SB Ena
![]() Ena lying on the mud at Hoo, 2018
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History | |
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Name | Ena |
Owner |
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Builder | McLearon, Harwich, Essex, UK |
Launched | 1906 |
Identification |
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Status | Lying in the marshes |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Thames sailing barge |
Tons burthen | 73 |
Length | 88.13 ft (26.86 m) |
Beam | 20.6 ft (6.3 m) |
Draught | 2 ft (0.61 m)approx |
Depth of hold | 6.89 ft (2.10 m)approx |
Propulsion |
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Sail plan | mulie rig sprit mainsail, topsail, mizzen, gaff rigged with boom. |
Capacity | 150 tonnes |
Complement | 2 |
Notes | Served in both World War I as an ammunition barge, and in World War II in the Dunkirk evacuation. [1] Focus of 2002, first series of the Salvage Squad.[2] |
The Ena is a wooden Thames sailing barge constructed in Harwich in 1906 that is resting on the flats adjacent to Stargate Marina in Hoo, Kent. She is a notable Dunkirk little ship reputed to have rescued 100 men.[3]
In 2002, Ena was the focus of an episode of the Channel 4 TV series Salvage Squad.[2][4]
History[]
The barge was built speculatively by W B McLearon at the Navy Yard slip, Harwich in 1906. R & W Paul Ltd, the grain and agricultural merchants bought her in 1907 to use in the grain trade. This was the second barge they had bought from W B McLearon's Navy Yard, as they has bought the Thalatta. They rigged her as a mulie in their own Dock End Shipyard.[1]
First World War service[]
Ena served in the First World War, delivering supplies across the Channel to troops in France. Her shallow draught allowed her to operate in waters too shallow for the enemy U-boats.[1]
Dunkirk evacuation[]
Thirteen Thames sailing barges made the crossing, six from R & W Paul Ltd's fleet. On the Dunkirk beaches, her crew were ordered to abandon her. She was beached but then refloated by Lt Colonel W G Mc Kay and men of the 19th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and taken back to Kent, notable as none of them was a sailorman.[1]
See also[]
- Thalatta
- Will (Thames barge)
References[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ena (ship, 1906). |
- Bibliography
- "Ena | National Historic Ships". www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- Thames sailing barges
- Little Ships of Dunkirk
- 1906 ships
- Transport on the River Thames
- Sailing ships of the United Kingdom
- Ships and vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels
- Ships built in Harwich