Tag: dunkirk

Little Ships to return to Dunkirk for the 75th anniversary

P1000377.preview

Over 50 Dunkirk little ships are to return to Dunkirk next year for the 75th anniversary of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940. My thanks to the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships for the above photos.

During the famous evacuation, some 338,000 British and French troops were saved from German forces.

Many are over 85 years old, and they will make a remarkable spectacle as they voyage down the Thames into the Thames Estuary to Ramsgate, and then to Dunkirk and back.

Just before and just after the Dunkirk date will be good days to be on the water around North Kent, and to take some photographs.

The ADLS‘s officers have published the following timetable of events:

  • 16-17th May – little ships will be gathered at Royal Docks, London
  • 19-20th May – little ships gather at Ramsgate
  • 21th May – little ships depart for Dunkirk
  • 22th May – back up departure day in case of poor weather
  • 23th May – beach memorial service at Dunkirk
  • 24th May – ADLS commemorative service, 1100 local time on quayside
  • 25th May – little ships return to Ramsgate
  • 26th May – back up return day in case of poor weather

Here are some photos I managed to take on and around the Medway last year:

Ben Wales makes further progress with veteran Dunkirk motor launch

Launch Completed Deck

Launch Completed Aft Deck

Since 2010, we’ve been following Ben Wales’ project to restore a motor launch that saw service at Dunkirk and was for many years used as a tender by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club.

The latest news is that Mary now has her decks… Here’s what Ben has to say:

‘Since the Spring we have been slowly working on the new forward and aft laid decks. Each plank had to be shaped to fit to make a watertight joint when caulked. Well over 150 wood screws were used to fit the deck and covering planks on the launch.

‘The forward and aft coamings have just been fitted, and the bronze fittings for the forward deck have been completed, and two coats of varnish have been applied.

‘The next major job is making two forward seats shaped to fit the sides of the launch.

‘If the weather holds up for September, we hope to fit new floorboards and engine box. Then we can finally fit her out, and perhaps launch her in late October.’

Thanks Ben! She’s looking great and I hope we can look forward to seeing photos of her on the water in the coming weeks!

For more on this story, click here.

‘Last Little Ship to leave Dunkirk’ Lady Cable

Lady Cable ready for passenger service after WWII

 

Lady Cable shortly after WWII

A Devon-based group, the Lady Cable Trust, is applying for Lottery funding to restore Lady Cable, the Dunkirk Little Ship believed to have been the last to rescue troops from the beaches.

Built as a 40ft passenger motor boat at Teignmouth in 1924 by Morgan Giles, Lady Cable worked as a beach boat at Teignmouth and Torquay until in May 1940, when the British Expeditionary Force found itself cornered on the beaches around Dunkirk and in dire need of rescue by as many small privately owned boats as could be made available.

The Lady Cable’s skipper Frank ‘Sophie’ Gooding answered the call and took her to Dunkirk, where she made seven journeys from the beach to rescue ships offshore before returning to Dover.

At Dover, she was refuelled and then again set out for Dunkirk under the command of a 19-year cadet named Price.

The story goes that the young cadet made four journeys from the beach on the last day of the rescue and then returned to collect an officer who had been directing operations but could not find him, and so picked up more French soldiers and returned to England – they believed they were the last Little Ship to leave Dunkirk.

In the chaos of battle, it might not be surprising that several other craft have been said to have been last to leave, and a search on Google reveals this is so – but that in no way reduces the achievements of Gooding and Price and their small crews, who are said to have rescued 630 men. And, of course, she might easily have been the last boat off the beaches as Price, his crew and the troops on board believed.

Price was recommended for accelerated promotion.

The Lady Cable Trust’s aim is to use the restored boat and the examples of skipper Sophie Gooding and Cadet Rating Price as part of a programme of citizenship and heritage for young people. See the Lady Cable Trust website for much more about the Lady Cable herself and the Trust’s plans, and a collection of old photographs.