The Long Read: Aquabelle's history

The "Little Ships"

There are many reasons why Dunkirk Little Ships have a unique place in history. The image of these small private vessels saving British and French soldiers under German fire is powerful and was skillfully used by Churchill to convert an ignominious retreat into an example of British bravery, resolve and innovation. However, from the more distant viewpoint of the 21st Century, the most remarkable part of the Little Ships story is about their survival in significant numbers when almost all artifacts from those events 75 years ago have decayed and the soldiers they helped to save are fading away. So to board a Little Ship allows the visitor to make physical contact with a rare relic of the Dunkirk evacuation and to stand in the place where exhausted soldiers began to realise that they would live to fight another day.

By surviving to the present day, the Little Ship must have avoided being sunk or irreversibly damaged during the Dunkirk operation, and also will have been maintained and nurtured through the intervening years against the ravages of rot and rust. Many have been lost to decay and neglect. The official records at the National Archives state that 464 "small craft" were used in Operation Dynamo and of those, 365 were recorded in June 1940 to have survived. This number has dwindled further over the years and it is difficult to estimate how many are still afloat and in a seaworthy state. The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships lists around 150 though many more are known to exist in the UK and abroad.

Aquabelle is one of these survivors. Her history before and after Dunkirk is unbroken, but not without incidents and accidents that could have led to her demise. After 75 years she is largely as she was built, and is now under ownership with direct family links to the man who commissioned her construction in 1939, Benjamin Taylor.

William Osborne built his first cabin cruiser at Littlehampton in 1919 and also developed a range of small racing craft in the 1920s which he regularly piloted. A small number of beautifully finished motor yachts established his reputation as a high quality boat builder and a series of standardised cabin cruisers, known as Everyman Cruisers was designed with a characteristic mahogany swept gunwhale. William Senior's untimely death in 1931 at the age of 51 handed the company to his son, also William, who developed the range of boats to include high speed cruisers with powerful engines. Ultimately, this experience stood Osborne's in good stead during the Second World War as they supplied the War Ministry with fast gunboats and assault ships and later built a large number of lifeboats for the RNLI.

The Taylor family (Benjamin, Gertrude, and children - daughters Joyce (25) and Mabel (Mabs - 16) and son Geoffrey (22)) regularly visited Littlehampton to watch their yacht being built. Joyce recorded in her diary that the ribs were in position on January 7th 1939 and the hull was planked up one week later. On the 21st the deck beams were being fitted and on the 28th, floors and wardrobes were under construction.

On 3rd February, the design for Aquabelle was given a single page write-up in Yachting World Magazine where she was described as a "well-fitted, well-found and well-built ship".

In preparation for her launching, Aquabelle was moved from her construction shed to the slipway on the River Arun. On April 5th the family drove to Littlehampton in two cars and, on a day of sunshine and showers in front of 19 guests, Aquabelle was launched by Mrs Souster, the wife of Benjamin's architect associate, breaking a champagne bottle on her bows using a hammer! The event was managed by William Osborne Junior, the son of the boatyard's founder.

Aquabelle was secured to a pontoon and her clinker-built 10 foot dinghy was also launched and rowed to join her by Joyce, with Mabs holding the bailer in case of leaks. As it was high tide, other boats were launched and meanwhile, Benjamin Taylor helped Mrs Souster and Gertrude aboard to admire his beautiful new yacht.

The event was captured on 16mm colour cine-film which also showed a pair of RAF rescue launches moored close to Aquabelle. These were also built by Osborne's and hinted at darker days to come.

Cruising Before the War

With their new yacht, the Taylors continued to enjoy a busy social calendar with fellow members of the TMCC. During May and June the family sailed Aquabelle on the Thames, reaching upstream as far as Goring and downstream to Teddington. Joyce recorded in her diary meeting the Ryelands, who were friends and fellow TMCC members, and who had purchased BenTruda from the Taylors and re-named her Ryegate II. This boat also participated in the Dunkirk evacuation and has survived the subsequent 75 years.

Remarkably, a cine-film of these carefree days just before the war captured images of Thomas Dimbylow accompanying the then Commodore of the TMCC (Sidney Owensmith) receiving the salute of the club members during a sail-past. Joyce dipped Aquabelle's ensign in response without realizing that the young man on the TMCC launch would become her husband 3 years later.

Thomas Dimbylow became part of the privileged Thames boating community despite a relatively austere childhood in the West Midlands. He was born in Wolverhampton to a family who were mostly servants to the local estates. His father was killed in the First World War when Thomas was only three years old, leaving his mother a widow with six other children and no war pension as his father's body had not been found. Although she re-married after the war, adding another three children to the family, they were never well-off and as everyone grew up the house became rather crowded.

Thomas had a series of local jobs but decided to move to London to find more gainful work. His maternal aunt and uncle, the Owensmiths, who lived on a houseboat at East Molesey near Hampton Court, were happy to accommodate the young man and draw him into their world of yachts and boating. He was an enthusiastic rower and rowed competitively for Molesey Boat Club.

At the end of July 1939 Benjamin and Gertrude, their two daughters and a friend, Wally, set sail on Aquabelle for a longer voyage to Calais and then a cruise along the South Coast of England to Poole. Skippered by a professional sailor (just known as "Smith"), they left Teddington lock and joined the tidal Thames accompanied by "Mousine" a smaller motor cruiser owned by the Barbers, fellow TMCC members. Mousine had engine trouble at Brentford which was later cured. The two boats anchored overnight at Queenborough on the mouth of the river Medway in Kent, and woke up the next morning to strong wind. With the tide against them they opted to stay at anchor but this dragged and the wind overturned their dinghy. By mid-afternoon with high tide and rain they decided to stay at their mooring another night, noting that three yachts had been sunk that day.

The next day (Tuesday 1st August) in sunshine and despite a strong wind the two yachts left Queenborough at 11.00. Aquabelle's two small sails were hoisted to steady her in the choppy sea. They rounded the North Foreland and entered Ramsgate Harbour. When in the harbour, Benjamin realized that he had forgotten passports and boat document, both being essential for their planned Channel crossing to France, and also the cine-film camera. Gertrude volunteered to return home to retrieve them and meet them in Calais. This she did, taking the train home and to Dover, then sailing to France on a steamer, perhaps relieved that she could cross the Channel on a much larger vessel! Aquabelle, still accompanied by Mousine entered the inner dock in Calais at midnight and moored, awaiting customs and Gertrude's arrival. The Barbers parted company and headed north to Belgium in Mousine.

With customs satisfied and passports stamped the Taylors took a train to Etaples and Paris Plage in heavy rain, staying in the Grand Hotel for three nights and enjoying rides on electric cars and a sand yacht before returning to Aquabelle via Boulogne by train.

A Brief Reunion

After a very cold winter when parts of the sea by the shore at Hamworthy froze, Benjamin and Joyce returned to Aquabelle on April 24th to make her ready for the long return trip home to Hampton Wick. Again crewed by a professional skipper, alone this time, Aquabelle set sail the next day to Newhaven. She was at Ramsgate on April 29th and reached their home on May 1st. The Taylors immediately re-joined the boating social scene; the only concession to wartime was the fitting of blackout curtains to Aquabelle's wheelhouse. They then took Aquabelle up river for a longer trip, starting on May 10th and reaching Marlow (May 11th) then Wargrave, where they left her and returned home until the following weekend. Their cruise continued with a visit to Henley then again leaving Aquabelle at the Wargrave mooring before returning home.

Dunkirk

Joyce Dimbylow made a list of all the TMCC boats that were requisitioned for Dunkirk. There were eight in total but one, Bobeli (owned by Messrs Millar and Cox) did not return.

On 9th June the Taylor Family learned with joy from the TMCC that Aquabelle was back at Teddington from Dunkirk, along with many others. There was a picture in the newspaper of her towing five other motor boats back up the Thames. The Taylors were not surprised as Aquabelle was considered particularly capable because she could carry 100 gallons of diesel fuel for her twin diesel engines and could run continuously for several days, whereas the petrol boats, which usually carried about 30 gallons of petrol, could only run for 8 hours. Mabs later recalled being told by the RNVR that Aquabelle made several crossings under her own power and towed some other boats back; however no detailed record of her contribution to Operation Dynamo has survived.

The Taylors climbed on board at Teddington and found that their beautiful new boat which had shining polished mahogany and white sides (it was only launched fourteen months before), was now very dirty and the forward hatch cover was broken in half and one large chromium cleat had been pulled right out of the deck, leaving a gaping hole. There was a tin mug inside and an odd army sock.

They thought Aquabelle would soon be mended and cleaned up, but their joy went to dismay (mixed with pride) when they heard she had been commandeered for the rest of the war, along with four other TMCC yachts: Nanette II, Ryegate II, White Orchid and Sylvia.

 Benjamin Taylor and the Upper Thames Patrol

Living on the Thames at Hampton Wick, Benjamin must have been aware that the river would be an important target for any enemy infiltration, sabotage or disruption. His daughter, Joyce, kept a diary through the war years and this helps us gain an insight into how Benjamin was involved in a newly-formed Thames defence force, the Upper Thames Patrol, in the early years of the conflict.

The first mention in her diary of the possible formation of what would be come the “Home Guard” of the non-tidal Thames is well before the start of WW2. On 13th January 1939 Joyce noted that “Daddy went to PLA, ARP, REB meeting. PLA is almost certainly the Port of London Authority and ARP is the Air Raid Precautions. The acronym REB is, as yet, a mystery. It is likely that this was an early meeting that eventually led to the formation of the Upper Thames Patrol. There is little public information about the UTP except for some references in local Thames history documents. An example from the “Thames at War” site from Abingdon Lock is as follows:

“In 1939 Sir Ralph Glyn, Member of Parliament for Abingdon, was granted permission to set up a water-borne unit on the river Thames, in conjunction with the Thames Conservancy and the War Office.

The Thames is 125 miles long and at the time had 26 locks, 44 road bridges and 4 important rail bridges. The UTP's remit was to patrol the Thames from Teddington to Lechlade against potential invaders and saboteurs.

In June 1940 the UTP was reorganised into two companies, one water-borne and the other for shore duties. At its height the UPT has 6000 members, mainly Thames watermen but also civilians.  They were the first unit to recruit women, who helmed boats and crewed.  In fact on 29th August 1940 over 40 women joined the UTP in Wallingford, although this was never officially sanctioned.

The UTP was divided into 7 county sections, each section was allocated an area of the river, for example Lechlade to Oxford has 30-36 men and was sub-divided into three sections. Members received special instructions on boat handling and water-borne operations in addition to standard Home Guard training.

The UTP became jokingly known as Up The Pub and was dissolved in September 1944.”

On 17th June 1940 Joyce recorded that “Daddy signed on LDV (Local Defence Volunteers?) for river patrol in Midway”. This was just 8 days after Aquabelle returned from Dunkirk and immediately requisitioned by the Royal Navy. Midway was the Taylor’s open launch with windscreen and folding hood. This photo shows Midway with Benjamin at the wheel. Looking at the background it appears to have been taken from opposite Turks Bros. Boatyard, with some Turks Tugs and lighters moored alongside. A plaque can be seen on Midway’s foredeck; the letter E refers to the UTP river section from Shepperton to Teddington

Joyce’s first record of Benjamin on patrol in Midway followed four days after signing on, coinciding with an air raid warning that night. On 29th June she mentioned that he went upstream and had an accident with two sailing boats! The next entry where the LDV Patrol was mentioned was the 12th August, although there are many entries around this time of the family cruising on the Thames in their newly acquired cabin cruiser, Scout.

On 14th May, Joyce noted: “River Patrol Inspection – I took Cine”.  This film still exists and has been digitized. It is possible to see river boats, some painted grey and sporting identity plaques similar to the one see on Midway, parading past a signal post with dignitaries taking the salute. The boat crews seem to be in uniform. One of the boats could be Midway but the image is indistinct. A still taken from the film can be seen below.

Joyce notes “Daddy on Patrol” on 24th August, at a time when she could hear bombs being dropped locally and so she slept in their bomb shelter. There was a similar mention on 28th August. Again the family spent a considerable time enjoying their boat on the Thames, noting “Daddy and Mabel motored home from Scout for Daddy to go on River Patrol” on 6th September. A brief mention on 10th October says, “Scout on Duty” and three days later “Daddy took Scout to Home Guard meeting at Tameris Club”. On the 17th Benjamin went on a morning patrol but a day later she notes “Scout on patrol collided with lighter”. (It must be remembered that night patrols would be under blackout conditions so collisions would be a significant risk). Another patrol was recorded by Joyce on October 26th – “UTP inspections by Colonel King at Bridgewater House.”

The damaging effects of bombing were brought close to home when, firstly, Teddington Lock rollers were hit and then a bomb very close to their house brought down their garage with its distinctive clock turret (which was repaired and survives to this day!). The effect of the Teddington bomb was to partially drain the river so that Scout, moored outside their house, was left high and dry lying on her side.

The family still enjoyed some time on the river in Scout, including a cruise upstream to Maidenhead in June 1941 and another to Bray in August.

The last mention of the Upper Thames Patrol in Joyce’s diary was on the 8th December 1940 when “Daddy went to UTP luncheon.” It is notable that Benjamin was frequently away on business trips in early 1941 and so possibly had to resign from the UTP owing to a lack of spare time. He later volunteered as a Fire Warden (as did Joyce) so it is equally possible that the reduced threat of invasion following the Battle of Britain reduced the need for patrolling the Thames.