Genealogy Chat

Heather - In The Times there is a (pretty poor) photo of the ''Members of the volunteer crew of the LCC fireboat ''Massey Shaw'', which took part in the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk, back in London yesterday. The Massey Shaw made three trips to Dunkirk and was instrumental in saving hundreds of men, numbers of whom she transfered to larger rescue ships.'' I can send you a copy of the photo if you PM me your email addy! Merry (not 'til this evening though)

Ive taken a second look at the list of boats bringing soldiers into DOVER and cant find the name of that boat. The records were kept by Capt J W Walker who was the AESO whatever that meant for DOVER. BUT this might be of help to you. Major General V H J Carpenter CB MBE one time Chairman of the DUNKIRK VETERANS ASSN has the originals of this document and its in his REG MUSEUM, so maybe if you were to GOOGLE that info, you might find the original records. Hope that helps. TED.

Sue, no I dont think he was Merchant Navy - he worked on the London Docks as a firefighter. Ted dad reckons they returned to Ramsgate or was it Margate?

The rescuing os soldeirs from Dunkirk is something we should be very proud of. My father was driving his bus one day in Derbyshire and he and about 6 others were just told to drive to the coast and pick up troops and take them to hospitals etc. My father was away for approximately 8 weeks, driving troops around. There are lots of people (like the girl in the rowing boat) that helped and were never recorded. They didn't want recognition, they just wanted to do their bit. My father, til his dying day, never forgot the sights he saw. June xx

Thanks Christine, I will try that.

It's possible to access the London Gazette archives online. Medals are generally acknowledged in the Gazette. You can search on names. Christine

Thanks guys. Yes, rowing all the way, amazing!!! I bet she was a big girl Ted!

you could try looking on the National Archieves under the merchant navy, which is what I am assuming he would have been. The link is below - remove all the brackets: http://www(.)nationalarchives(.)gov(.)uk/familyhistory/merchant/step8(.)htm Regards Sue

heather, hi. Ive got a copy of the HARBOUR MASTERS ROLL of ships, of all sizes coming into DOVER harbour from 26 May to the 5th June 1940. Ive looked throught it hoping to find the boat you mentioned. It must have brought soldiers into another harbour, which might make it easier for you to find it. There is one particular item which beg belief with such bravery. This is the gods truth. A Yorkshire lass rowed, yea rowed over to France and brought back 8 soldiers, and she rowed all the way, THERE AND BACK Nobdy knows her name but if anyone deserves so much praise and honours I dont know who does. I would love to meet her, she must have been one woman. TED.

This may interest you: second world war - www.ww2talk*.*com :-) Joy

Yes Keith it was a fire boat. Uncle Bill and all my rellies worked on the docks and the boat was used as a fire boat for the Thames. Unfortunately we dont have satellite tv!

I seem to remember Channel 4's Salvage Squad helping to renovate the Massey Shaw fireboat if this is the same one. keep an eye out for the repeats on the Discovery Channel. Keith

As you were, - just phoned dad and he told me the ship was called the Massey Shaw and there are lots of sites for it on the net. Ive just emailed the Massey Shaw association, so hopefully will get some information about Uncle Bill from them. Just to say, anyone else who had relllies on the Little Ships, there is a list of the boats on the net too.

My dad tells me his cousin received a medal for saving thousands of men from the beaches of Dunkirk in his boat during ww2. I have googled but cant find a listing for this sort of thing. Any military buffs know please?