Fleet Development During Haslemere
The first truly new vessels during the period were the replacement
launches Nos. 1 and 2 (later named Sea Lion
and Sea Tiger respectively)
which came into service in 1965. These vessels, the first in the fleet
with air-conditioning, were by no means perfect (it was a while before
their crews would really trust them in a quartering sea); but in other
respects were so different from everything that had preceded them that
they came to represent a whole new era in themselves. Launch 1 was taken
over at the end of May
by Senior Inspector
`Moose' Cunningham, and it was
characteristic of Sir
David Trench's
interest in the Marine Police that
he was one of the first visitors on board. A week later Senior Inspector
Tony Sirett
took over Launch 2 rather more informally:
"I signed for her at Taikoo Dockyard
from `Tug-boat Bill' Worrall. We did the measured mile a couple of times, tested the whistle, did a few `full stops',`hard-a-starboards', `hard-a ports', `full asterns' and so forth and then went to meet Moose on Launch One.
It was as we went alongside that I discovered that those lovely flared bows have their drawbacks - I took a chunk out of Launch One's gunwale capping with them!"
Despite such problems the new vessels were popular with their crews from
the outset, and it is unlikely that any of the `state of the art' vessels
that have superseded them will ever be regarded with the same affection.
People tended to serve in them for long periods and most of them
contributed in one way or another to the fabric or appearance of the
vessels in which they spent half their lives. One of the longest serving
was Charlie Fisher,
who put up the case
for an awning to be erected over
the boat deck in 1968. In a long list of the advantages to be gained
perhaps the most heartfelt was:
"...a boat deck awning would (also) provide a suitable place
for VIPs etc to sit under so that they don't clutter up the
wheelhouse..."
The case was accepted.
