The Little Ships — call of 27 May
Answering the Admiralty's call of 27 May 1940, more than 700 civilian small craft came forward to take part in Dynamo. The list was a motley one: yachts from Henley-on-Thames, Thames paddle steamers (PS Medway Queen, PS Princess Elizabeth), Cinque Ports fishing boats, Dutch barges that had taken refuge in 1939, motor launches of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a motorboat from the Margate station.
Our typical owner is a London pharmacist or shopkeeper aged 35 to 55, owner of a yacht used for weekends at Cowes. He hears the call on the wireless on the morning of 27 May. In an hour he decides to go. He reaches Tilbury or Sheerness that afternoon. His civilian life turns upside down.
At Tilbury, he is asked to choose: hand his boat over to the Royal Navy, or pilot it himself to Dunkirk, under Luftwaffe bombing and German coastal artillery.
Should the owner go himself with his own craft?
The great majority applied A. The owner-pilots personally took the risk of the crossing. Typical load: 30 to 80 soldiers per trip. Distance from Dunkirk to Ramsgate: 39 to 80 miles depending on route. Documented examples: , a former officer who had survived the Titanic (1912), 65 years old, took 127 soldiers aboard his 60-foot yacht Sundowner — the outright record of the civilian flotilla. loaded 80 soldiers onto the fishing boat Endeavour. Father , a priest, took the helm of the yacht Maidenhood for four crossings. The tally: 200 small craft lost, some 800 civilian crewmen killed, 120,000 soldiers transported (35 percent of the total Dynamo lift). Survivors received a special Dunkirk medal created by King in June 1940. Since 1965 the Little Ships have organised a commemorative return to Dunkirk every five years, an event still celebrated. The expression "the Spirit of Dunkirk" entered popular British vocabulary to describe spontaneous civilian mobilisation in the face of adversity. Today 140 original Little Ships still survive and are registered with the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS).
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