History - 1939

The 1939 season, despite the looming threat of war, was little different from the preceding year, and the boats were overhauled and refitted as usual, all ready for the next season, but the German Blitzkrieg through the low countries and France brought the world of normality to a close and, with our forces trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, an urgent call was sent along the coast for all small craft capable of carrying passengers to proceed to Dover forthwith. So 'Enchantress' and 'Eastbourne Belle' were launched and, in the company of a variety of other boats, they set course for the Dover Strait. Upon arrival the boats were taken over by naval personal and our men sent home. It was not until things became desperate shortly afterwards that boat owners took their boats across themselves. Another factor soon realised was that owners understood the idiosyncrasies of their own craft and engines.

Unfortunately we were one boat short when they eventually returned, 'Enchantress' having been sunk off the beaches when a bomb landed close alongside. It was only around a week later when the call came yet again, this time for boats to be taken to Newhaven where they were towed across the Channel, with their own crews this time, to St Valery en Caux, where the Fighting 51st Highland Division were trapped on the beaches. The Germans were already on the cliff tops above however, and our boats were unable to approach the shore even at night.

Once home again, the boats were hauled into their winter quarters, well away from the sea, and there they remained until 1945 when they were put back into service for the first post war season. All the fishermen and boatmen meanwhile, along with others, were engaged in building a double row of 'dragons teeth' along the shore from the Redoubt to Hastings. Beaches were mined and strewn with barbed wire and all boating activities ceased, apart from a restricted amount of fishing. Troops were once again manning the Redoubt, a six-inch naval gun was installed in a fortification at the Wish Tower, and the coast was declared a restricted area in that September, with invasion deemed imminent, the civilian population were asked to leave, and pleasure boating was shut down for four and half long years.

William Allchorn & Sons, following the death of William in 1935, had now become Allchorn Brothers, with five of his sons (he had eleven children in all), William - (Merrylegs), Fred - (Chesel), Jack - (Mizaire), Albert - (Sam), and Tom, who for some reason never acquired a nickname. With the war now over, a start was made to get the business up and running again. Commodities and materials of all descriptions were in very short supply, a fuel allocation had to be obtained, boats overhauled and certificates applied for, but despite all these difficulties, in early June the first post war trip left for the lighthouse. This was the start of what was to prove a very busy time for all those engaged in what is now known as the tourist trade. People, sick and tired of five years of hardship and restrictions, not to mention the attendant dangers and misery, suddenly felt free once more to take up their lives again. To the vast majority, that meant a holiday at the seaside. They had received their post war gratuities, but, with little in the shops to spend it on, they descended on such seaside amenities as were available with a vengeance and the boating fraternity thus enjoyed several halcyon years.

History - 1948