EPW040961 ENGLAND (1933). The Southend Flat, Marine Parade and the town, Southend-on-Sea, from the south-east, 1933

The nearest white-hulled pleasure boat is the "New Royal Sovereign" said to have been built 1928 for the 1929 Season, which sailed from the Foreshore until being sold to a Mr Butler of Bridlington in 1936 and moving to that Harbour, to join his other excursion boat, the "Royal Marina". The New Royal Sovereign was commandeered by the RN in 1939, and was sunk by an aerial bomb in the harbour in August, 1940.

This has almost all the Southend "liittle-ships of Dunkirk" pleasure boat contingent on view. I don't know the names of all of them, but some belonged to our family Company - the Southend Motor Navigation Co., owned by my father Bill Wilson and his partner Albert Brand. Right up under the corner of the pier pavilion - our varnished open ML "King George V", then the white hull of our "Julia Freke", the empty jetty next was the usual berth for the Julia Freke's sistership - the "little" Britannia I", owned by the Myall Family; next jetty - the "big" Britannia with her 2 false funnels, also owned by the Myalls; last Jetty opposite the Hope Hotel - our SMNCo Fleet Flagship, the 137GRT, 105ftl.o.a. New Prince of Wales;next come 3 of the traditional Southend beach lifeboats, and in 1933, one of them must have been the Dreadnought, [converted to a TSMV after WW2]; the 3 varnished launches next are our SMNCo.'s San Toy1, San Toy2, and Duchess of York; next a big white Yawl which may have been the original Skylark; next the SMNCo's smaller TSMV "Princess Maud"; next a varnished launch I'm not sure of but the berth may have been that of the "British Queen". I never knew the names of the next two larger vessels [and the little rowing boats usually had girl's names and there were quite a lot of them which changed from season to season, and traded for short rowing trips off the beach without paying for a Pitch, though they owners did have to have Watermens Licenses from the Pier 7 Foreshores Dept. of the Southend Corporation]. And the last big white vessel with the two lifeboats on davits at the Burdett Rd. Jetty [demolished 1940 as an anti-invasion measure] is a puzzle. if anyone has any details about her, both the writer and ian Boyle of the simplon ships website would dearly like to know.