Britain’s historic
little ships By Geoff Waddington FIIMS, Immediate Past President
Following on from my introductory article in June’s Report Magazine this feature sets out to cover some of the history behind a range of restored vessels with which I have been involved. I must begin with an apology for mis-spelling Mr Richard Hellyer’s name in the first article (sorry Richard). The material and information contained in this article has been re-produced with the kind permission of Richard who along with others founded the British Military Powerboat Trust who began restoring these vessels many years ago and the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust who now continue to restore and look after them. I have been lending assistance with some independent surveying and also coding work on behalf of the IIMS Certifying Authority. This year we completed the coding of MGB 81 in time for Armed Forces Day on 24th
June. HSL 102
Vessels Details: Type:
Service: Builders: Year Built:
Number Built: Displacement: Length: Beam:
Draught: Hull:
Engines: Max Speed:
100 class High Speed Launch Royal Air Force / Royal Navy British Power Boat Co 1936
22 (RAF 100 - 121) 19 Tons 64 ft 14 ft
3½ ft Mahogany
3 x 500hp Napier Sea Lion 39 knots
One of the oldest vessels is HSL 102. The prototype, HSL 100, was launched in May 1936 and on trials surpassed all the parameters set by both the builders and the RAF. The Air Ministry immediately placed further orders, with HSLs 101- 114 ordered in stages. Built by The British Power Boat Company at Hythe, the 100 class HSLs were designed by Fred Cooper. The class were a stretched version of the 60ft MTB hull and the prototype was the format on which the RAF based their decision for a new type of high speed launch. The dimensions of the launch were 64ft loa with a beam of 14ft 6in and powered by a trio of Power Napier Sea Lion engines. The range was 500 miles at a speed of 35 knots. The two wing engines were inclined to drive directly to the outboard propeller shafts whilst the centre engine faced the opposite direction and transmitted via a Vee-drive to the centre propeller. This arrangement allowed for “cruising” on the centre engine only, a range extending economy measure which retained a high degree of manoeuvrability.
This 5 minute YouTube video shows 102 on the water along with some great historic footage – see
https://bit.ly/3Pkfs7G. 52 | The Report • September 2022 • Issue 101
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