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2017 SU7785 : Moored on the River ThamesSU7785 : Boat, River Thames 2018

MY Llanthony

The motor yacht Llanthony, seen here languishing on the Henley Reach of the Thames, was built in 1934 by Camper & Nicholsons at their Northam yard in Southampton for Colonel Lionel Beaumont-Thomas, a Welsh soldier and politician. He named her after his home town in Monmouthshire SO2827, known for its ancient Priory.

At the outbreak of war in 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty. Transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy at Ramsgate, she was one of the heroic Little Ships in the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940, where despite sustaining major damage to her engine and superstructure she rescued 280 men from the beaches. After the war, her original owner having perished on an Atlantic convoy, she was sold to Lord Astor of Hever. From 1985-1993, renamed Golden Era, she was operating cruises in the Aegean. Since 2022 she has been fully restored by Dennetts boatyard of Chertsey.

For a fuller history, specifications and photographs see the National Historic Ships Register and for an earlier photo taken on a visit to County Down in 2008 see J5082 : The "Llanthony" at Bangor.