An experienced captain has revealed the terrifying moment his boat was engulfed by flames – just inches away from a gas cannister.

John, a fuel tanker skipper, was moving his houseboat for the summer when disaster struck near Sheerness, leaving him and a friend stranded on board the burning vessel with no power.

The 51-year-old said: "On Friday, April 1, my friend, who also has some river experience, and I decided to move my boat from Hoo Marina, Medway, back to Gravesend for the summer.

"We left Hoo at about 11 o'clock. I did all my checks on the boat, checked the oil, checked the water and we set sail.

"There were no problems at all. We came out of Hoo, pass Kingsnorth, pass the Isle of Grain, but then all of a sudden, out of the blue, what I thought was steam was filling the wheelhouse.

"So I went down to the bathroom and I thought it was coming from the engine so I took my water to cool it down, but then there was more smoke – and this time it was smoke.

"It was getting worse and worse."

John, who has been working on the river since he was just 16-years-old, began as an apprentice on tankers going up and down the Thames, delivering fuel to ships and depots.

Over the last 35 years he has been the captain on pleasure boats and Thames clippers.

So, after realising the thick black smoke coming from towards the back of his boat was something serious he was relieved to see a police boat was making its way towards them.

He said: "The officers had been training on the Medway and began coming towards us because they had seen the smoke coming out the windows and doors.

"Now usually the worst thing to do in a situation where there could be a fire is to open a door or window because when the air gets into a fire, it makes it worse, but we had to do that because we couldn't see or breathe."

As his pal, Alan, 49, and the police were speaking outside, John could see that the smoke was continuing to get worse.

He said: "I shut all the power off for the boat, went down to the engine room and realised that the smoke was actually coming from the bathroom.

"I had two powder fire extinguishers down in the bathroom which I used to try and put the flames out, because by this time the flames were actually roaring up the side of the boat.

"It was climbing up onto the boat ceiling because it was all made out of wood.

"So as I was coming out the bathroom I shouted to Alan and the police, that we were on fire.

"So I went down to the front of the boat to get two more fire extinguishers, ran back to the bathroom and started fighting it. There was more smoke and the fire was terrible.

"But I couldn't see anything. I burnt my head, my face and my arms.

"So I shouted out to Alan and the police boat 'Give me another fire extinguisher please', which they did, which was a bigger one than the six I had, and it managed to stop the fire.

"I was lucky it stopped when it did as a gas bottle, for my heating, hot water and cooking, was actually behind the bathroom on the outside, but thankfully it didn't ignite.

"If it did explode, I can't imagine what would've happened. It was close though because when the fire brigade got there they were hosing it down to cool it, but if that had gone up, we'd definitely be dead."

As John was in the bathroom, putting the fire out, the Sheerness lifeboat arrived.

John, who is now a captain on a bunker barge at Denton Wharf, Gravesend, added: "I said to them that the fire was out and I was throwing cans of drink over the smokey wood to stop it smouldering and catching fire again.

"We were also getting buckets of water out of the River Medway and throwing it over the wood so it didn't ignite."

The Sheerness lifeboat towed John and Alan to Queenborough pier, where they were met by the coastguard, two fire engines and two ambulances.

He said: "The fire brigade jumped on the boat and I was taken into the ambulance because I had breathed in a lot of smoke and powder.

"The fire brigade had to rip the whole bathroom apart to stop the wood re-igniting. I was gutted, because it's my house. That's my home, that's where I lived.

"So at the moment I'm homeless. I'm staying with my sister and her boyfriend, until my insurance sorts everything out. I had to get the boat towed back to Gravesend on Sunday as there's no power.

"I thought that the boat wasn't going to survive, that it was going down but I thought no, I'm going to save this boat because it's my house essentially, it's where I live.

"I don't know if the adrenaline took over or what but I just fought and fought and fought."

At first John and Alan didn't really know what caused the fire as they could see no flames at first and eventually, when it did catch on fire, it was in the corner of the bathroom.

However, the fire brigade explained to John that they think a wire had come out of a light socket and it sparked behind the wood.

John said: "That's where the smoke was coming from, it was arcing out the electricity on the boat and it just set itself on fire.

"But it took 10 minutes, to start even though we turned all the power off once it started smoking.

"I'd just like to say that if you do have a house boat make sure you've got insurance.

"Make sure all your life-saving equipment is up to date, have smoke alarms, because if it happens to you, it is terrible, I thought I was going to die."

After their ordeal, John and Alan decided to finish their day in the Flying Dutchman in Queenborough, with a pint.

John said: "We walked in and stunk of burning wood, my hair was singed, face burnt.

"As we went to the bar the landlady said 'you stink! What have you been up to?' We told them and they gave us a free drink!

"The situation was bad, but it could have been so much worse, so I just want to thank the police, the RNLI, the coastguard and fire brigade. Without them we would have been in trouble."