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Pic: MattCain/BNPS
Dispatch rider George Cain, centre, pictured shortly after he was rescued from the Dunkirk beaches.
A lifeboat which was present at Dunkirk is set to sail there on the 80th anniversary of the mass evacuation after being painstakingly restored.
The Lady of Mann was lifeboat number eight on board the passenger ship RMS Lady of Mann, which brought 4,262 men back to England in May 1940.
It was also on the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessel when it carried six landing craft, 55 officers and 435 troops to Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944.
After the ship was broken up in 1971, the 27ft lifeboat was sold off and converted into a fishing boat which operated out of Maldon, Essex. It had been languishing in a rotting, dilapidated state in an Essex boatyard when IT manager Matt Cain paid £3,000 for it in 2009 after spotting it for sale online.
The boat sank at its mooring in Windsor, Berks, during the floods of February 2014. Since then, Mr Cain, whose grandfather was evacuated at Dunkirk, has spent over £30,000 returning it to its former glory.
Pic: MattCain/BNPS
Dispatch rider George Cain, centre, pictured shortly after he was rescued from the Dunkirk beaches.
A lifeboat which was present at Dunkirk is set to sail there on the 80th anniversary of the mass evacuation after being painstakingly restored.
The Lady of Mann was lifeboat number eight on board the passenger ship RMS Lady of Mann, which brought 4,262 men back to England in May 1940.
It was also on the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessel when it carried six landing craft, 55 officers and 435 troops to Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944.
After the ship was broken up in 1971, the 27ft lifeboat was sold off and converted into a fishing boat which operated out of Maldon, Essex. It had been languishing in a rotting, dilapidated state in an Essex boatyard when IT manager Matt Cain paid £3,000 for it in 2009 after spotting it for sale online.
The boat sank at its mooring in Windsor, Berks, during the floods of February 2014. Since then, Mr Cain, whose grandfather was evacuated at Dunkirk, has spent over £30,000 returning it to its former glory.
©MattCain 16 Jan 2020 2048x1395 / 339.6KB