This is the moment an empty boat was spotted floating along the River Avon, near Netham Lock.
The vessel was filmed as it glided along the water before skimming gracefully over the weir at Netham, at around 7:38am on Monday (October 5).
Then, later on Monday,Sarah Connolly snapped pictures of the unusual sight of the boat, aptly called Shadow, lying beached on the river bank a few miles downstream on the Ashton Meadows side of the Cumberland Basin area.
One person wrote on Twitter: "It got swept down over Netham Weir. There’s a shout out about it on the K&A group but nobody knows whose it is yet."
While someone else said: "It’ll be dragged out to sea in an hour or two."
But a spokeswoman for the Bristol Port Company confirmed the vessel was rescued, and its owners have now been informed.
She said: "Periodically abandoned boats find their way into our Harbour area.
"Portishead Lifeboat secured the vessel to a mooring, so there is no risk to navigation, and the boat’s owners are being contacted."
Portishead Coastguard confirmed it was they, not the lifeboat, that secured the vessel.
"Nine Coastguards worked for a total of five hours to secure the vessel, including a protracted clean-down," said a spokesperson.
"It was important for HM Coastguard to attend the vessel as quickly as possible in order to ensure that there was no-one onboard - the back story was not known at the time that the team was tasked - and to prevent it drifting further and being a hazard to navigation," he added.
