Ship from Shropshire marks Dunkirk anniversary

Around 50 small vessels steamed out of Ramsgate harbour in Kent yesterday morning, as hundreds of people lined the harbour walls to wave them off.

And the little ships included Masayru, a pleasure cruiser restored by David Shotton, of Ditton Priors, near Bridgnorth.

Seventy-five years ago, Masayru was one of 700 vessels that rescued 338,000 troops from the French port between May 26 and June 4 amid near constant attack by the Luftwaffe.

Mr Shotton, who wasn't born until four years after Masayru's Dunkirk service,

and his crew – wife Trish, son Dan and three colleagues – spent yesterday evening moored in Dunkirk harbour enjoying a barbecue and French bread aboard their 40-foot pleasure cruiser.

The Marsayru, which was built in 1938, is credited with saving 400 lives and Mr Shotton bought her as little more than a wreck in 2012 and has been restoring her ever since. "We had a beautiful sun with us all the way over," he said. "It went very well for us." Mr Shotton said some boats were not so fortunate – one even came to grief on a lobster pot.

"We made it here at 5pm and we left Ramsgate at 9am," he added. "A Spitfire and a Hurricane flew over at exactly 9am.

"It was just as fantastic day to be honest. A crowd welcomed us into the inner harbour. A huge number of people were waving and cheering and clapping. It was a really good atmosphere."

Mr Shotton and company will attend a Church Service in Dunkirk on Sunday and plan to sail back to England the following day.

Dunkirk veterans are also taking part in the weekend's commemorations, including Garth Wright, 95, from Plymouth, and Michael Bentall, 94, who came over from Canada for the anniversary.

Mr Wright was impressed by the number of boats taking part in the event.

He said: "This is a great occasion. They are making much more of it than I thought it was going to be.

"I have been back a number of times over the years, but I have never experienced the importance like this one is."