SHOREHAM BOAT FIRE - Picture special

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Mike Knowles was with five friends on his 400,000 cruiser, the Cloudbreak afternoon when it caught fire off the coast of Shoreham on Sunday.

The group were taking the 58ft Sea Princess out for a spin for the first time since October after an expensive refit of the vessel during the winter.

But they were forced to abandon ship at 1.20pm when fire broke out on board just moments after it had pulled out of its mooring in Brighton Marina.

Fellow sailors helped them onto their vessels before the Shoreham lifeboat crew took them back to the shore and then returned in a bid to fight the fire.

A plume of smoke at least a thousand feet high could be seen from Brighton and Hove, although the blaze was at least 10 miles away just outside Shoreham Harbour.

The vessel burned for two hours as RNLI and coastguard crews had to stand by and watch because it was too dangerous to approach. It sank at 3.18pm.

Mr Knowles, who lived on Cloudbreak, as well as owning an apartment at the Brighton Marina, and a home and business in Hertfordshire, said he had just put 2,500 worth of fuel into the boat and they had been on board for about 20 minutes before smelling acrid smoke from engine room.

"Within a minute the boat had filled with thick black smoke so we made a Mayday call."

Shoreham lifeboat spokesman Dave Cassan said: "At one point there was fear it was drifting and would cause a hazard and the other concern was pollution. If the boat had sank before the fuel had burned out there could have been a lot of leaked diesel to deal with."

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