Pyronaut - Bristol Floating Harbour Fire Boat

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Preserved in working order - the waterbourne fire engine on the Floating Harbour, the Pyronaut .. and a few times a year, it runs demonstration trips.   One of which was yesterday.



To give you an idea of scale, Pyronaut is the tiny boat beyond the Balmoral (another story this year) tied to the outside of the Mayflower - the last (?) operational steam powered tug?



The trip ran out through the Floating Harbour into the Cumberland Basin, where water could be pumped and sprayed in demonstration without soaking the crowds out on a sunny Saturday









Pyrounaut was especially active during the second world war, when German 'blitz' bombing raids left large parts of the dockside ablaze.  These days, she's purely a heritage piece / demonstration but - my goodness - an impressive one.