History
All aboard the Skylark!
Jump onboard for a twisting story of adventure, wartime service, daring circumnavigation and wreckings as our intrepid Dunkirk Little Ship journeys from the English south coast up to Loch Lomond and her current home at the Scottish Maritime Museum on Irvine Harbourside.
As there is no legal requirement to register a boat in the UK and most of our research took place during lockdown, the tale so far has been painstakingly pieced together from historical accounts, personal anecdotes, newspaper cuttings and old photographs. It’s exciting, unfolding and undoubtedly, there’s more to uncover as official archives reopen. Watch this space!
In the meantime, if you know anything about Skylark IX, we’d love to hear from you!
In Brief….
Built for Pleasure
Skylark IX was the ninth of eleven gleaming white pleasure boats built by the Enterprising Jake Bolson of Bournemouth as the town grew into one of Britain’s most popular new ‘seaside resorts’.
Saving Lives and a Symbol of Remembrance
It is beyond doubt that Skylark IX played a role during ‘Operation Dynamo’, the mass evacuation of Allied soldiers during World War Two. Her wartime service was to come full circle, when she becomes a powerful symbol of Remembrance for veterans at Loch Lomond, for over thirty years.
Recovery for Recovery
In 2010, at the end of a long working life as a pleasure boat at Bournemouth, Margate, Morecambe, Burntisland, Portobello and Loch Lomond, our indomitable Dunkirk Little Ship sinks. After two long years deteriorating underwater, she is refloated. A year later, the Vale of Leven Remembrance Day Association, Leven Cruising Club and Alternatives Community-based Recovery Service come together to form the Skylark IX Recovery Trust to save her. Today, we have exciting aspirations for a new life for Skylark IX, helping people make a positive change to their lives and their communities. Skylark’s story continues….
