CONCERN was mounting today for an elderly man missing in the Irish Sea on a home-made canal boat.

Wilfred Critchley - believed to have been born in Bolton - left Knott End, near Fleetwood on the Lancashire Coast, last Wednesday morning, telling friends he was heading for the Isle of Man to visit his brother, John, whom he had not seen for 40 years.

He was spotted on board the boat, called The Will, at noon that day, half-way towards his destination, by the crew of a yacht called the Rampage, which he was following towards the island. About 25 nautical miles off the coast of the Isle of Man, the Rampage headed north for Ramsey and the crew say The Will continued west. That was the last sighting of either the boat or its skipper.

Mr Critchley was reported missing to Liverpool Coastguard on Wednesday. His vessel never arrived on the Isle of Man and his brother has not seen him.

Yesterday the search continued along the coasts of the North-west, the Isle of Man and the Irish Republic, with no trace of Mr Critchley or his flat-bottomed boat.

Reports were made to Liverpool Coastguard of drifting debris adjacent to the Isle of Man but when a lifeboat searched the area, nothing was found.

Don McDonald, deputy district controller for Liverpool Coastguard, said: "We are becoming increasingly concerned for the skipper's safety. "The gentleman has no safety equipment, no method of contacting the coastguard should he have run into difficulties and seems to have set sail across the Irish Sea in a boat designed for inland waters.

"Manx Coastguard, the Irish Coastguard and UK Coastguard are all working together checking harbours and seeking further information."

Mr Critchley had lived on board his boat on a patch of land, behind a garage in Blackpool for the last 12 months.

Friends who knew him in the town said they were very concerned about him as there was no equipment on board to allow him to make contact with them or the coastguard.

They say the 76-year-old decided last week to make the journey to the Isle of Man, where he had told them he used to live. He used a trailer to take the vessel on the five-mile journey to Fleetwood before lowering the boat on to the water and setting off.

"We tried to convince him to go some other way but he was determined," said one friend who knew him for the year he lived in Blackpool.

"He really isn't very well equipped on board I'm afraid to say. Now we are absolutely worried to death about him. He really is a very nice man."

Blackpool man Selby Stinson, who had befriended Mr Critchley, said: "He talked of Bolton, especially the football team.

"He's a nice fellow but a bit of a nomad. He just set off without being properly prepared." It is not clear if the brother of the missing man, John Critchley, knew of the intended visit to the island.

It is thought the two men had not seen each other for more than 40 years.

Last night a woman who answered the telephone at John Critchley's home, on the Isle of Man, said: "We haven't got anything to say. We didn't even really know him."

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