AN ICE BOAT made in Tilbury has sunk without trace on it’s maiden voyage out of Portsmouth Harbour.
The attempted crossing was a stunt for the BBC1 show Bang Goes The Theory reports Portsmouth.co.uk.
Producers of the science show came up with the idea as a tribute to a Second World War brainwave that never came to fruition. Defence chiefs at the time had planned to make ships out of ice and wood pulp in the event the country ran out of steel.
And seeing how the four presenters fared in the waters of Portsmouth Harbour yesterday, it seems to be a good thing the country never had to rely on that plan. After leaving Gosport Marina just after 12.30pm the ice boat soon hit trouble.
Lynette Slight, production co-ordinator of the show, said: ‘They had just got out of the marina, and weren’t far from the Navy ships when it began to sink. It was all a little bit strange. I don’t think they realised what was going to happen. In the end it just tipped upside down.’
Presenters Jem Stansfield, Dr Yan Wong, Liz Bonnin and Dallas Campbell ended up getting wet as they were forced to admit defeat in their quest to get the boat to Cowes.
The crew had spent sometime in the Port of Tilbury developing the boat. A total of 6,000 litres of water was poured into a mould and stored in an ice warehouse to create the boat.
Lynette added: ‘It was taking on too much water at the back and the engine became too low.
They thought they could get it to Cowes but….Bang Goes The Theory is on BBC1 at 7.30pm on Wednesday evenings. The ice boat stunt will appear on October 13.
