Desk mascot mystery solved
’m very glad to be able to shed some light on the mystery Thornycroft desk piece (Letters, March 2024, reproduced below), which is unmistakably a model of the full-size boat I have in my shed. The original boat, on which the model is based, dates from 1928 and is one of six 30ft (9.1m) high-speed launches built by Thornycroft as civil versions of their World. Keeping her on the River Shannon in Ireland, the boat was in continuous use (except for the war) through to 1968 and many are the anecdotes of Gleeson charging up and down the river at 30+ kts. He earned a certain reputation for swamping the locals fly-fishing on the banks, and with farmers thinking it was the end of the world from the noise issuing from the 7-litre, 140bhp, petrol-fuelled Thornycroft straight six. From 1962, I have newspaper cuttings and a photo of Donald Campbell (at the time world water-speed record holder), who was on board with Gleeson to cut the ribbon for the opening of a new marina at Killaloe. Of the six boats built, three were kept by Thornycroft and used for transferring passengers to and from the flying boats operated by Imperial Airways and others. Two were stationed in Rio de Janeiro, and the third in Singapore. This third boat is currently a non-running exhibit in the Thai Royal Museum in Bangkok. is the only other survivor of the six. Of the other two private boats, , owned by the Hon Baillie Hamilton MP, took part in the 1927 London to Cowes Race but was damaged by heavy seas, retiring at Newhaven. was owned by “Count” Edward Johnston-Noad and was shown on the Thornycroft stand at the 1927 London Boat Show. As an aside, the count was known as an unscrupulous swindler later sentenced to prison. After her adventures on the Shannon, was kept in storage until 1984, then sold and the name changed to . At that point she came into the hands of a well-known Italian classic boat collector, under whose care she was restored with an unlimited budget. On my acquisition, I commissioned the restoration of the original and very rare Thornycroft RB6 engine which powers her to this day on outings on the Solent and the Thames.
