The Vanguard CK69

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john_q

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Spotted this story in the Daily Wail,

Those of you who were around at Paglesham in the 60's and 70's may remember this vessel when it was owned by the Keble family and moored off their saltings with the railway carriage on it just up river from the Shuttlewoods yard


see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5357541/Boat-saved-soldiers-Dunkirk-saved-firewood.htm


Thought you might like this link

see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5357541/Boat-saved-soldiers-Dunkirk-saved-firewood.htm
 
This is turning out to be Paglesham Nostalgia Day...
Yes, I remember Vanguard, a very good looking boat, the launch day photo in the Mail shows her lovely lines.
Was she also involved in the 1953 Floods? I will have a look in Hilda Grieve's book.
They've got a job on their hands at Mangapps to bring her back from such a state, that's what happens when you get scrapped down Canvey way. Looks like a re-build.
 
Just found this on a very informative Canvey website (it seems to confirm what I was vaguely remembering, that Ron Pipe owned her at one time):

This ‘Association of Dunkirk Little Ships’ website details her:

Boat Specification
Boat Name:

Vanguard
Boat Type:

Oyster Smack
Boat Length:

45ft
Boat Beam:

14ft 6ins
Boat Draft:

4ft 6ins
Boat Displacement:

11.5 tons
Boat Engine:

Kelvin 44
Boat Construction:

Pitch pine on oak
Boat Builder:

R & J Prior, Burnham
Boat Year:

1937

Working boats are designed to suit their trade and the waters in which they earn their living. Our East coast rivers are muddy, tidal and tricky to navigate. But the oyster fishermen of the region know their waters like the back of their hands and their boats are designed to suit them, with a shallow draft, a low freeboard and wide decks to provide ideal working platforms. The Burnham Oyster Company had Vanguard purpose-built for dredging and she was designed to turn in her own length. Her deck allowed six men to work in comfort hauling in the nets. The deckhouse provided the minimum of shelter. Vanguard certainly was not intended for the open sea and would roll like a pig in anything above force 5.

Skipper Grimwade took her across to Dunkirk in 1940 with Joe Clough as his engineer. They went with another oyster dredger, the Seasalter which also survived and a ketch called Ma Joie which was abandoned and lost. They could not get into Dunkirk harbour, so they picked up the men from the beaches and 24 hours later, arrived back at Ramsgate loaded with troops.

At the end of the war, Keeble & Sons of Paglesham, Essex bought the Vanguard and put her back to oyster dredging which their family had done on the rivers Roach and Crouch for fifty years on thirty-four acres of rented oyster beds. But the bad winter of 1962 decimated the oyster population.

Those which survived the ice and the cold and succeeded in breeding since then, are now faced with the increasing hazards of pollution. So W. Keeble sold Vanguard to Ron Pipe, a fisherman at Burnham-on-Crouch, who used her for in-shore fishing for a while and sold her again. Ten years later, Doug Whiting bought her back from another owner in a sorry state. Now he has enlarged her wheel-house, given up oyster fishing and has taken up shrimping on the Roach and Crouch.

Since then she has changed hands again.
 
Jan Harber said:
Just found this on a very informative Canvey website (it seems to confirm what I was vaguely remembering, that Ron Pipe owned her at one time):

This ‘Association of Dunkirk Little Ships’ website details her:

Boat Specification
Boat Name:

Vanguard
Boat Type:

Oyster Smack
Boat Length:

45ft
Boat Beam:

14ft 6ins
Boat Draft:

4ft 6ins
Boat Displacement:

11.5 tons
Boat Engine:

Kelvin 44
Boat Construction:

Pitch pine on oak
Boat Builder:

R & J Prior, Burnham
Boat Year:

1937

Working boats are designed to suit their trade and the waters in which they earn their living. Our East coast rivers are muddy, tidal and tricky to navigate. But the oyster fishermen of the region know their waters like the back of their hands and their boats are designed to suit them, with a shallow draft, a low freeboard and wide decks to provide ideal working platforms. The Burnham Oyster Company had Vanguard purpose-built for dredging and she was designed to turn in her own length. Her deck allowed six men to work in comfort hauling in the nets. The deckhouse provided the minimum of shelter. Vanguard certainly was not intended for the open sea and would roll like a pig in anything above force 5.

Skipper Grimwade took her across to Dunkirk in 1940 with Joe Clough as his engineer. They went with another oyster dredger, the Seasalter which also survived and a ketch called Ma Joie which was abandoned and lost. They could not get into Dunkirk harbour, so they picked up the men from the beaches and 24 hours later, arrived back at Ramsgate loaded with troops.

At the end of the war, Keeble & Sons of Paglesham, Essex bought the Vanguard and put her back to oyster dredging which their family had done on the rivers Roach and Crouch for fifty years on thirty-four acres of rented oyster beds. But the bad winter of 1962 decimated the oyster population.

Those which survived the ice and the cold and succeeded in breeding since then, are now faced with the increasing hazards of pollution. So W. Keeble sold Vanguard to Ron Pipe, a fisherman at Burnham-on-Crouch, who used her for in-shore fishing for a while and sold her again. Ten years later, Doug Whiting bought her back from another owner in a sorry state. Now he has enlarged her wheel-house, given up oyster fishing and has taken up shrimping on the Roach and Crouch.

Since then she has changed hands again.
Click to expand...


Do you have a link for that piece, please? There’s a name there of great interest to me.
Cheers
 
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