Thank you for visiting ElvinDunkirk.com. A website dedicated to this special motor yacht which took part in the heroic Dunkirk rescue mission in 1940.

ELVIN. A 6 berth gentleman's motor yacht. Length 36ft, Beam 9ft, Draft 3ft 4" Lloyds Reg No 16565.

Registered Net Tonnage 6.75, Gross 10.54. Designed by A.H. Comben and Hyland Ltd. Built 1937 by Clapson and Sons, Barton on Humber for Hyland Cruisers. First owner Mr. E. L. Vincent.

On the 29th May 1940...

Lieut. Commander Buchanan had been invalided out of the service when war began, but on 29th May 1940, he heard on the 9 o'clock news that the Admiralty wanted enginemen for yachts and he applied at once. Next day, he went to Robinson's yard at Oulton Broad and took charge of the engines in the estuary cruiser Elvin. Her two 25hp Highlander petrol/paraffin motors needed all his skills!

The crew, when they set out for Ramsgate, consisted of himself, a retired fisherman from Aberdeen, "Skipper Noble" a Lowestoft longshoreman and Hackforth-Jones, a writer of yachting stories, who had served with Winston Churchill's battalion in the 1914-18 war. Click On 'Elvin's Story' above to read more, or on 'Links' to contact us..