Ship History
Reginald Yebsley built Wanda at E.F. Elkins' Christchurch boat yard in 1935 for Henry Maxim, the head of a tailoring firm associated in business with Austin Reed. The two men frequently visited the Christchurch yard during the nine months or, so it took to build Wanda. There were at most a dozen men working there and they were more accustomed to building small sailing boats. The motor yacht Wanda was well within their capability as craftsmen but stretched their facilities. Reg recalls how pleased they were with the boat, a double-ender with a canoe stern into which they installed two Morris Isis engines. Her original owner used her mostly in the Solent and remained on friendly terms with the builder. Whenever the weather forced him to leave Wanda at Cowes or Poole, Reg. was despatched to bring her home. All that is known of Wanda at Dunkirk is that she ferried troops off the beaches during Saturday 1st June 1940. Afterwards, it is believed that she was fitted with a Bofors gun and used on patrol and pilot boat duties in Portland harbour. The Navy let her go in 1946 to a motor engineer at Clacton in Essex and for many years a succession of owners cruised in her around the Medway area. During the 1950?s these included the Finch family who subsequently owned Ryegate II and Matoya, both of them Dunkirk Little Ships. It is usually men who have love affairs with boats, but in Wanda's case, as Bill Finch recalls, it was his mother who fell in love with her and they bought her on the spot! The boat had not been sailed for years and Bill's first job was "to clear out seven sacks full of empty gin bottles". They heard that the previous owner committed suicide the day after he sold her. Over the next two years, Wanda had a series of mishaps which disillusioned the Finch family, but when they sold her, she again gave pleasure to subsequent owners who have again restored her. Updated from information supplied for the Spring edition of 'ADLS Fleet News':- Now in the ownership of an 'ex-Commodore', she has had recent work done on a long-standing leak to the starboard shaft log and cutlass bearings replaced (2016). New radio and chargers have also been fitted. Future projects include the renewal of her rigging and sails. She is currently kept at Datchet on the Thames. Wanda is one vessel featured individually on a series of stamps called 'Little Ships of Dunkirk'. These were issued in Palau in 2015 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Op. Dynamo.