This website is dedicated to the boat & crew
Built in Cairo for the Royal Navy in 1942, ML357 is a 112ft timber-built Fairmile “B” Motor Launch
Commissioned for active service at the height of hostilities in the Eastern Mediterranean, ML357 is one the three surviving “ML’s” in the UK. Now undergoing extensive renovation and repair, the boat was converted to a houseboat in the early 1960’s. ML357 is a listed vessel on the National Historic Ships Register (number: 3018) and is moored in St Osyth, Essex.
Image: ML357 in Alexandria, Egypt in 1942: Courtesy of Edward Tassie/Michael Hobbs
Stern View of ML357, in port & being readied for action (possibly Malta, 1943)
ML357 at anchor in the Aegean Sea in 1943
The boat has a rich wartime history, including some “covert” SAS and SBS operations.
Image: Courtesy of William Turner/Peter Turner
“A good Skipper, First Lieutenant and Coxswain. A tight, clean ship with a happy crew. We’d take on anything and frequently DID; including a German Cruiser”
Quote: Douglas Arthur Barrow, Wireless Operator (1944)
ML357 in 1944 (Image courtesy of Douglas Barrow Estate)
