharpness Dock in Gloucester for further repairs.

Swansea Coastguard believes the damage was caused when its hull scraped along the sea bed.

On Wednesday, crew members were forced to leave the ship, which did not have any passengers onboard.

The vessel carries holidaymakers on day trips in the Bristol Channel over the summer months, but Wednesday's sailing had been cancelled due to the weather conditions.

Things were pretty grim when we arrived - there was about three metres of water in the engine room at that point Mark Jones, Mumbles coastguard

Fire crews and lifeboats were called to the Balmoral shortly after 1600 BST to help pump out the engine room, which had started to fill with water.

"Things were pretty grim when we arrived," said Mark Jones from the Mumbles Coastguard. "There was about three metres of water in the engine room at that point.

"There were about 20 crew on board and our first concern was for them, so we asked all non-essential crew to come off apart from the skipper and a couple of engineers to help with the pumping operation."

Once the engine room had been drained divers assessed the damage and a team of marine welders were called in.

The fire service, which lead the rescue operation, said that all agencies involved "worked well together."

"Fortunately the Mumbles lifeboat was launched and one of our crew was the acting coxswain," said officer Craig Thomas from South Wales Fire Service.

"So we were able to work well together to enable us to pump the water out of the hull and let the divers get down there to repair the damage."

The Balmoral calls in at several UK ports

In just under two hours, on Wednesday evening, Swansea Coastguard said it had brought the water flow under control and had handed the operation over to the ship's owners, Waverley Excursions Ltd.

The ship left Swansea at around 0500 BST on Thursday and was expected to arrive in Sharpness Dock at around midday.

The Balmoral was built in Southampton in 1949 and can accommodate up to 750 passengers.

Last year, it grounded on Gower with 232 people on board.