Up the creek in a narrowboat



by Andrew Rosthorn _____________________________________ Published on Jun 01 2006

A CANAL boat has been hauled from the dreamy waterways and locks of the English countryside on a journey to the alligator-infested swamps of Florida.
Terry Darlington, a self-styled “extreme canal boater”, is set on navigating 1,000 miles of the US Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the dangerous estuaries which punctuate it.
Darlington believes it will make him the first to cruise a classic British narrow boat through American waters.
So, in the firm belief that canal boating and alligators do mix, his vessel the Phyllis May will be loaded on to the 58,000-ton Atlantic Conveyor at Liverpool this weekend to piggy-back the first leg of the journey to Norfolk, Virginia.
The boat was delivered to the Royal Seaforth Container terminal in Bootle after being carried by trailer from Darlington’s home in Stone, Staffordshire.
The Atlantic Conveyor now faces a ­­­12-day voyage via Nova Scotia, New York and Baltimore, before rolling the Phyllis May out at Portsmouth, Virginia.
However, the craft’s ultimate destination is Indian River, near Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral – and she must make that trip under her own steam.
Lunatic
Darlington, 70, said: “What we want is a lunatic scheme, a mission from which few return – one that people are scornful about – something ‘outside the envelope’. We want some action. We are not too old for some action.”
He’s done it before. He and his 17-ton, 62ft, steel narrowboat have already crossed the English Channel – something the 6ft 10in wide, flat-bottomed vessel was never designed to do and a voyage which experts advised against. Once in France, he set off for the French Pyrenees.
Darlington recounted his adventures in his book, Narrow Dog to Carcassone, which is still in the best-seller lists.
But Darlington admitted his new venture will pose many more dangers than that comparatively short-hop: “One I’m concerned about is the Albemarle Sound,” he said.
On a recent trip to America, Darlington discussed its potential hazards with a local skipper known only as “Captain Rob”, who would surely have given Robert Shaw’s Quint a run for his money in the film Jaws. Darlington said: “He told me: ‘You hit Albemarle Sound in North Carolina as soon as you have crossed the Great Dismal Swamp. You have got to cross it to get into the Alligator River on the other side.
Protection
“It is very wide. You are out of sight of land and there is not much protection from the Atlantic.
“And even if you sink, or get ill and die – with you being so old, I mean – you will have been the first English narrowboat on the US waterways, and people will respect you when you are gone’.”
Darlington appears bullish despite this disturbing advice and, although Britannia may no longer rule the waves, he’s sure he can still teach the world a thing or two about extreme canal boating.
In fact Darlington, who will be sailing with his wife, Monica, hopes that on completion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, they can cross Lake Okeechobee, in the Florida’s swampland, and navigate to Fort Myers on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
At journey’s end, Darlington will leave the Phyllis May at the remote Owl Creek Boatworks, near Alva, Florida.
From there, boat transport experts from Sealand Boat Deliveries, based in Bury, will be asked to road-haul her back to Portsmouth, Virginia, and ship her back to England by container ship.