TUGS

Nice to see some photos of your Uncle, Colin. I haven't seen them before anywhere else.
The other tug in the middle pic is one of the Dover tugs of the period, the Lady Brassey. Don't know what she's doing with Foremost 22, but the details are down at the museum, I think.

Hi Colin, the picture of Fred in the cabin of Foremost 22 taken beside the radios. If you look at the entry for Tug crew you will see a photo of my dad sitting in exactly the same position. I would say that those two pics were taken one after the other. I don't remember taking the one of Fred, but I did take the one of my dad and I still have the original back in Australia along with lots of other pics of Meeching and the harbour in general. You know what its like, have new camera must take pics. I even took a photo of Harry Dottrill at the engine room controls of Foremost 22. Harry was the Chief Engineer at the time and I believe he lived in Norman Rd. I have to  say, Colin that you have a wonderful collection of photos and I dare say you have some of Fred's old collection.
Keep putting them online Colin, they are great.

Hi Colin, My name is Mike Betts, my Grandad was a crew member of the Lady Brassey DHB tug during the war and I would very much like to find a list of the crew members during that period. Are there any records of the crew members of tug, perhaps at Dover library or privately that I could contact? His name was Moses Betts (sometimes known as Albert} and I understand that the Lady Brassey and her Sister tug Dungannon were involved in the Dunkirk evacuation.

I would really appreciate any information you may have or some guidance as to where else I might enquire.

Many thanks in anticipation of a reply..

As you say, those two tugs were Dover based, so we have no information on them here at Our Newhaven. There are a couple of Dover shipping sites, but your best bet is to see if there is any info at Dover Museum. dovermuseum.co.uk

Lady Brassey's twin sister was Lady Crundall. Lady Duncannon was a smaller harbour tug. Crundall was lost in 1925, but Duncannon and Brassey were requisitioned for war service in 1939/40. Although I haven't yet found any record of Dunkirk service, it seems inevitable that they would have played some part, given Dover's proximity.

Info on all three tugs can be found at https://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk

Andy - Editor (and tug historian!)

To revisit my comment from almost 14 years ago(!), the Russian cargo ship 'Ussuri' had run ashore on Seaford Beach. 'Foremost 22' and 'Lady Brassey' offered their assistance but, anxious to avoid paying out any money for towage or salvage, the Russian ship's owners decided to wait until one of their own ships could come along and pull 'Ussuri' off the beach - free of charge, of course!