Operation Dynamo 85 years on

Public are invited to come along and join in at 6pm Wednesday May 28th. Muster at 6pm outside the Old Lifeboat Station, Poole Old Lifeboat Museum

The service will start with a welcome by the Mayor of Poole.

The service will be led by Rev. Canon Lucy Holt, St James' Church Poole and thanks to be given by Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dorset.

Eighty-five years ago, our nation confronted what could be considered the most significant threat to our survival. The British Expeditionary Force, along with fragments of the French Army, was in a desperate retreat from the Germans, who were invading France with ruthless precision.

A call was issued by the Royal Navy to all mariners along the South Coast, including fishermen, leisure boat operators, the RNLI, and even tugboat crews, requesting any available vessels to aid in the rescue of our troops. This plea resulted in an astonishing assembly of 700 boats at Ramsgate and Dover, ready to embark on the journey to the Dunkirk beaches. Over a pivotal span of nine days, nearly 100 of these small crafts were lost, along with their brave owners and crew members.

Our local vessels contributed to the evacuation, which was designated by the Admiralty as “Operation Dynamo,” under the overall command of Admiral Ramsey in Dover.

Poole provided many boats for the rescue and amongst them were eleven passenger boats built by Bolsons on the quay – all called “Skylark – the traditional name of the Bolson fleet. A dozen plus fishing trawlers, four ferry boats and our lifeboat, the Thomas Kirk Wright, were all tasked to be deployed as part of the greatest evacuation fleet in maritime history.

Around thirty Poole vessels were joined by eighteen Dutch schuyts, small ships which normally transport sand, peat and other cargoes along the inland waterways in Europe, but many had escaped perilously crossing the channel, bringing refugees to safety earlier in May and had set up temporary camp on Brownsea Island, they answered the call to help with the evacuation.

The Davis family of Sandbanks built their own passenger ferries for the Brownsea Island service, and the brothers provided their boats “Felicity” and “Island Queen”. “Felicity” survived and returned to Poole, but sadly” Island Queen” was never heard of again.

‘Thomas Kirk Wright’, departed from Poole to Ramsgate on May 28th our lifeboat had arrived on service in Poole, brand new the previous year and was state of the art, our first motorised lifeboat, she was constructed strong double-skin Honduras mahogany laid diagonally in opposite directions and a frame-work of Indian oak, Canadian rock elm and mahogany secured with brass fastenings, She was also a surf lifeboat with protected propellers, drawing only 2ft 6 inches, so perfect for the shallow waters and reaches of Poole Harbour and ideal for getting in close to the Dunkirk Beaches.

The Poole Flotilla operated under the leadership of Captain H. Quick, ventured out to sea, they were joined from every port along the coast, additional boats and small vessels swelling their ranks, forming an ever-growing heroic procession.

The slow pace of the Thomas Kirk Wright lifeboat meant that the Poole Flotilla gradually slipped back in the procession, frustrating the Poole fishermen in their faster trawlers so they took her undertow which meant that the Poole Lifeboat was the first RNLI Lifeboat to arrive on scene (there was 19 RNLI lifeboats in all ) and was immediately taken by the naval ratings.

Thomas Kirk Wright. was bombed, machine-gunned and damaged, her strong construction held fast and by virtue of her shallow draught and propulsion system she managed to rescue numerous troops, working close in on the beaches some 40 yards away from the relentless German barrage.

The ship’s log of the tug Foremost 87 recorded repeated trips over the nine days to and from Dunkirk, towing barges, troopships and other ships and vessels, under appalling conditions: ‘Heavy aerial bombing and ground fire going on while doing this job, shrapnel splinters hitting deck very hard… Things getting worse but everybody happy.’

On Sunday 2nd June Foremost 87’s log records taking the Thomas Kirk Wright in tow to Dunkirk, with other lifeboats including the Cecil and Lillian Philpott.

This marked Thomas Kirk Wright’s third and final journey to Dunkirk. Her previous two trips were made independently, and alongside the lifeboats from Newhaven, Walton, and Lowestoft RNLI, she transported men from Dunkirk harbour during the harrowing final night of the evacuation.

Over her three trips, she ferried men from the beaches to the personnel ships and destroyers, carries three shiploads home and rescues survivors from blown-up trawlers.

Leading Seaman Huntingdon in the ship’s log describes her return to Dover on this last trip.

'Loaded with French soldiers, she comes under fire from German troops on the shore at close range – but no one’s hurt, though she is seriously damaged with one engine burnt out and water a foot deep in her hold. She limps slowly back to Dover on one engine, without losing a single soldier'.

Our hero resides in the Old Lifeboat Museum where she returned from war duty and continued to serve the people of Poole until 1962. Pop in the Museum if you’re passing and pat the bow of our Dunkirk Little Ship, the history is tangible the stories need to be shared.

Anne-Marie Clark, Poole Lifeboat volunteer said.

‘We shall never forget the part that the small flotilla, that left Poole Quay played, 85 years ago. They answered the call and changed history against the odds. Our ‘Dunkirk Little ship’ is still in the lifeboat station where she served and is testimony to the miracle of Operation Dynamo.

The fact that Thomas Kirk Wright was holding the flotilla up, and taken under tow, by the same vessels that she was on station in Poole to help, make me smile but also underlines the tenacious ‘Dunkirk spirit’. We vow to continue to share the stories, to keep the memories alive, through our lifeboat volunteers at the museum and the commemorative service. The lifeboat was and continues to be a beacon of hope and a brave inspiration to all the volunteer crew that follow, we remember those difficult days, and give thanks to those who overcame adversity, answered the call, so that we can live freely today’.

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.

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