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Original Text (Annotation: EPW040978 / 1061033)
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This is the Southend Motor Navigation Co's 137ton TSMV New Prince Of Wales [NPoW],built at Mariners Yard, Bosham in W. Sussex in 1922, first Season on the Southend foreshore in 1923, and the largest "twin-internal-combustion-engined, shallow-draught beach excursion vessel" of her time in the UK, - fitted with twin, handed, Parsons 'L'-Series 75hp petrol/paraffin engines [these start using petrol and you switch to paraffin one they warm-up] running Brunton's propellers in tunnels under a slipper stern, to make for good shallow-water handling. . The Board of Trade awarded her a "Steam 6 Passenger Carrying Certificate", the first such awarded to a Southend pleasure boat; and one of only 2 such - the 2nd being to the Myall Family's "big Britannia", shown lying at the next jetty westwards. The NPoW was also the first Southend "pleasure boat" to have a Public Address System, and broadcast music. All SMNCo. employees were preferred to be ex-RN, as this gave a commonality of training and experience. The NPoW was sunk at Dunkirk to enemy shellfire in shallow water, going inwards to the beach off La Panne to rescue soldiers. The NPoW only drew 3ft6ins. of water when when fully-loaded with her usual 400 passengers, so was ideal for this beach rescue operation. But she was also unlucky in that although the Company Owners volunteered to crew all their pleasure boats across the Channel for Operation Dynamo with their own ex-Royal navy staff,- they unfortunately offered their boats to the SNO at Sheerness while the Admiralty was still operating the "no civilians in a combat zone" policy on May 25th/26th. the Policy was changed on may 27th to allow civilian crews to take their own vessels to Dunkirk, - but that was too late for all seven of the SMNCo. motor boats, which had already been commandeered at gunpoint the previous day! We know these details from copies of Adm. RN after-action reports in our family archive show that a very junior Sub.Lieut Peter Bennett was assigned to take command of the NPoW, and a 2nd yr. junior artificer trainee from HMS Sultan [the RN's Artificer School at Sheerness Dockyard] - with no experience of petrol/parafin engines was assigned to run her engines. the RN crew were so inexperienced that they thought she had diesel-engines, and allowed her fuel tanks to be topped-off with diesel fuel, resulting in frequent engine stoppages from fuel contamination all the way to the beaches off La Panne. A number of commandeered small-craft given raw Navy crews, who had little or no small-craft experience, were lost en route from similar causes. All of this information came out at the end of WW2 during the Court Cases against the Admiralty and the Ministry of War Transport to settle the "War Loss Replacement Claims" of civilian owners of commandeered vessels who lost their boats to enemy action - during Operation Dynamo or during the rest of the War. '