Poole at Dunkirk

BY PETER BURT

Photography © Poole Maritime Trust

War Declared

War was declared on 3 September 1939 and once again, Poole was deemed to be a strategic location for a naval base. Commander Cosmo Hastings was appointed as the Senior Naval Officer.

Poole was an important harbour on the south coast of England, with a well-established boat building industry and access to professional seamen. Furthermore, the Royal Naval Cordite Factory, producing propellant for naval shells, was located in the north-western corner of the harbour.

^ The Poole ferry ‘Felicity’ (PE33), owned by the Davis family
Photo Credit: Andrew Hawkes collection

Operation Dynamo

On 13 May 1940, the new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill told his Cabinet that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”, repeating this later in the Commons. The following day, the announcement was made on the BBC and in the newspapers for owners of craft between 30ft and 100ft to send boat particulars to the Admiralty.

On 20 May 1940, a decision was made to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France. Admiral Bertram Ramsey was given overall responsibility for the evacuation, to be known as Operation Dynamo. He was ordered to assemble as many vessels as possible, with Dunkirk chosen as the embarkation point.

2nd Battalion Dorset Regiment

A small but integral part of the BEF was the 2nd Battalion Dorset Regiment, under the command of Colonel Stephenson. Following five days of fighting, they had suffered 40 killed, 110 wounded and 158 taken prisoner. On the night of 27/28th May, Colonel Stephenson assembled his 245 survivors plus 40 men from other units and personally led them on a long march through German lines, to the beaches at Dunkirk. There they joined up with over 380,000 troops being assembled, ready to be evacuated.

Poole Fishing Fleet

By 1940, Poole’s small fishing fleet consisted largely of open-decked wooden boats up to 40 feet in length, mostly powered by small petrol-paraffin engines. Many of the boats were still rigged for sailing.

^ Fred ‘Sandy’ Wills – Poole fisherman. A recorded interview with Sandy, by Poole Museum, was made in 1984. In that recording, he discussed the trip that he and many other Poole fishermen made to Dover and back in May/June 1940.
Photo Credit: Nick Plumbridge and Babs Plumbridge née Davis

On 29 May 1940, much of the Poole fishing fleet was at sea. According to Poole fisherman Sandy Wills, the Royal Navy fetched in about 16 or 17 of the boats and brought them back to Poole Quay. The fishermen were then instructed to “go and get some sandwiches and fill up with fuel”, as they were “going on a trip”.

 

The Admiralty’s request for the details of all ‘self-propelled craft and motorboats between 30ft and 100ft…’ included the small local ferries owned by the Harvey and Davis families, as well as Bolson’s Skylark pleasure boats and the somewhat larger Gondolier Boats.

 ^ Admiralty Letter confirming £5 payment to Poole Men 31-May-1940

Harvey’s made two of their ferries ready for ‘going along the coast’, these being their two largest motor launches SOUTHERN QUEEN and FERRY NYMPH, crewed only by two fathers and their 19-year-old sons.

^ ‘FERRY NYMPH’ with Charlie Harvey (left) and his son Jim Harvey (right). In his letter to the Ministry of Shipping in October 1940, Charlie Harvey wrote, ‘Eventually “Ferry Nymph” came back to Ramsgate and early in July was towed back from Ramsgate to Poole. Examination revealed many scars in her woodwork, and aboard her were a large number of empty cartridge cases, sundry other relics, and a good quantity of Dunkirk’s sand. The boat was reconditioned, and is now in service again’.
Photo Credit: Poole Museum

It’s likely that the Davis ferries, FELICITY and ISLAND QUEEN and the Skylarks and Gondolier Boats also left for Dover. This small fleet of vessels which included the Poole Lifeboat, the THOMAS KIRK WRIGHT and some local private yachts left Poole at about 2pm the same day. The converted motor yacht, HMS BRINMARIC accompanied the fleet to Dover. During the voyage, the THOMAS KIRK WRIGHT was taken in tow, as her top speed was somewhat slower than that of the fishing boats.

^ The Poole Lifeboat ‘THOMAS KIRK WRIGHT’
Photo Credit: RNLI

The Poole fleet reached Dover after sailing through the night. The boat skippers were then told to leave their boats and return home by train, which they did with some reluctance.

For their efforts, on reaching Dover, the crews had been awarded ￡5 each. From Dover, the Harvey and Davis ferries were then sent over to Dunkirk, these boats were manned by Royal Navy personnel for the crossings to and from Dunkirk. Two of these Poole boats, SOUTHERN QUEEN and ISLAND QUEEN were lost off Dunkirk.

Following the evacuation, the Poole fishing boat skippers returned to Dover by train and sailed their fishing boats back to Poole. It was later found that none of the fishing boats had been used at Dunkirk, as the keels on the boats were deemed too deep and unsuitable for landing on the flat sandy beach. However, the small Harvey and Davis ferries were used at Dunkirk and the THOMAS KIRK WRIGHT had completed three successful return trips to Dunkirk. Her modern Hotchkiss internal propeller system enabled her to effectively access the sandy beaches at Dunkirk.

Refugees And “Skoots” Arrive In Poole Harbour

On 10 May 1940, the German army had crossed into the Netherlands. The Dutch government instructed all small Dutch boats to sail to England. Amongst this fleet of boats were flat-bottomed Dutch cargo schuits or shuyts, later referred to as “skoots” by the Royal Navy, ranging from 90 to 200 tons. In many cases, they had on board large numbers of Dutch refugees, seeking to escape from the advancing German army.

^ ZEUS was a 95-ton Dutch flat-bottomed coaster (known as a ‘skoot’), used for carrying general cargo. She was one of the smallest of the Dutch coasters that carried refugees over to Poole, following the German invasion of the Netherlands. ZEUS later made two return trips to Dunkirk, providing much needed ammunition and evacuating some 650 troops, before arriving back in Poole Harbour on 4 June. She later went on to participate in other operations, including the evacuation of civilians from Guernsey.
Photo Credit: Marien Lindenborn

More than 40 of the skoots were directed to the Thames estuary and to Poole Harbour. From 15 May, at least twenty of the skoots entered Poole Harbour and anchored in Brownsea Roads, between the Castle and Sandbanks. Many small Belgian boats followed and in a two-week period in mid-May 1940, over 100 fishing boats, coasters, pilot boats, dinghies and other assorted vessels entered Poole Harbour. All the occupants of these small boats, including crew members, were ferried by Poole fishing boats to Brownsea Island where they were detained until it could be established by the authorities that they were not enemies of the state. They were housed in tents; the mothers and children in one area, the men in another. About 3,000 refugees spent more than 6 weeks on Brownsea Island. Local Girl Guides and Rangers, helped to feed them before the refugees were allowed into Poole Town and the mainland. In the meantime, the refugees were interviewed and two possible spies were found who were sent to London under armed guard.

^ The only known depiction of the Dutch and Belgian boats that were moored off Brownsea Island in May 1940. This image is from a water-colour painting commissioned by Mrs Florence Bonham Christie, the owner of Brownsea Island. Signed ‘Sharpe 1940’.
Photo Credit: Poole Museum

The Captain and the Engineer of one of the skoots were walking in Poole Park when they met two girls to whom they talked. The two young ladies later married these two Dutchmen and their families; children and grandchildren, still live in Poole.

Skoots to Dunkirk

Within a few days of arriving in Poole Harbour, naval crews from Portsmouth were brought to Poole to man some of the Dutch skoots. They were then commissioned as Royal Navy vessels. The skoots left Poole Harbour on 24 and 25 May, bound for Dunkirk, where they were to prove indispensable during the evacuation. Although primarily used to transport troops between the small boats and the offshore warships, in many cases, skoots took troops directly from Dunkirk back to England. They also conveyed much-needed provisions and ammunition to the troops at Dunkirk. Three of the Poole-based skoots had to be abandoned on the beaches of Dunkirk.

Poole is proud to have played a small part in the remarkable rescue of more than 380,000 men from Dunkirk.

Read Another Article
Download The Berthon Book 2026-2027 XXII (18.806MB)