Combat Stress are the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health.For over a century, they’ve helped former servicemen and women deal with trauma-related mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).They’re on a mission to raise awareness that invisible injuries can be just as hard to cope with as physical ones. So when a veteran is having a tough time, they’re there to help them tackle the past and take on the future.

Motor Yacht Estrallita

The history of a Gentleman’s Yacht

Estrallita was built by Thornycroft in 1934 and is of a classic original design by Tom Thornycroft whose second son John led the team building private yachts and small vessels for the Royal Navy. The company then being based in Hampton Middlesex. Her original design had a flat stern but within months of her delivery she was returned to the builder to attach a Canoe Stern which increased her length to 49ft 2ins and improved her seaworthiness. At 19 tons she
has a beam of 10ft 4ins and is now powered by a Perkins 6.354 Diesel engine supported by 2 Perkins 4.107 wing engines. Her current owner Tony Billson found her in a poor state of repair in Ramsgate with a view to restoring her to her original condition as a retirement project. Little did he know at that time of the history of this Little Ship which included tragedy, celebrity, name changes and a commendable wartime record in Poole.

 As Tony was getting the then Rakes Retreat moved from Ramsgate to his local boatyard on the Norfolk Broads he was approached and asked the question “Is she registered as a Dunkirk Little Ship because it should be”. Unfortunately, she was not registered with ADLS, and this recognition with them is still ongoing, but she was registered with Lloyds and National Historic ships and this led Tony to want to know more of her history. Especially as when stripping her out he found evidence of a reinforced base plate for a Machine Gun on the focs’le and an Admiralty issue binnacle. When stripping the hull outside paintwork he found layers of “Battleship Grey” paint. So, this prompted further research and the history of this vessel was uncovered and its connection to Poole and the Harbour. National Archives at Kew, Dorset Historical Centre at Dorchester, the History Centre in Poole and the National Museum Royal Navy in Portsmouth. 

The Lloyds register was fundamental in learning of Estrellita’s previous owners. The first being Mr FM Brown of London who had a feature written in the April 19^th,1934 edition of Motorboat Magazine which highlighted the modern elements of the vessel including her being the first vessel to go to sea with a built-in car type radio, a Latona heater and Para Fin stove. It was also at this time that tragedy struck when her then Master, Captain William Arthur Bloomfield age 56 died whilst returning on board Estrellita in a storm. Captain Bloomfield was an experienced Sea Captain whom before his retirement had been a Captain for P&O and had wartime experience as the skipper of a Minesweeper. On the night of 15^th September 1935 Estrellita had anchored off Yarmouth Isle of Wight when the storm hit. She started to drag the anchor.  Capt Bloomfield risked returning on board in the dark in rough seas and unfortunately his little boat became swamped and he was swept overboard. The Yarmouth Lifeboat was launched to search for him, but his body was not recovered until the following day.

In 1936 the next owner was Captain Guy V Baxendale of Framfield Place Uckfield Sussex. He
had a distinguished military career as did his three sons. He kept Estrellita until early 1939 when he sold the vessel to Mr Lewis K Clayton. 

In the September 1939 Register Lewis K Clayton age 46, a retired Canal Carrier from the Midlands was living on board Estrellita his address being Motor Yacht Estrellita Salterns Dock, Salterns Way, Poole Dorset. Lewis was the youngest son of Thomas Clayton (Oldbury Ltd). They were the Eddie Stobbart of their time. They owned a fleet of over 60 barges that travelled the canals specialising in delivering liquids and tar. Lewis was a WW1 Veteran with the Oxford Hussars and was wounded and received the Kings Medal.

It was in May 1940 that the then Senior Naval Officer Poole Commander Cosmo B Hastings RN ordered All Owners of Small Craft and Yachts to register with him. Then on 28^th   May a flotilla of vessels was assembled which included Fishing Boats, Pleasure Craft, Motor Yachts, Ferries, the Poole Lifeboat and 18 Dutch Schuyts that had just unloaded Dutch refugees on to Brownsea Island, to fuel up and deploy to Dover. This was for Operation Dynamo the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk.
Admiralty Records show that Estrellita was then requisitioned from 1^st     June 1940 and Lewis was paid £12.10/- per month until the end of 1945. Estrellita was manned by the RN and used as a Harbour Patrol Vessel throughout the rest of the war. Her duties required her to protect the harbour channels and specifically to block the channels if there was an invasion by sinking designated Block Ships or as a last resort to sacrifice herself to delay any advance. Estrellita was one of 6 vessels deployed for this purpose. She was the only one that was retained throughout the war the others having to be replaced.
These were Ramille, Cerulean, Ptarmigan, Grey Cloud and Julietta these were replaced by Catherina, Centaurus, Finisterre, Gwenna, and Vixen.  They were numbered with call signs H1 to H6.

After her wartime service and a small refit Lewis Clayton sold Estrellita to Richard A Bonham-Christie
of Poole in 1946 where she was used as a pleasure yacht by the family for just over a year.

In 1947 Estrellita was then sold on to Mr H A Dipple who was then the Commodore of Broadstairs Sailing Club. His previous yacht Chantecler was a registered Dunkirk Veteran. It was recorded that when Mr Dipple was sailing from Poole to Ramsgate,
they ran into a Gale with 70mph winds and heavy seas coming up the stern. They had to put into Newhaven but despite the weather she was such a good sea boat that not even a cup or saucer was broken.  The benefit of the Canoe Stern. They carried
on after the storm abated and made Ramsgate in 9 hours.

In 1949 Mr H.E. Wesson bought Estrellita and changed her name in 1950 to Little Star which is the English interpretation of the Spanish Estrellita. She went through two more owners one of which Mr D L Davis who changed her name again to Rakes Retreat. 

In 1960 the vessel came into the ownership of the TV personality Hughie Green who used her for his accommodation while in the TV studios in London. It was the trend that celebrities would also use their yachts during the summer season going from resort to resort and it was on one of these excursions from Shoreham to Morcombe that

Hughie Green became involved in a rescue. In the early hours of Wednesday 3^rd 
July 1963, The Liverpool Echo reported that Hughie Green saw a yacht Silver Crest broken down and in distress off the coast of Cornwall. They took the stricken yacht in tow and took her and the two-man crew into Newlyn. The skipper of the yacht had used all their Red Flares but attracted no attention for rescue. On reporting this to the Berthing Officer Hughie Green was informed that the RAF used Red Flares at sea all the time and therefore no one took any notice. Hughie Green stated that he would make a formal complaint to the RAF stating that this practice was endangering the lives of fishermen and yachtsmen. He was an RAF Reserve officer at the time and this was fundamental in the change of using flares at sea.  Rakes Retreat remained on the South Coast throughout the 70s,80s, 90s and 2000s with several owners including the author Felicity A Bridges. Tony found her in September 2015 and moved her to her current location. 

Tony is now in the final stages of Estrallita’s restoration and has renamed her back to her original name EstrAllita replacing the E with an A, his initial to mark his part in this Little Ships history. The hull of Pitch Pine Carvel on Oak is still 85% to 90% original. The engines have been stripped down and rebuilt and the rotted-out fuel tanks have been replaced. He has completely rewired the vessel carefully reinstated the furnishings and rebuilt the galley to its original design.  

All this work he undertook himself learning as he went along.  His main aim now is to bring her back to Poole for the Commemoration of VE/VJ Day 15th August 2021 Covid permitting in order to show her to the People of Poole where she spent her wartime service.

 As a Royal Navy veteran himself he understands the significance of the brave men that manned her and her role during that time.  Tony and Jack who is also an RN Veteran then plan to take her to Dunkirk to commemorate the brave men of Poole that undertook the epic voyage from Poole to Dover and on to Dunkirk. 

Tony also wants to use this trip to raise money for Military Veterans with Mental Health difficulties. Therefore Combat Stress is his chosen charity. The significance being the struggle that this silent killer creates. The voyage will begin on 6th August from Norfolk and will be stopping at various South Coast Ports finally arriving in Poole on 13th August.