MARY IRENE

Type:  Fishing vessel
Length:  32ft 6ins
Beam:  11ft 6ins
Draft:  3ft.
Displacement:  7 1/2 tonnes dwt
Engine:  150hp Ford 6D Diesel
Construction:  larch on oak
Builder:  Shutters of Poole
Year:  1935

Built in 1935, at Shutters (later J Bolson’s) Poole yard for Harry Cartridge, Mary Irene was a registered fishing vessel at Poole (PE 47) when she was 'called up' for duty at Dunkirk.

Apparently, he took her to Ramsgate in company with 14 other boats in order to join the Op. Dynamo fleet.

Nothing is presently known about her contribution to the Evacuation except that she was released to her owner on 6th June 1940 then being used to tow military vessels around the south coast.

Harry's son Maurice later took the skippers position and continued the business of trawling, chartering and oyster dredging until she was sold to John Stevenson in 1996.

Subsequently sold to Peter Saunders, she was then kept in Newhaven and continued her life as a fishing vessel.

In September 2016, then known as 'Michele Star', she was viewed at Newhaven for sale on eBay by her current owner. She was purchased for use as a workboat, her original name being reinstated. She is to be overhauled and her MCA. ticket renewed.

She is now based on the Thames and is becoming a regular participant in Association events.

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