Did people go sailing/fishing privately during WW2
Discussion
Tampon said:
As the title, did people go out in the channel during the second world war ?
Either pleasure sailing or fishing ? if so how far could they have gone.
Might have been a bit of recreational dinghy sailing etc (quiet corners of portland harbour etc) but not much else.Either pleasure sailing or fishing ? if so how far could they have gone.
After Dunkerque, (June 1940) prety much everything that could float had been requesitioned by the coastal command to assist in the evacuation or to act as harbour patrole by home guard etc.
Commercial fishing did still go on but very carefully .... mines
My father used to own a 1930's miller fyffe "gentlemans yacht" that had been requesitioned for the war effort and did 3 crossings to Dunkerque as well as laterly some "espionage" trips to Norway.
ETA - he owned the boat many years after the war ....
Edited by XJSJohn on Wednesday 9th September 03:41
AshVX220 said:
XJSJohn said:
My father used to own a 1930's miller fyffe "gentlemans yacht" that had been requesitioned for the war effort and did 3 crossings to Dunkerque as well as laterly some "espionage" trips to Norway.
Some fantastic stories there I bet! 
Sadly i was a bit too young to remember much of them but i think my father took photocopies of the log books!
know that after the evacuations it did a few trips across the north sea delivering individuals into Norway!
My dad was a fisherman by trade and his first job was as a young (14 years old) deck hand in the mid 1940s. Altghough based in Eire (neutral during WW2), the Irish fishing fleet continued to fish throughout the period and on many occasions his boat would pull into British ports - usually Northern Ireland and sometimes on the Isle of Man. Fishing did continue around the British Isles during the war as food was vital to the war effort.
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