A boat owner whose vessel was destroyed during the Underfall Yard fire that ripped through Bristol’s harbourside boatyard earlier this month has said he's lucky to be alive. Lex Fjelrad, who owns the Maid of Wyven, which was the only place he ever called home, said it was pure chance that he was not aboard his boat at the time of the fire.
Lex, who is currently working in Manchester, said he was due to come to Bristol on Friday, May 5 for the weekend to work on his boat. When in Bristol, he would sleep aboard and as he takes medication to help him sleep, it was unlikely he would have woken up when the blaze ripped through the harbour in the early hours of Saturday, May 6.
He said: “I was supposed to come down that weekend and without a doubt, I would have slept on the boat and as I have chronic insomnia, I take strong sleep medication and I would not have woken.
Read next: Images show devastation caused by blaze at Underfall Yard
“There is a young guy who was working on the boat who is at university and he called me to say he couldn’t make it, so I didn’t come down. When the fire started, one of the guys from the yard was trying to call me as he thought I was on the boat.
“Maid was moored right in front of the big shed and I think when the roof of it started falling it fell onto Maid. They (firefighters) had to cut Maid loose to get her away from the other boats.
“Even when the fire went out on the deck, it was in the cabin which would have been like a wind tunnel. It was burning white hot and she went down,” he said.
Lex, a tech consultant who suffers from Complex PTSD, said his boat was the first place during his life where he had found 'home'. He said it had always been his dream to live on a boat and he came across Maid of Wyven “pretty much abandoned” in 2016. She went to Underfall Yard for refurbishment the following year.
Maid of Wyven was built in the 1950s and was over 70 years old. He said: “It was quite a lot of work to get her back to full glory. She was in the yard for a year involving nearly every business there to get her back to what she was.
"She was reborn at the Yard. Maid taught me what home means for other people, that place you go to when you can close the door.”
Read next: Bristol Ferry Boats share update as they 'grieve loss'
Lex said he had sailed around the British coastline, as well as the Mediterranean and during the pandemic had anchored in a quiet river in Cornwall where he lived in “extreme isolation” but found a sense of peace.
He called on the public to help the boatbuilders and other businesses based in Underfall Yard, many of which are small business owners who have lost their entire livelihoods. He added: “Maid of Wyven had gone into Underfall Yard for some additional work and was not insured”
Still grieving for the loss of his much loved boat, Lex said: “It hits you at different times and I’ve got to process that, but I’m not there yet. I want to come down to Bristol, but I want to know I can deal with it as I know it’s going to hit me,” he said.
Following the fire, police arrested 45 year old, Robert Boyd-Stevenson from Knowle. He appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on May 8 on charges of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered, arson with intent to endanger life and another separate charge of stalking. He is scheduled to appear at Bristol Crown Court on June 5.
Maid of Wyven was lifted out of the water at the beginning of this week in a salvage operation. Lex said that any parts which were rescued, he would like to give to another boat owner whose boat was damaged in the fire. He added: "Only the steel frames are holding her bones together. I thought it would be a good thing if some parts of Maid lived on with another boat and helped another sailor.”
The Underfall Yard Visitor Centre and Cafe are open and operating as normal, including the weekend and Bank holidays and supporting the Cafe will help in restoring the Yard and supporting affected businesses.
Following the fire, the Underfall Yard trustees said they were “committed to rebuilding” the yard, describing the entire Underfall Yard community as “reeling” after the devastating fire.
Read next:
- 'Embarrassed' judge can't jail sex offender due to wheelchair access
- Plan renewed for futuristic building that looks like a lump of coal
- West Country man's decade of hell in damp house after 'botched' bridge repairs
- Bristol hotter than Turkey as bank holiday scorcher predicted
Underfall Yard fire: Fundraiser for Bristol blacksmith who 'had to watch it burn'
