Dorian

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A new acquisition for the DLSRT

Click picture to see Dorian being moved to AeroNautica

Ex Royal Navy pinnace built in 1915 in Portsmouth Dockyard. Length 41ft lengthened to 45ft in 1937. Beam 12ft 1in Draft 4ft. Construction double diagonal teak.

We now believe that Dorian was an open pulling boat possibly for a battleship and she would have been rowed by 38 men!

A rowing launch very similar to Dorian as she was built. Perhaps it IS her, we will never know

Having served in the Royal Navy from 1915 to 1937 Dorian was converted to a yacht but was soon recalled to go to Dunkirk and subsequently spent the rest of the war based at Chichester Harbour. After the war she returned to cruising the South and East Coasts of England until the eighties when she retired to the Thames to become a houseboat.

In about 2000 she suffered a severe fire in the deck saloon and other accommodation. She was subsequently moved ashore and the remainder of the internal fittings were stripped out but very little reconstruction work has been carried out.

Inspection has shown that she was sturdily built but has been neglected with erosion of the outer skin but it is considered that she is recoverable.

The proposal is the she should be removed to the new workshop at The Trafalgar Dry Dock in Southampton where the necessary work can be carried out by shipwrights with the assistance of apprentices from Southampton City College and volunteers with a view to restoring her externally to how she would have looked at the time of Dunkirk.

THIS HAS NOW BEEN DONE

Work has now started on the restoration of this fine old lady

As there is nothing internally in place, the suggestion is that in consultation with the British Marine Federation and the Royal Yachting Association under their Green Blue program she should be fitted out to take advantage of the latest eco fittings for which we would hope to have sponsorship particularly as the subsequent use would be to open her to the public at various events around the coast and on rivers bringing the message of TRAINING, GREEN OPERATIONS, SEAMANSHIP, BOAT MAINTENANCE AND HISTORY INCLUDING DUNKIRK.

The workshops at Trafalgar Dry Dock Southampton where Dorian is now.

Funding will be sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Europe and sponsorship.

A prime objective would be for her to take part in the Return to Dunkirk in 2015 for her 100^th birthday.