CONIDAW
Free Dunkirk Little Ship project
acht designer and all-round classic yacht guru Butch Dalrymple Smith has been in contact from the south of France to make an appeal for the fabulous 1939-built . She’s a 75ft (23m) wooden Dunkirk Little Ship in urgent need of restoration. “She has an impeccable pedigree,” says Butch, referring to has a history that, even by the standards of a Dunkirk Little Ship, is exceptional. This is the vessel that carried Churchill’s handwritten note to the garrison in Calais to hold the port “at all costs.” She was the last to leave, under German bombardment, with 165 soldiers. She was at Dunkirk the very next day, rescuing 900 soldiers. She has the perhaps unique distinction among former civilian craft of shooting down a German bomber. “Above all,” says Butch, “she is a perfect size for a motor yacht – just under 24 metres load line length which means that she is under the size where all sorts of statutory rules apply – and yet she has a spacious covered aft deck, excellent deck saloon and a pair of wonderful Gardner 3L6 engines that deserve preservation in their own right.” Add great range and economy from the hull shape and the Gardners, and an interior big enough for multiple luxurious cabins and you have the recipe for a very special, capable vessel. “A classic yacht with a celebrated past can never be upstaged by more modern, faster or larger vessels. It will always be the centre of attention,” as Butch puts it. The yacht is offered free but does need a full restoration. This is going to cost between ¤2 million and ¤4 million, depending on options. is kept out of the water at the Classic Works yard in La Ciotat, where the team is ready to get to work, although they will let the boat go to another yard if needs be. Butch has started with a preliminary proposal, complete with drawings.
