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Original Text (Annotation: epw062738 / 1061043)
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TSMV Britannia, owned by the Myall Familly, - two false funnels, twin Thorneycroft engines, unusual curved transom, allowed to carry 400 passengers [I think] on a "Board of Trade Steam 6 Certificate"; around 137grt, 107ft l.o.a., service speed around 9 knots, and "handled like a Port of London dumb lighter" according to Skipper Albert Brand of the rival SMNCo. Safely voyaged to Dunkirk and back, because she had her own regular crew to take her there, because unlike the SMNCo Owners, the Myall's didn't offer their vessels for the Dynamo operation until May 27th, the day when the Adm. Regulation prohibiting civilian crews had been "rescinded during the Emergency". Saved many more from the beaches than are credited to her - because she several times off-loaded a number of survivors to larger ships "anchored-off"in deeper water, before loading a final time and returning to Ramsgate. Totals of men saved were only done by headcounts of soldiers disembarking at Ramsgate. returned to civilian passenger service on the Foreshore for the 1946 Season. Was last seen semi-derelict in the London Docklands during the late 1980's. More pics can be found at < www.simplonpc.co.uk > '
