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Original Text (Annotation: EPW040978 / 1061041)
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This is the 75ft TSMV "Julia Freke", renamed New prince Of Wales I" after WW2. She was built for the Southend motor navigation Co.Ltd., as the first-launched of a pair of 75ft passenger-carrying hulls laid down by Hayward's Boatyard [the other hull was bought by the Myall Family and became the "Britannia I"], which Boatyard was on ground later taken by the Kursaal and the n. end of Burdett Road, and launched by crane from the Corporation Loading jetty, in 1921, I think.
The "Julia Freke" was named after the daughter of the SMNCo's first Chairman of the Board, which was composed of a number of Southend's small-business owners. The "Julia Freke" was also fitted with a handed pair of Parsons' 75hp petrol/paraffin engines, and attained 14 knots "light" on her Sea Trials, making her the fastest pleasure boat on the foreshore, until the arrival of the speedboats in the 1930's, which latter ran from the King George V extension at the Pier Head. Speed was important - the faster you could run when loaded, the more trips could you manage in a tide, and the higher the "Take". For better pictures of all three of the pleasure boats, see the < www.simplonpc.co.uk > website. '