Ship History
In the years after the Great War, two rival firms stood next to each other on the sands at Teignmouth, Devon, offering boat trips to Torquay, Brixham and along the River Dart -some of the most beautiful river scenery in England. Bert Hockin was his great competitor in the tourist trade when, in 1924, Morgan Giles of Teignmouth designed and built Lady Cable for Alf Pittaway. According to Alf Broom, who was her skipper for a while when the two former rivals merged, Lady Cable was a typical Morgan Giles design; nothing more than an extended 18ft jollyboat, which was one of their specialities. Named after Lady Cable of Lindridge, Bishopsteignton, who launched her, the boat has been a passenger pleasure craft for most of her life. In 1926 she took thirty Scotland Yard detectives on a trip to Slapton Sands; a private hire on a mysterious mission. By 1936 Lady Cable had been sold to C. & N. Mott of Torquay and was the only boat to go from there to Dunkirk. During the evacuation, as recorded in A. D. Divine's book Dunkirk, she is said to have taken 550 men from the beaches out to the larger transport ships in seven trips, and she finally returned full of troops to Dover. Afterwards, Lady Cable continued to be a passenger-carrying pleasure craft during the holiday season, sometimes taking her passengers on fishing expeditions. Mrs. Irene Bolus, who bought the boat in 1987, with John Bolus as skipper, has used her to earn her living on mackerel fishing trips and cruises around the bay. Last subject of a BBC new report in October 2015:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-34579588