I am pleased to hear that Dianthus is still around and hope that she will be restored in time. I know the boat from my childhood, and was told that she was a Dunkirk Littleship, but was never sure if this was actually true.
In the 1970's Dianthus was moored on the River Trent at Farndon Ferry. She was owned by a man from Sheffield called Charlie Debain, who was old enough to have owned it a very long time. He used to visit every weekend during the season, and spent most of his time working on the boat, painting it and lavishing attention on it. It only actually left its moorings once a year! Charlie was getting old, and when someone approached him to buy the boat he eventually agreed. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the new owners. They did have some work done on the boat, I think they restored the centre wheelhouse to its original condition so that they would be able to fold it down to get under bridges. They also had the hull stripped, which left the seams on the planking showing. My familt didn't however think that they would have the funds available longterm to maintain the boat.
Dianthus
I am pleased to hear that Dianthus is still around and hope that she will be restored in time. I know the boat from my childhood, and was told that she was a Dunkirk Littleship, but was never sure if this was actually true.
In the 1970's Dianthus was moored on the River Trent at Farndon Ferry. She was owned by a man from Sheffield called Charlie Debain, who was old enough to have owned it a very long time. He used to visit every weekend during the season, and spent most of his time working on the boat, painting it and lavishing attention on it. It only actually left its moorings once a year! Charlie was getting old, and when someone approached him to buy the boat he eventually agreed. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the new owners. They did have some work done on the boat, I think they restored the centre wheelhouse to its original condition so that they would be able to fold it down to get under bridges. They also had the hull stripped, which left the seams on the planking showing. My familt didn't however think that they would have the funds available longterm to maintain the boat.