Massey Shaw

Massey Shaw is a former London Fire Brigade fireboat. The historic vessel was saved from dereliction by a group of enthusiasts who restored her and a successful Heritage Lottery Grant in 2008. The vessel has been completely restored in Gloucester dock by a professional team of boat builders.

This article is about the fireboat. For the fire chief, see Eyre Massey Shaw.

Massey Shaw in 2014
History
United Kingdom
Name: Massey Shaw
Namesake: Eyre Massey Shaw
Owner: The Massey Shaw and Marine Vessels Preservation Society Limited
Operator: London Fire Brigade
Builder: J. Samuel White, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Cost: £18,000
Launched: 1935
In service: 1935
Out of service: 1971
Homeport: London
Status: Museum ship
General characteristics [1]
Type: Fire float
Tonnage: 50.54 GT
Length: 78 ft (24 m) o/a
Beam: 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Draught: 3 ft 9 in (1.14 m)
Decks: Teak
Installed power: 1 × Russell Newbery 2-cylinder Type D2 diesel engine
Propulsion: 2 × 165 bhp (123 kW) 8-cylinder Gleniffer DC8 diesel engines
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Capacity:

The society had 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 returned to London by road in 2013 where final stages of the restoration were completed.

Ship history

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, 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. 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.[2]

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. 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 Katharine Docks. They founded "The Massey Shaw Fireboat Society" and began to lobby the Fire Authority to save this historic vessel, eventually being granted a 50-year lease.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Massey Shaw - Specifications". www.masseyshaw.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  2. Wallington, Neil Firemen at War 1981 ISBN 071537964X pp52-6
  3. "Massey Shaw". www.tnielsen.co.uk. T.Nielsen & Company Limited. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
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