Dunkirk Hero Ship Ena Abandoned & Decaying At Hoo.
Having visited and produced a video on Hoo Graveyard and Hoo Fort, I felt compelled to produce this shorter video highlighting the fate of the sailing barge Ena.
In this short video, I am concentrating on the war history of the Thames barge Ena. She is a notable Dunkirk little ship, reputed to have rescued 100 men. Sadly, she is currently at the end of her life, having been dumped on the Hoo mudflats and with only the slimmest possibility of being resurrected.
Adjacent to Hoo (Stargate) Marina on the River Medway lies a cluster of discarded ships. Many of these vessels were used to transport cement along the river, with most being over a hundred years old. Surplus to requirements and at the end of their life they made one final voyage to this quiet patch of the river and where they were left to rot.
Ena was constructed in Harwich in 1906, In World War One ENA carried supplies to the armies on the continent of Europe. Their shallow draught gave them access to shallow waters, and they were less likely to be sunk by mines or U-boats: U-boats were often reluctant to disclose their presence, or even waste a precious torpedo, attacking a mere sailing barge.
In World War II she continued to trade in grain between London and Ipswich, or lightering on the River Orwell, and also carried sugar beet. Ena was used in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. She was one of sixteen sailing barges which sailed to Dunkirk to evacuate troops from the beaches as part of Operation Dynamo. During the crossing, they endured constant air attacks and her crew were ordered to beach her and abandon ship, however, she was spotted by troops and sailed back to England under continuous enemy bombardment and machine-gun fire. Today she lies decaying on the flat of the River Medway at Hoo.
ENA worked under sail alone until 1948 when she was converted to a motor barge with a Ruston diesel engine, and continued to trade until 1974. She was then restored to sail and retained by the company (which by then was known as Pauls & Sandars) for corporate hospitality. New sails were made by Gerry Whitmore, and a Gardner diesel (which had done 300,000 miles in one of the company’s lorries) replaced the Ruston unit. ENA was re-rigged by Charlie Webb, her last master in trade, and Harold Smy, whilst the work on the hull was entrusted to the company’s Dock End shipyard. Much of the gear needed to get Ena sailing again was found ‘lying about’ in the shipyard since being discarded in the 1940s. Harold Smy became her new master, and was succeeded by Len Polley and then his brother Tom Polley; over more than 25 years Ena took parties of brewers to many barge matches. Skippered by Brian Pinner she also sailed to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Brussels, often to Dunkirk for reunions. When the owners (then known as Pauls Malt) were taken over by an Irish company Ena was deemed surplus to requirements. In 2001 she was sold to Luke Deards and after that season was taken in hand at Stargate Marine (at Hoo, on the Medway) for restoration work which lasted a year and involved replacing the carlings, coamings, main beams, linings, ceiling, the decks, knees, and some frames. She then resumed chartering under Marine Events Management. She was subsequently laid up at Hoo on the River Medway where her condition deteriorated. Some parts, including windlass and davits, were removed and re-purposed for use on other barges.
Some useful links:
Sailing Barge ENA – ‘The Last Barge of R&W Pauls’
Cross in the Topsail: An Account of the Shipping Interests of R.W. Paul Ltd, Ipswich
Hardcover – 22 July 1979. by Roger Finch (Author)
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