Motor Launch ML-286
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:Hoisting_a_Motor_Launch_Art.IWMART791.jpg |Ship caption=Motor Launch of the same type drawn by Lieutenant Geoffrey Allfree }} {{Infobox ship class overview |Builders=Elco |Operators={{navy|UK}} |Class before= |Class after= |Subclasses= |Built =1916 |In commission range= |Total ships building= |Total ships planned= |Total ships completed=580 |Total ships cancelled= |Total ships active= |Total ships laid up= |Total ships lost= |Total ships retired= |Total ships scrapped= |Total ships preserved= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=ML.1–50 series |Ship type=Motor Launch |Ship displacement=37 tons |Ship length={{cvt|80|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= {{cvt|4|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion= 2 × 220hp 4cyl petrol engine |Ship speed={{convert|19|kn|km/h|abbr=on|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=8 |Ship armament=*1 × 13-pounder
|Ship sensors=Hydrophone |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
Motor Launch ML-286 is a First World War submarine chaser built by Elco, that saw action with Royal Navy. It is also listed as one of the Little Ships that were in the 1940, Dunkirk evacuation. It is in a very poor condition and lies on the banks of the River Thames at Isleworth Ait. ML-286 is the last surviving Royal Naval Motor Launch of the more than 550 that served in the First World War.{{cite web |title=Isleworth Ait submarine chaser: The Eothen |url=https://www.mola.org.uk/geomatics-skills-exchange-univesitat-politecnica-de-valencia |website=MOLA.org |accessdate=19 December 2018}}
World War I service
The first motor launches entered service in the First World War. These were 580 {{convert|80|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} vessels built by the US Elco company for the Admiralty, receiving the designations ML–1 to ML–580. They served between 1916 and the end of the war with the Royal Navy defending the British coast from German submarines. Her first commander was the War artist, Lieutenant Geoffrey Allfree (1889–1918){{cite web |title=Geoffrey Allfree 1889–1918 |url=http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/geoffrey-allfree-rnvr-war-artist-1889-1918 |website=thamesdiscovery.org |accessdate=17 December 2018}}
Dunkirk and post-war
After the War ML286 was sold off by the Ministry and was given the name Cordon Rouge and then later, in 1930 she became Eothen which was her name at Dunkirk.{{cite book |last1=Brann |first1=Christian |title=The Little Ships of Dunkirk |date=1 Nov 1989 |publisher=Collectors Books |isbn=0946604029 |accessdate=}} She returned to Ramsgate and was towed to Teddington. She was requisitioned for service as an auxiliary patrol vessel in the Thames but found to be unsuitable and later was returned to her owners in August 1940.{{cite web |title=Eothen |url=http://www.adls.org.uk/t1/content/eothen-2 |website=Association of Dunkirk Little Ships Association of Dunkirk Little Ships |accessdate=17 December 2018}}
Current condition
Eothen (ML-286) lies in a very poor condition on the banks of the River Thames. It is being monitored and recorded by volunteer members of the Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) based at Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).{{cite web |last1=Firth |first1=Antony |title=ML 286 – A Little Ship with a Big History |url=http://www.fjordr.com/fjordr-blog/ml-286-a-little-ship-with-a-big-history |website=fjordr.com |accessdate=8 January 2020}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book
|title=The Motor Launch Patrol
|author1=Gordon S. Maxwell
|author2=Donald Maxwell
|year=1920
|publisher=J.M. Dent and Sons
|url=https://archive.org/details/motorlaunchpatro00maxwuoft
}}
- {{Cite book
|title=Cinderellas of the Fleet
|author=W. W. Nutting
|year=1920
}}
External links
- [http://www.motorlaunchpatrol.net/history/pleasure_yacht/the_last_survivor/ "The Movies" – The Ships and Men of the Royal Navy Motor Launch Patrol, 1914–1919]
- [https://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishMLs.htm World War 1 at Sea – list of Motor Launches or ML's built by Elco in World War 1]
- [https://forgottenwrecks.maritimearchaeologytrust.org/uploads/images/Articles/Motor%20Launches%20by%20Andrew%20Daw%20V1.pdf Forgotten Wrecks of the First War]
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Category:Little Ships of Dunkirk
Category:Transport on the River Thames
Category:Ships built in Bayonne, New Jersey