Report - The "Mary Celeste Concrete Barges", Bristol 19/10/08

[Rookinella]

Visited with Userscott.

It was our third night of adventuring and Sunday had been particularly eventful but we weren't finished for the day so after some chips (numberrrr 69), we set off into town to find these mysterious barges that Scott had recced whilst I was at work the previous evening.

Like professional ninjas, we parked the car in a very obvious place (also somewhere that some pikey tried to nick it last time-ERROR) and made our way to the point where we would dangle like spiders until we reached our way in.

Some bits of the barge was filled with manky water and the rest with rotten canoes. There were kitchens, bedrooms and loads of odd stuff lying around which indicated that it was once used as some kind of Scout HQ.

Anyway, here's the pics-they are appalling but I don't really care

 

[Rookinella]

Re: The "Mary Celeste Concrete Barges", Bristol 19/10/08 REPORT

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[Thecretefleet]

As one of your photos shows, you found the old 99th Bristol (Cabot) Sea Scouts HQ from 1952. It is in a WW2 Ferro-Concrete Barge built in Barrow in Furness

Article in Bristol Evening Post on 15th May 1952 :-


Barge for £1 Sea Scouts of the 99th Bristol Cabot Group have a “bargain" in the concrete barge which is to be their new headquarters near Bristol Bridge. They bought it for £1 from Port of Bristol who also agreed to dredge a berth Bit by bit they dismantled their old home at Jacob's Wells and trundled the pieces by handcart to the Floating Harbour The barge has been named Matthew after Cabot’s ship Scouts hope to occupy it for the first time next month.