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Houseboats in The Picture of Bursledon Bridge

The Bridge c1955
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In the photo are several houseboats and yachts moored up to the bank on the LHS of the picture; I used to live on the large white motor torpedo boat (originally called 'Hippocampus') which can be seen between the wreck and the large wooden, armour plated 'LCS' ('Landing Craft/Support'), when she was moved from the River Hamble to the River Itchen in 1974. I renamed her 'Whimsical Macgoffley'. She was built in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, at the J. Samual White Shipyard, launched in 1944, and was one of six MTBs (numbered S-5 to S-10) and manned by the Polish Navy. (Her number was S-8 during WW2 and she was eventually returned to the Royal Navy as HMTB 427 at the end of the war). She was 'up for disposal' by the Admiralty on 18th December 1945 and sold sometime after that date to a Mr. A. Aitcheson. In 1949 she was on the berth shown in the photo which was at 'Deacon's Boat Yard', downstream from Bursledon Bridge, opposite where Moody's Boat Yard is now and not far from the 'Jolly Sailor' pub (in fact there is a copy of this photo is in the pub above a fireplace!).
In the 1970s she was moored 'above the road bridge' on the other side of the river, opposite 'The Cabin Tea Rooms' (now a Chinese Restaurant) at the boatyard which became 'Ken Master's Chandlery' in the 1980 TV series 'Howards Way'. The boatyard was eventually redeveloped and all the houseboats had to go and in 1974 she was sold to 'Belsize Boat Yard' on the River Itchen where I bought her and moved her upstream to a mooring, 'Priory Boat Yard', which was adjacent to the Railway Bridge in Priory Road, St. Denys. I lived on board until 1979 and the boat then had several other owners until 1990 when she was scrapped down river on the Marchwood foreshore. I have discovered her wartime history and found all the owners after I sold her, but would like to know anything about her when she was moored on the River Hamble.
One of the other six Polish boats, S-10, was, for a time (1954/5) moored downstream and named 'M.Y. Taifun'; she had been used in the Ealing Studios film of Nicholas Monserrat's short story, 'The Ship that Died of Shame', starring George Baker, Richard Attenborough, Bill Owen and Virginia McKenna and was up for sale through a yacht broker. She eventually ended up in the Mediterranean and used for smuggling; the skipper being Hugh Edwards, the brother of the comedian with the large handle-bar moustache, Jimmy Edwards. She foundered off the North African coast near Cape Bon and lost during a smuggling trip in 1958. Hugh Edwards wrote about his life and adventures in the book 'Midnight Trader'.
One of the sister ships of 'S-8' is still afloat in Shoreham Harbour as 'Houseboat Thanet' ('S-7') and I believe that she is the 'last of the line' of the six originally built.
Any information, stories or memories of any of these boats on the River Hamble, would be most welcome.

Written by Tim Deacon. To send Tim Deacon a private message, click here.

A memory of Bursledon in Hampshire shared on Friday, 28th December 2007.

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Comments

RE: RE: Houseboats in The Picture of Bursledon Bridge

For most of my childhood I lived on a semi-derelict MTB called "Anzio" from aprox. 1953-1960. We were moored up a creek on the river Hamble not far from Bursledon & our address was Crableck Yard, Crableck Lane , Sarisbury Green. I know nothing of Anzio's history or of what eventually happened to her but would love to find out as I have very happy memories of my wild childhood.. Is it possible she could also have been the "Hippocampus"?? I used to walk along the seawall to Bursledon & over the bridge in the photo & don't remember ever seeing another MTB there... but perhaps if it was moored on the far side I wouldn't have seen it!

Comment from Rose Todd on Tuesday, 10th June 2008.

RE: RE: Houseboats in The Picture of Bursledon Bridge

Hi Rose!
Do you have any photos from your childhood days on 'Anzio'? It would be interesting to see any photos to see if I can identify what type of boat she was (ie. Vosper/Thorneycroft/White/British Power Boat). I do remember some MTBs at Crableck, but that would have been from about 1972 when I came to Southampton from London. There was one craft I remember there, wooden with steel armour on the hull, which was in fact an 'LCA' (Landing Craft Assault), so not an MTB, but similar in shape, apart from a 'flat bow' to allow ladders to get troops off onto a beach. She was eventually broken up; not sure when. The houseboats moved about the area from time to time as owners bought and sold them. My boat had to be moved from her mooring (as in the Frith photo), as the foreshore was to be developed and was taken to Belsize Boat Yard on the River Itchen, just upstream of Northam Bridge where I bought her in 1974. I have been unable to find out anything about my boat's history on the River Hamble; I have lots of information from her building and working-up with the Polish Forces up to the end of WW2 and written a 50 page document about the history of the Polish Torpedo and Gun Boats on the website: www.bmpt.org.uk
Any information would be very useful.
My e-mail address is: tim@deacon427.fsnet.co.uk
Thanks
Tim Deacon

Comment from Tim Deacon on Sunday, 13th June 2010.

RE: RE: Houseboats in The Picture of Bursledon Bridge

My father and his sister lived on an ex WW1 launch called ML106 between 1926 and 1936, moored at Bursledon. Very interesting reading all these memories. They used to row ashore every day - with the cat - to collect paper and milk - and one day left the cat on shore by mistake. It swam out to the boat though!

Comment from Nickie Johnson on Saturday, 17th December 2011.

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