A little piece
When I left the Royal Navy in 1994, I was working as a Ship Repair Manager at Husbands Shipyard in Marchwood on Southampton Water in the UK. When the shipyard closed in 1999, I continued to operate the old pre- war slipways for another 15 years. In 1999 the old, covered slipway shed facilities were taken up by the British Military Powerboat Trust (BMPT) which at the time was under the guiding hands of Mr Richard Hellier. Under his guidance a team of skilled volunteers
of history By Geoff Waddington FIIMS, IIMS President
The following is a little piece of background history ahead of a more in-depth feature being written for the September edition of the Report Magazine, which will include an article on the individual history of the vessels with which I have been involved.
and enthusiasts restored a selection of Britain’s historic small craft.
Even in his retirement, Richard Hellier remains passionate about the preservation and restoration of Britain’s small historic vessels. I say British, however, I also recall a German Motor Torpedo Boat S130 arriving at the yard one day (see image below).
In order to continue to preserve this historically important collection
of vessels, they have now become part of the collection of Naval History at the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, in Portsmouth Dockyard. The collection is under the guidance of Mr Diggory Rose, who is also passionate about the preservation and restoration of British historic vessels.
During the time since my days at Husbands, I have been involved in the capacity of a surveyor to lend whatever assistance I could to these experts in restoration and the team of skilled and dedicated volunteers and enthusiasts who carry out this invaluable work. Some of my involvement has been to bring these vessels into a commercially code compliant condition to allow them to be enjoyed by 2nd World War veterans and others. There are still some historic vessels, which remain in the hands of other organisations and individuals, and I offer a service to them also.
My involvement as an IIMS MCA coding surveyor brought all of this to the attention of our CEO, Mike Schwarz, who has an enthusiastic interest in all of this history. He has encouraged me to share some of this history with readers of the Report Magazine. Some of those I have been involved with since my time at Husbands have been Mr Richard Hellier of the BMPT, Mr Brian Patterson (initially) and more recently Mr Diggory Rose of the PNBPT, Mr Alan Watson of the Medusa Trust and Mr John Phipps of D-Day Revisited.
The Report • June 2022 • Issue 100 | 89
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