Name Massey Shaw Operator London Fire Brigade Acquired 1982 Length 24 m Beam 4.19 m | Namesake Eyre Massey Shaw Cost £18,000 Launched 1935 Draft 1.14 m Builder J. Samuel White | |
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Owner The Massey Shaw and Marine Vessels Preservation Society Limited | ||
Massey shaw engine testing july 2012
Massey Shaw is a former London Fire Brigade fireboat. The historic vessel was saved from dereliction by a group of enthusiasts who restored her. Thanks to a successful Heritage Lottery Grant in 2008 the vessel has been completely restored in Gloucester dock by a professional team of boat builders.
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The Society planned to return Massey to the River Thames in May 2013 by sailing her around the south coast of the UK, stopping off at various ports on the way, including Cowes, Isle of Wight where the vessel was built in 1935. However, she was returned to London by road in 2013 where restoration was completed.
Launch of massey shaw 1935
Ship history
The Massey Shaw was built in 1935 by the J. Samuel White company at Cowes, Isle of Wight. She was built to a London County Council design, and cost around £18,000 to build. The vessel was named after Eyre Massey Shaw, a former chief of the London Fire Brigade.
During the Second World War, the Massey Shaw, along with a volunteer crew of firemen, formed part of the flotilla of small vessels which were sent to Dunkirk to help evacuate British troops from the beaches. The Massey Shaw made three trips to the beaches and rescued over 500 troops, most by ferrying them to a larger ship standing offshore. She also rescued some 30 men from a French ship mined off Margate.
The Massey Shaw served throughout the remainder of the War as a fireboat on the Thames. During the Blitz, the vessel pumped vast quantities of water from the Thames to fight fires all along the Thames waterfront.
She can be seen in the 1958 film 'Dunkirk' starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough. The Massey Shaw remained in service as a Thames fireboat until 1971 when she was decommissioned. In 1980 Philip Wray, Dick Helyer, and several other concerned individuals found the Massey Shaw abandoned in St Katharines Dock. They began to lobby the Fire Authority to save this historic vessel.