Submitted by kathryn.jones on

The Steam Tug Challenge has been announced as one of four vessels appointed by National Historic Ships UK as its Flagships of the Year for 2024!

Challenge and her crew have been invited to Dordrecht in Stoom in the Netherlands later this month and also to Normandy for D-Day 80 next month.  This is a massive milestone for Challenge as it is the first time in many years that she will be overseas, representing UK nautical heritage and preservation as a National Historic Ships flagship.

Our dedicated crew and volunteers have been working tirelessly to get Challenge ready for her adventures, however it takes a considerable amount of money to prepare and run her and we are short of approximately £10,000 for these trips. Please help us raise the necessary funds.

If there’s any way you could spare even a tiny amount of money it would mean the world to us to ensure our wonderful British Maritime heritage is preserved and celebrated.

Thank you!

About Challenge

Built by Alexander Hall & Co. Ltd of Aberdeen, Challenge is the last surviving example of a large purpose-built, Thames ship-handling steam tug, where she was based for her entire working life.  She has an impressive war history, being one of the 'Dunkirk Little Ships' engaged in the evacuation of Allied troops from France, and, after returning to the Thames, towing Maunsell anti-aircraft towers out into the Thames estuary and, in 1944, towing parts of the Mulberry harbours used in the D-Day landings.  In July 1944, she was damaged by a V1 flying bomb in the Royal Albert Dock - she still bears the marks of this attack today.  

After the war, she continued in service and was the last steam tug to serve on the Thames.  She was acquired by the Dunkirk Little Ships Restoration Trust in 1993 for restoration to steam, and in 2005 she returned to Dunkirk for the first time since the 1950s.  

Challenge has been under current private ownership since 2020.  Hard work and determination by a dedicated team of enthusiastic and skilled volunteers has meant that she has regularly been in steam and has carried out many excursions in the Solent.  In 2021, Challenge relocated to the Medway where she has proved to be a popular attraction at the annual Queenborough Boat Festival with hundreds of visitors coming onboard for guided tours.  She will be back at Queenborough in 2024.  Since 2022, Challenge has featured as a key feature of the Festival of Steam in collaboration with the paddle steamer Waverley. 

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 Challenge Zone South East