This morning the Hurlingham cruise boat sailed past Brentford Dock and just struggled through the shallow water at low tide, off Julius Point. I was impressed how shallow the water was for it to sail in and I checked its details.
It is operated by the Thames Cruises company, catering for up to 190 passengers, but it has had a long history before that. It is one of the oldest working boats still in operation on the Thames. The Henley (1896) is the oldest on the tideway and the Alaska is the oldest overall. It was built in 1883 and is still operated by the Thames Steamers Limited.
It was part of the flotilla of ‘Little Ships’ that went to the aid of the British Army during Operation Dynamo, evacuating troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. This is graphically told by the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. It made three return crossings over to Dunkirk.
The Hurlingham boat specification indicates that its boat draft is 4ft, thus only needed that level of water to float, so very suited to sail past Brentford Dock at low tides.
It was built nearly a hundred years ago in 1915, then carrying up to 325 passengers and is 101ft long, 16ft wide and has a boat displacement of 114 tons. In the early years it was a steamship and the engine replaced by a diesel one in the 1950s.
In 2015 the boat will be 100 years old and I hope they have it suitably decorated to celebrate that year as it passes us travelling up to Hampton Court.
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