Name Papillon

PAPILLON was owned by Mr C.P. Mackenrot, who lived at Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex when she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for Operation Dynamo. She arrived for service at Dover on 30th May 1940 ready to go to Dunkirk, but her two 4 cylinder Morris petrol engines were “defective”. It was noted that she had 30 gallons of petrol, a full crew and a minor electrical fault. A fault in her condenser was repaired. She was then loaded with six spare tins of petrol and water.   The crew consisted of the Skipper, E. Sommers-Holmwood of Kingston by Sea, S.J. Downes of Shoreham, B. Hawood of Brighton and Mr Griffiths of Peacehaven. There was a minor hiccup in that they were uncertain of their conditions of service. It is likely that the crew were volunteers and not connected with PAPILLON. 

She eventually sailed on 2nd June and when she came back the next day gave up her route order and had her fuel and oil tanks replenished.  PAPILLON was left for collection at Burnham on Crouch, Essex.  She was then used by the Royal Navy as a river patrol boat and a fire boat until the end of the war when she finally returned to civilian ownership.

In 2015 she led the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships fleet 75th return to Dunkirk under the command of Commodore Ian Gilbert. After her return she was purchased by new owners. In June 2016 she returned to Dunkirk with a number of other original Dunkirk little ships where she took part in filming for the Christopher Nolan film “Dunkirk”, released in July 2017.

She is currently kept at Cowes, Isle of Wight.