The Ena is a wooden

Thames sailing barge A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges, with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and na ...

constructed in

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

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. In 2002, ''Ena'' was the focus of an episode of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV series '' Salvage Squad''.

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 The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agri ...

. This was the second barge they had bought from W B McLearon's Navy Yard, after the '' Thalatta''. They rigged her as a mulie in their own Dock End Shipyard.

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.

Dunkirk evacuation

Thirteen

s 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.

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ena, SB 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

History

First World War service

Dunkirk evacuation

See also

References