FIREMEN fought for four hours to stop the restored steam tug Cervia sinking when it began taking water on board at Ramsgate harbour.

The 240 ton floating exhibition is owned by the East Kent Maritime Trust based at the harbour’s Pier Yard.

The alarm was raised shortly before midday Sunday. Museum staff were trying to pump water out when Ramsgate firemen arrived. They used their submersible pump capable of moving 500 litres a minute.

A two-inch hole in the hull was plugged as a temporary repair and a boat specialist was called from London.

Cervia was built in 1945-46 by Alexandra Hall and Company in Aberdeen on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport.

Originally named the Empire Raymond, she first saw service in April 1947 when she was called to the assistance of the Queen Elizabeth that had gone aground on Brambles Bank in Southampton Water.

Renamed the Cervia after a town in Italy, the craft served in the English Channel and North Sea before sinking in fog with the loss of five crew in a towing accident in 1954.

She was refloated and used as a tug until 1985 when she was taken over by the maritime museum at Ramsgate where she has pride of place at her permanent berth in the inner harbour.