The mid-blue coloured narrow boat, named "Go With The Flow", is worth up to £60,000 and was taken from its site at Knotts Bridge Moorings between Burnley and Hapton sometime from 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

But police, workers from British Waterways, the site owner and the barge owner have been left dumbfounded as to how the culprits were able to steal the boat. It has been suggested that the thieves could have used a crane to take the barge from the canal before transporting it away on a specialist trombone trailer.

Site owner Mr Stephen Porter said: "I have never known anything like this before. It really is a strange and unique incident. I raised the alarm quite late on after speaking to the owner of the barge. I noticed that both his boats had gone so I rang him. He told me that he was out on one of his boats but the other one should still be there.

"Sometimes people take the barges away without notifying me but I definitely had my suspicions about this. The theft has been carefully planned and the offenders have been plotting this for a few days. We found crow bars hidden on barges and fences along the canal had been torn down. I just presumed that somebody was trying to steal items from the site. I would never have guessed that a barge would have been stolen."

Staff from British Waterways have been in contact with the police and have even cycled along the towpath of the Leeds and Liverpool canal in a bid to trace the barge.

Mr James Swindells, maintenance supervisor at British Waterways, said: "We are still searching for the boat. We are investigating the incident alongside the police and we hope it will turn up soon. However, these thieves appear to have been very determined. I believe that the barge has been craned out of the canal. I don't know how this has happened though. It is a bit like someone stealing a huge elephant and nobody seeing it.

"Sometimes boats do get craned out of the canal for maintenance work so people may have seen it and not found it suspicious. If not, the culprits could have camouflaged the barge or disguised it in some way and moved it to another site along the canal. The possibilities are endless but it is very strange. The canal is 127 miles long though so it could be very difficult to trace. We have informed the lock keepers up and down the canal and we will keep an eye out ourselves."

The barge has distinguishing features that make it identifiable. Unlike a majority of barges, "Go With The Flow" has four round port holes at the front and square windows at the back, which is usually the other way round.

Mobile crane engineer and owner of the stolen barge Mr Jeff Laycock (58), who also owns a barge called "Whistle Down The Wind" has been searching the canal in a bid to find his pride and joy.

He said: "I am very annoyed with what has happened but can't quite believe it. I have only had it for four years. The thieves have actually trespassed on the site in the first place before stealing the barge because the towpath is on the opposite side of the canal to where the barges are. This has been very carefully organised.

"I am currently speaking with clients across the North-West to see whether there has been any suspicious purchases or activity recently. I am doing all I can to find it."

Anybody with any information on the whereabouts of the barge can contact Mr Swindells on 07860 459632.