I have been researching for a feature on Eric Piercy-Hamilton a one time member of the BUF and the second husband of Mrs William Joyce ( Lord Haw-Haw ). This is an edited version of the story which will appear in Bygone Kent Magazine July-August edition.
This, as I have said is a cut-down version of the story which will be published later with a picture of the Advance and the three man Dunkirk crew.
On hearing a British Government request for small boats,
Eric Hamilton-Piercy with businessman and financial supporter of the BUF, Colin
Pomeroy Dick travelled to Teddington Lock. The third member of the crew was Kenneth
Cunningham McGuffie.
Most weekends Hamilton-Piercy, McGuffie and Dick would use
the Advance, a 40 foot motor launch, by sailing along the Thames and when time
allowed, on longer trips to Poole, Weymouth and the Isle of Wight. The sturdy
launch was made by Vosper and Company of Southampton, designed by Fred Cooper
with a Thorneycroft RB/6 140 hp petrol engine.
On arrival at Teddington Lock, on May 27th the trio stripped out all the
unnecessary weight from the boat, personal items including pots, pans, and
Colin Dick’s well stocked cocktail cabinet.
After working on the boat, the crew left the lock area at 0730 on
Tuesday, May 28th with a sandwich lunch.
They sailed their freshly painted motor cruiser, the Advance down the
Thames to Sheerness, arriving at 1330.
They left Sheerness at 16.00, May 28th with
provisions, water, petrol, steel helmets, oilskins, sea-boots and petrol. Half and hour later with eight other boats
each towing a whaler they sailed and arrived in Dover at 03.00 May 29th,
mooring in the outer harbour alongside a destroyer. They moved to the submarine
basin, refueled and waited.
With a fine clear morning and no wind, Wednesday May
29th,1940, the first flotilla arrived
off the beach at La Panne, just inside the Belgium border. The early arrivals included Advance, the
first to arrive with a civilian crew and
others in the group, manned by Royal Navy personnel were the, Elizabeth
Green, Bobeli, Hanora and Reda led by the lead boat Viewfinder. Advance, in this first assembly, assisting by
taking soldiers off the beach and ferrying them in a whaler, operating to and
fro to other vessels, waiting in deeper water.
Soon after arriving in position, the Advance was machine-gunned by two
German aircraft, one flying so low it removed the vessels signal mast.
Hamilton-Piercy said later, the aircraft was so low, “ you
could throw a brick at them.” This
action continued for the rest of the day while they continued the
fetching-and-carrying operation, with Piercy and McGuffie in the whaler. Hamilton-Piercy’s solicitors, Humphrey Razzall and Company of Lincoln’s
Inn, London would later state, that the boat was, “ under fire for most of the
time, they made 20 trips to the beach in total, removing as many soldiers as
possible each time.”
Advance under owner Colin Pomeroy Dick was purchased in
Poole, Dorset and repainted in 1939. Her
owner had been the Admiralty then W.J.Woodward Fisher Limited of Limehouse,
London, and then the boat was leased or rented back to the BUF
organisation. Under Dick’s ownership,
Advance was used as a ARP 3/9/1939-19/2/1940 ( Air Raid Precaution ) boat, and
then an AP ( Auxiliary Patrol ), boat until Dunkirk. After evacuation duties, the boat was
commandeered by the RAF for miscellaneous work between 28/5/1940 - 23/6/1941.
As far as I can tell after June 1941 she was listed as a right-off. I can't find out what happened that day or afterwards. Which is annoying!!
If I have made any errors, I would be glad of feedback ahead of magazine publication. It seems the three men arriving off Dunkirk was very embarrassing for the government of the time as all had links to the BUF. Although their work at day, and they all volunteered for another crossing on June 2nd. That didn't happen with the same crew, as they were all arrested. Full details, including comments from Piercy-Hamilton's son, extra detail on the Dunkirk trip and the arrests, in Bygone Kent Magazine.
Thank you very much.
Mike
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