Another vessel involved in the Second World War marooned on Canvey is the M.V. Bendigo. Historian Robin Howie explains:
“The M.V. Bendigo was being towed round the island to a new berth on the western side of the bridge,ironically only about a couple of hundred yards away from its existing one.This was necessary due to the new bridge being impassible.
At Hole Haven she started leaking and it was decided to tie her up to the Occidental construction jetty.
There is a photo of her on Dave Bullock’s walk around west Canvey minus superstructure,but I didn’t make the connection until my last trip to Canvey last weekend.
After much poking around and asking questions over some weeks I was at last put in touch with one
of the rare people who live on the marsh still.Following some sketchy directions over the saltings I began to think that I was on some kind of wind up having spent some minutes balancing along rickety planks and jumping ditches.
At last there was his little cabin cruiser hiding between two big wrecks.
I convinced him that I respected his privacy and that I was not from the “social”.
He told me the whole story and it was confirmrd that his word was good by some local characters.
He also told me that Bendigo was her civvy name and she would only have a number in service.
He knew this as he had owned a identical one many years before.
I’m sorry the ending is not a happy one but one plus point is that it gave me an excuse to be a mudlark again for a few minutes.”
The M.V. Bendigo saw life as a Motor Torpedo Boat in the Second World War. Motor torpedo boats were fast petrol engine ship-hunting boats used for stealthy low-profile attacks on larger ships with their torpedoes (pictured firing) during the Second World War , such as in the ‘Battle for the Atlantic’. The M.V. Bendigo can be seen nearest the bridge to Benfleet on the left side in the 1956 photograph shown in an impressive state. Next is it in 2004 moored at the Occidental ‘construction jetty’. The modern images taken by us show it rotting in 2011 and c.2015. It has since continued to deteriorate into almost an unrecognisable pile of material amongst the mud. Quite a shame, but at least we can document the ship today.
