MAID MARION


L’ORAGE


MTB 102;


DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIPS Beachhead rescuers


When British and French troops were pressed back by advancing enemy forces onto the beaches of Dunkirk in the summer of 1940, a hastily-assembled fl eet of some 850 vessels was launched to rescue more than 338,000 of them.


Of these, 42 were destroyers and other large-capacity ships; the rest were shallow-draught boats needed to ferry the men from the beaches, and in some cases, carry them all the way home to ‘Blighty’.


These were the Dunkirk Little Ships, hastily pressed into service and actually of many sizes and types – fi shing boats, Thames Barges, passenger cruisers, lifeboats and many


16 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2012


private motor-cruisers, requisitioned and rounded up from their moorings around the coast, and up the Thames. It was in 1965, on the 25th anniversary of Operation Dymamo that the late broadcaster Raymond Baxter, who owned one of these boats, L’Orage, assembled a fl eet of them to make a commemorative return to Dunkirk. Thus was born the


Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. Every fi ve years, the Association organises another commemorative return to the beaches of Dunkirk.


Some 40 Little Ships will be proudly taking part in the Diamond Jubilee Pageant.


ONES TO WATCH FOR


HOUSE FLAG Member vessels of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships can wear the warranted house fl ag, the Admiralty’s cross of St George (above), defaced with the arms of Dunkirk, and to display a brass plaque: ‘DUNKIRK 1940’.


NEW BRITANNIC Ramsgate open passenger launch New Britannic was ideal for ferrying soldiers from the beaches – she rescued 3,000 men. She has been restored on a tight budget to take part in the Pageant.


DISHCLOTH FLAG MTB 102 briefl y became a rear-admiral’s fl agship when his ship was disabled in 1940. As she did not carry the appropriate fl ag, one was made up from a dishcloth.


MAID MARION Cornish fi shing boat Maid Marion PZ61 was one of the Westcountry vessels that made the long voyage in response to the call for shallow-draught boats. After the war she was sold and is now based in Suffolk.


NEW BRITANNIC


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