A ship involved in one of the most famous and historically important events of the second world war is currently in dry dock at Newark Marina after a nine year restoration.
As the country prepares to remember the events of D-Day on its 80th Anniversary, we cast our minds back a few more years to the evacuation of Dunkirk and the role that one little ship played.
In May 1940, British and allied forces in mainland Europe had been pushed back to the sea and surrounded by a devastating Nazi offensive.
Holed up in the French coastal town of Dunkirk, some 400,000 men were trapped and facing either annihilation or capture — that is if it were not for the largest sea-born evacuation in history, codenamed Operation Dynamo.
The Royal Navy along with an armada of over 800 ‘little ships’ crossed the English Channel and slowly but surely brought our troops home.
Between May 26 and June 4 over 338,000 men had successfully been evacuated. This meant Britain retained a fighting military force, which four years later was able sail back across the channel during the D-Day invasion.
One of those little ships was the Sylvia, a leisure boat built in 1930, which was commandeered to help with the evacuation.
Over two trips, and despite being machine gunned, set on fire and taking on water through a port side hole, she helped to evacuate over 200 soldiers, many of whom were wounded.
For owners John and Trisha Woods, it has been a labour of love restoring the Sylvia to her former glory, but one which they believe was worthwhile to preserve a piece of history.
Thanks to the dedication of the husband and wife duo, the vessel has undergone a full restoration from the stern to the bow by hand, including replacing the engines.
John said: “We’d had boats for many years and my wife’s father was one of the soldier’s rescued from the beaches at Dunkirk, so we decided to find ourselves a ‘little ship’ of our own.
“Once every five years all the boats do a ceremonial return to Dunkirk as part of a huge flotilla, and that’s what we wanted to get involved with.
“When we found her [Sylvia], she was in a bit of a state on the River Medway and we knew if we didn’t take her on she would probably be lost.
“Unfortunately we hadn’t realised quite how much work would be required to restore her and nine years later we are just about finished.
“We don’t own these boats, we are merely custodians of them. We are here to preserve their history and the incredible part they played in Operation Dynamo.”
For the remainder of the war the Sylvia served as an offshore patrol vessel, before being returned to her original owner.
In the decades since, the boat changed hands and names, before eventually winding up with John and Trisha, who made the banks of the River Trent her home and renamed her Lady Sylvia in honour of her roots.
Entered into the ship’s logs is an account from the harbour master that witnessed the Sylvia’s return during those dramatic days and recounted what the the sailor piloting her said to him before heading back to France on a return trip.
"I have seen the sea red with human blood, severed arms and legs, a sight I shall never forget. The Lord is with us, the sea is calm and if she goes down, I shall go down with her," the log reads.
It was this same never give in attitude and resourceful courage which inspired Winston Churchill’s famous “We shall fight them on the beaches” speech to Parliament.
Sadly despite nearly a decade of love and hard work, John and Trisha were never able to achieve their dream of taking part in one of the ceremonial flotillas as the last return trip in 2020 was interrupted by the Covid Pandemic.
Now, ahead of the next return for the 85th anniversary in 2025, the time has come for the couple to let Lady Sylvia go following for personal reasons which would make the trip impossible.
However, they hope that her new owners are able to make the channel crossing on their behalf and ensure that this little ship’s role in our nations history is never forgotten.
