See the story of Hartlepool's Dunkirk 'Little Ship'

MV Tender Watchful has had a complete overhaul since coming to the marina in 2017

Transcript

00:00She did more than ever a little ship of this type was expected to do. She was never built

00:18as a warship. She's now possibly one of the oldest naval vessels that was at Dunkirk.

00:26The goal was to get her back to Dunkirk for the 80th anniversary. Obviously the ship was

00:32in such a poor state when we took her, whether we were going to be able to achieve that was

00:36a different matter. But we got her ready. She wasn't cosmetically finished inside, but

00:43she could have done the trip to Dunkirk for the 80th anniversary, which sadly would have

00:48been the last time there would have been any Dunkirk survivors.

00:52It is now the 85th anniversary. We've done everything that can be possibly done on this ship with a team of volunteers.

00:59I must thank Percy and Eric Reeves. They're the best side of 70 years old. Most of us are well in the 70s.

01:09Our visitor's book is full of people from all over the world that have come down just to have a look,

01:16see the museum, have a cup of tea on a Dunkirk little ship.

01:22It's a thanks to Hartlepool Marina for allowing this, by the way.

01:27Many marinas wouldn't have let us bring a ship into this condition. It's literally scrap.

01:34But thanks to the inspects that were in Middlesbrough, our team of volunteers, and now the ladies in the tearoom

01:42which hold the ball for just keeping some of the bills paid.

01:46She'll sail on now until she's well into 100 years old with the work that the Hartlepool guys have done to save this ship.

01:54It's a lovely story behind it. It's all down in the records.