Our Little Wooden Boat Sank. Here’s the Plan.

On the 4th July 2026, the engines of our little wooden boat, the RMMV Athlone Castle, failed, and she was sent crashing into the beach in front of hundreds of onlookers at West Bay in Dorset. The historic vessel, widely believed to be one of the boats involved in Operation Dynamo in 1940, sustained catastrophic damage, and the subsequent rescue effort saw her take on water and sink. Miraculously, she was dragged back to harbour, where we could assess the next steps. Once she was out of the water, the extent of the damage became clear. Tears through the planking around the portholes, scraping and shearing of the keel, and a 6-inch gap in the timbers on her port side, caused by the relentless twisting, pushing and pulling of the sea, were just the first of many things we'd have to get fixed. Colin Brown, owner of the local haulage firm Cains Farm, kindly helped move her to temporary storage nearby, then on to Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River. From here, Sam and his team at Classic Shipwright Services will be meticulously recommissioning Athlone, leaning on their collective decades of experience restoring historic wooden boats. Meanwhile, we will be visiting various archives around the country, establishing the provenance of this vessel and discovering stories from those who sailed on her. Make sure you're subscribed, as we endeavour to document the fascinating and detailed restoration of this very important little wooden boat. Thank you to: Colin Brown at Cains Farm: https://www.cainsfarm.co.uk Sam and his team at Classic Shipwright Services: https://classicshipwrightservicesltd.... The West Bay Harbourmaster All those who mustered their support during her shipwrecking and subsequent rescue Stephen and Claire from Zany Media, who are documenting the restoration: https://zany.media Follow us on Instagram:   / athlone1934   🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, https://t.lickd.co/l/ZGkxZ4deWKD Chapters: 00:00 - The events of 4th July 2026 03:49 - Coming up in this episode 04:25 - Moving the Athlone to the barn 06:25 - Overview of the damage 07:32 - The Bow 15:12 - Starboard side 17:07 - The Stern 20:07 - Port side 22:20 - Looking forward to the work involved #restoration #history #woodworking