The lovely 1894 Kingston-built steam launch Belle, which plied the Thames for many years, is in urgent need of a new owner.
SL Belle’s present owner can’t afford to keep the National Historic Ships-registered vessel any longer and is reluctantly considering an offer of £6,500 from someone who wishes to strip her fittings and scrap the rest of her.
Read the story at River Thames News.
PS – Another, rather more cheerful if entertainingly loop story from the River Thames News folks reveals that Olympian John Pritchard is to lead a group of rowers in 2,500-mile trip down the Mississippi from Minnesota to New Orleans in two 26ft fixed-seat traditional Thames skiffs. The boats are now under construction at the Stanley and Thomas boatyard at Windsor, and the plan is to raise a million dollars for the charity Right To Play, which educates children in developing countries through play.