00:00Eighty-five years on, the little ships that took part in the Dunkirk evacuation are once
00:06again making that historic journey. This morning, around a thousand people gathered to wave them
00:12off.
00:13Leave the Dunkirk fleet out to sea. Yes, they have permission to exit.
00:18A proud moment for the custodians of the vessels that once helped save more than 300,000 lives.
00:25People in this part of the country especially are more than aware of its particular part
00:30of history within the Dunkirk, within the overall Dunkirk story and as you can see they've turned
00:37out en masse to pick up as many of the views and sights as they can.
00:42Travelling at speeds of around four knots, the little ships take around eight hours to
00:47cross the channel. But I boarded one of the support vessels to retrace the path taken in
00:52May 1940. For us, a shorter cruise, but still steeped in history.
00:59Our crossing today is much like that in 1940. Calm conditions and that was perfect back in
01:061940. It allowed all those 800 little ships to cross, save so many lives.
01:14Around 60 little ships could be seen navigating the English Channel this morning, escorted by
01:19the Royal Navy and the RNLI. So what would it be like if we were on one of those little
01:23ships today compared to this? Extremely rocky rolly. If you've been on a very uncomfortable
01:30fairground ride, those little ships were designed to be used really on the Thames where you might
01:36get a few ripples every now and then. So they are really out of their element at the moment.
01:40And I've been told that this is possibly the first time they've actually left the Thames,
01:49or the second time, since they went across to France.
01:53We're about halfway now on our crossing. We've just got across the shipping lanes. And it's
01:58a challenge to try and avoid them, make sure we're not in their wake and going at different
02:02angles to be sure we're crossing it in the correct way. But in World War II it would have been a
02:06completely different challenge. Those little ships would have been facing enemy fire from
02:10above and being shelled from land. So it's a bit of a reminder of what it would have been
02:16like for them back there. But today's nothing compared to what they would have faced.
02:20But on my voyage, about an hour from Dunkirk, one of the support boats ran into trouble.
02:27The engine failed and a distress signal was sent. But that famous Dunkirk spirits came alive
02:34again. Our vessel stepped in, towing the stricken boat safely to Dunkirk. And a few hours later,
02:41those historic little ships followed, just as they did 85 years ago. There might have not
02:48been an active war zone around us, but the challenges of the crossing prove the message
02:53behind today's journey is still truly alive. Gabriel Morris for KNTV in Dunkirk, France.
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