Will you help steamship HMS Elfin (1933) onto the slipway?
Every six years, the former H.M.S. Elfin must be hauled out on the slipway for extensive maintenance. This procedure is essential for extending the safety certificate that allows us to guarantee a safe voyage for our passengers and volunteers. In 2025, it will be our turn again.
Due to a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged malfunction of a local bridge, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Steamship currently does not have the financial resources to cover such maintenance. As we wish to preserve the unique steam vessel for the public, we are compelled to seek alternative sources of funding.
History of HMS Elfin:
HMS ELFIN was built by J. Samuel White & Co, Cowes, in 1933. Her home port was the Navy's torpedo trials establishment at Portland. She was designed as a torpedo workshop ship but primarily served as a tender, maintaining the daily connection between the shore establishment and the submarine depot ship HMS TITANIA.
In 1940, she was transferred to Blyth, Northumberland, where she became the depot ship for the 6th Submarine Flotilla. The ship escorted Allied submarines to ensure they were easily identifiable by the Allied air force. She later transferred to Rosyth on the Clyde, being renamed HMS NETTLE in August 1941. From 1943 until the end of the war, she remained at the naval base in Rosyth, serving as a tender for the submarine depot ship HMS CYCLOPS.
After the war, she returned to Portland, and continued to serve for another ten years as an auxiliary ship and torpedo recovery vessel. In the 1950s, she was given a new role supporting the X-craft mini-submarine programme. In 1953, she sailed with guests as part of the Fleet Review to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1957, HMS NETTLE was sold to the shipbreaker Pounds, who in turn sold her on to the Amsterdam Dry Dock Company. She was converted into a tanker cleaning vessel, and remained in service with the company until 1985, when she was the very last remaining industrial steamship in the Netherlands. In 1995, the ship was acquired by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Steamship, which restored her to operational condition, and still owns and operates her today.
As a non-commercial organisation, the Foundation operates solely with a dedicated team of volunteers and the valued support of donors and sponsors. Thanks to the selfless efforts of its enthusiastic volunteers, the steamship was saved from disposal, restored, and made her first steam voyage in 1998. Renamed HMS ELFIN once more, the ship is based in the town of Koog aan de Zaan, north of Amsterdam, and acts as the Foundation's flagship vessel.
With the help of fundraising platform ‘Geef’, the Foundation are encouraging the public to contribute to the expensive slipway maintenance and the associated repairs. Our goal is to raise €25,000, which should be sufficient to cover all the necessary work.
Would you like to learn more about the Elfin and the ongoing project?
https://www.geef.nl/en/project/help-stoomschip-elfin-de-scheepshelling-op/info
Zone
Europe