A COUPLE who lost everything in a Dartmouth boat fire have warned about the risks of not having enough insurance.

Alan and Hilary Hemsley saw their home and livelihood go up in flames when their boat the African Queen was destroyed by fire in the harbour last month.

Now they are facing an uncertain future, amid fears the insurance payout for the vessel will be no more than they paid for her 14 years ago.

This week they thanked the community of Dartmouth for its 'amazing' support, which they said had been nothing short of 'humbling'.

But they said it was still too early to speak about what they were going to do next as they needed time to recover and reflect on the enormity of what had happened.

Alan and Hilary, who are now temporarily living at a friend's house in the town, said they were still having difficulties coming to terms with their loss but were thankful that they and everyone involved in the rescue had escaped unhurt.

Speaking to the Chronicle about their ordeal, Alan said: 'It was our home, our business, and our livelihood. A lot of people lose one or the other, but there's not many that lose both together.

'It's like being in a dream and you think this is going to stop in a minute, and that it can't be real.'

Fire crews, two RNLI Lifeboats, Coastguard rescue teams and the Dart Harbour staff spent the night tackling the blaze on the 51ft charter fishing vessel moored on one of the Kingswear pontoons in the middle of the estuary on Monday, March 10.

For more on this story, see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle