On 4 November 2021, the high tide provided the perfect conditions to bring the hulk of TT (tug tender) Calshot into the dry dock. Four years earlier, the MCA had declared her unseaworthy and, looking at her today, it is easy to see why. But her majesty is still evident. At 92 years of age, she is a grande dame with a rich and illustrious history – but it is impossible to ignore the rust and her rather forlorn air.
But the reason she is here – being stripped down to her bare bones in a dry dock – is nothing to be forlorn about. In fact, TT Calshot is quite possibly the luckiest boat in the UK. She is the chosen one. She is the eponymous hero of an extremely unlikely story that is currently being written into the already impressive dock history of Southampton. This is the story of Calshot the boat, of Calshot yard and of the Calshot Group.
By the end of Calshot’s dry-dock journey, which is predicted to take four years and more than a million hours of manual labour, she will no longer be a steam-powered tug tender. Instead, she will have been repurposed as a classic yacht, with hybrid diesel-electric engines.
began life in January 1930 as a tender, carrying some of the 20th century’s most glamorous stars, including the likes of Judy Garland,
