Operation Dynamo Archive Digitised
March 1940 collection now available online for researchers and educators.
Read moreOur Maritime Purpose
The Wartime Maritime Memorial Trust stands as a guardian of Britain’s wartime fleets — from minesweepers and motor launches to merchant lifelines. Through research, restoration, and storytelling, we ensure every craft and crew are remembered with dignity and a seaworthy future.
We serve descendants, historians, educators, and supporters who share a commitment to remembrance, maritime heritage, and life on the water.
Why It Matters
- Safeguarding Heritage: We stabilise fragile hulls, engines, and rigging so wartime craft can sail or lie proudly in dock.
- Passing on Skills: Traditional seamanship and boatbuilding are shared through our workshops and custodial mentoring.
- Telling the Whole Voyage: Digital archives and oral histories chart each vessel from wartime commission to today’s guardians.
- Uniting Coastal Communities: Remembrance services, flotillas, and outreach bring the maritime story to harbours nationwide.
Remembrance & Commemoration
Honour the sailors, volunteers, and coastal forces whose wartime service safeguarded the nation. Explore our roll of honour, discover personal accounts, and participate in remembrance events.
The Wartime Maritime Memorial Trust
In proud remembrance of the men and women who served, and of the crews of the wartime small craft.
Their courage endures through the vessels we preserve and the custodians who care for them today.
Preserving Memory, Honouring Service.
Memorial Pages
Dedicated tributes with biographies, service records, and family recollections.
Virtual Wall
Share messages, photos, and commemorations from around the world.
Vessels & Registry
Search our digital registry to discover surviving wartime vessels, their history, current custodians, and restoration status. Interactive maps and filtering help you trace stories by fleet, theatre, or service.
- • Searchable vessel records with imagery and oral histories.
- • Interactive global map of known surviving craft.
- • Downloadable data for researchers and heritage partners.
Custodians & Communities
“Every ship that survives does so because someone cares.” Meet the volunteers, restorers, and communities who keep wartime vessels afloat.
Read restoration diaries, listen to oral histories, and follow behind-the-scenes photo essays that celebrate craftsmanship and dedication.
Read Custodian StoriesVolunteer Spotlights
Profiles highlighting skills, service, and community impact.
Restoration Diaries
Step-by-step coverage of projects supported by the Trust.
Community Events
Connect with commemorations, open days, and flotillas.
Skills Workshops
Traditional boatbuilding, seamanship, and heritage training.
Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme
Our signature £300 “Plank Grant” helps wartime vessel custodians tackle the kind of small yet vital repair that keeps a single plank, and a single story, afloat. The award level reflects the material cost of replacing one plank aboard Gerfalcon, a Royal Navy Patrol Service and Dunkirk Little Ship cared for by the Trust.
Applications move through quarterly voting rounds, with members using weighted vote allocations to prioritise the repairs that need support. Decisions are published on wartimemaritime.org, and recipients share before-and-after records that feed into our Supported Craft Register.
Trustees, Heritage Members, vessel custodians, and Friends of the Charity cast those votes, combining governance insight, specialist expertise, frontline experience, and community backing for each award.
- • Supports traditional materials and self-help restoration.
- • Focuses on wartime wooden craft that remain largely original.
- • Celebrates community shipwrighting and volunteer endeavour.
Archive & Education
Unlock digitised logbooks, photographs, and oral histories from Operation Dynamo to coastal convoys. Our learning hub supports schools, researchers, and heritage partners with curated resources.
Digital Archive
Search and download high-resolution records.
Learning Packs
Curriculum-aligned resources for schools and museums.
Oral Histories
Audio and video testimonies from veterans and custodians.
Get Involved
Whether you are a descendant, vessel owner, educator, or supporter, there are meaningful ways to contribute to our mission.
Partner with Us
Collaborate on research, exhibitions, and community programmes.
Explore PartnershipsNews & Updates
Grant Spotlight: RUMMY III
Damaged plank replacement funded through the Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme.
Read moreCustodian Voices Podcast
New oral histories featuring volunteer skippers and shipwrights.
Listen nowContact the Trust
Get in touch with our trustees and curators for press enquiries, research collaborations, or vessel support.
Email: hq@wartimemaritime.org
Address:
The Innovation Centre, Brunswick Street, Nelson, Lancashire, BB9 0PQ, United Kingdom
Send us a message
We treat all personal data with respect and in accordance with our privacy policy.
Asset Focus: M.V. Gerfalcon
Built in 1937 by William Osborne Ltd. of Littlehampton, Gerfalcon is a 45-foot mahogany motor yacht that served with the Royal Naval Patrol Service and sailed to Dunkirk as one of the famed Little Ships. Today she is held in trust as a living memorial to the coastal forces who answered the call in Britain’s darkest hour.
Volunteer shipwrights have renewed 32 planks using traditional oak and mahogany, inspiring the Trust’s £300 Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme and showcasing the skills we champion. Gerfalcon now supports remembrance voyages, heritage events, and hands-on training for new custodians.
- • Builder: William Osborne Ltd., Littlehampton
- • Wartime service: Royal Naval Patrol Service, Operation Dynamo (1940)
- • Current role: Trust flagship for education, remembrance, and volunteer restoration