Details, numbers and dates
CURRENT STATUS
Working engines.
Hot water.
Full central heating system with radiators in every room except the engine space. (Diesel-powered heater needs service)
Rooms
1 - Rear studio - film editing suite desk layout, shelved under desk with 20+ electrical points. Room also has L-shaped sofa (doubles as bed) and bookshelves.
2 -Rear Bathroom: Sink hot/cold water. Book shelves. Plus storage space that once housed washing machine.
3 - Bow Shower room. Walk through the shower room/toilet with hot and cold water taps and a shower.
4 - Galley kitchen - Tired propane-powered cooker and oven. It works but needs replacing. Sink with hot/ cold water taps. Various storage cupboards.
5 - Wheel house space. Sofa/single bed. Bookshelf. Assorted storage. Fridge/Freezer. Table for two
6 - Workspace. Currently used as a well-lit workshop. Table can be converted to bed.
7 - Bedroom in Bow. Double bed with purpose-made, slightly triangular mattress.
8 - Large engine room with original WW2 worktable and vice.
SURVEY
Last dry dock survey 2017
BUILDER & DESIGN
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Built: 1943
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Builder: J. Samuel White & Co. Ltd., Cowes, Isle of Wight
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Type: Special Duty Pinnace Mk I
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Length: 60 ft (18.29 m)
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Beam: 14 ft (4.27 m)
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Draught: approx. 3 ft 6 in (1.1 m)
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Construction: Double diagonal mahogany with hard chine hull
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Power: Originally three Perkins S6M diesels (around 390 hp combined)
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Speed: 13–17 kn (sources vary)
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Displacement: c. 25 tons full load
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Crew complement: 6
This was one of only eight Special Duty Pinnaces built by J. Samuel White (numbers 1271–1278)
The design derived from pre‑war test craft influenced by T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”), who, under the alias Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw, worked with Hubert Scott‑Paine of the British Power Boat Company to pioneer fast triple‑engined air‑sea rescue launches in the 1930s.
Those trials on the Solent and Poole Sound set the pattern for wartime pinnaces like Carimuda/1272: long‑range, high‑speed, hard‑chine hulls with excellent handling.
MILITARY SERVICE
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Pennant number: RAF 1272
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Role: Special Duties / Air‑Sea Rescue
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Base: Gibraltar
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Service period: 1943 – 1947
1272’s assignment to RAF Gibraltar was key to her survival. Exposed to the dry, warm climate of the Mediterranean rather than the cold rot‑infested northern waters, she remained structurally sound. Even better, she was copper‑sheathed for service in tropical waters, which almost entirely prevented worm damage and hull decay. Many northern‑station launches—identical in design—perished by the 1950s.
The “Special Duty” variant was a quiet workhorse—used for communications, flying‑control support, officer transport, and water patrols.
While not formally armed, these craft could carry light defensive weaponry if required.
POST‑WAR CIVILIAN SERVICE
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Transferred: 1947 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation at Poole
Used alongside BOAC’s flying boats for runway marking, mooring inspection, and water‑control duties in Poole Harbour—a task echoing her RAF origins.
After 1948, her whereabouts were unclear until 1965, when she re‑entered the British Register of Ships as “Carimuda”, based in Dover, owned by Ronald Albert Middle of Singleton Manor, Great Chart, Kent.
During the early 1960s conversion:
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Three engines replaced by twin Perkins diesels (1963 build year)
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Later re‑powered in 1974 with Perkins T6 354s
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Converted to live‑aboard configuration, retaining her engine workshop and much of her original structure
By the late 1970s, she was owned by John Matthews of Southampton; later by R. B. Legg of Westminster. By the 1990s, she was sighted along the Thames and Limehouse Basin, London, maintained as a private motor vessel.
REGISTRATION & MODERN STATUS
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Registered name: Carimuda
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Current location: London (Brentford Dock area)
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Status: Registered Historic Vessel, Private Live‑aboard
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Hull condition: Original copper sheathing and timberwork substantially intact
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Length of service: Over 82 years continuous
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
1272 represents a unique link between T.E. Lawrence’s pre‑war speedboat experiments and the later wartime RAF Marine Branch craft.
The pedigree runs cleanly:
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1930s Solent and Poole trials (Lawrence + Scott‑Paine)
→ RAF 200 Class (prototype rescue tenders, 36 kn)
→ 100/120/1260 Series fast launches and pinnaces
→ 1272 – Special Duty Pinnace Mk I, Cowes 1943
The Imperial War Museum’s archival films (notably “Testing of Three British Power Boat Company Craft on the Solent”) show the very prototypes that inspired her development.
Her design lineage also ran parallel to Admiralty FSMBs (Fast Seagoing Motor Boats) and later 63‑ft General Purpose Pinnaces built after the war, as documented by the RAF Boats and Morgan Giles Archives.
SURVIVING HERITAGE
Very few of the 235 RAF 60‑foot pinnaces of all marks survive in any form.
Most were scrapped in the 1950s–60s; only a handful—such as 1262 (deconstructed 2011) and 1272 – Carimuda—remain documented.
Carimuda is one of the last structurally original RAF Special Duty Pinnace Mk I type still afloat.
For naval historians and collectors, she represents:
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A rare surviving product of J. Samuel White, Cowes
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A craft type born from Lawrence of Arabia’s engineering influence
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Possibly the only extant copper‑sheathed RAF launch in private hands
SUMMARY TIMELINE
YearEvent
1943: Built by J. Samuel White & Co. as RAF Special Duty Pinnace 1272
1943 – 1947: In service at RAF Gibraltar
1947 -1948: Ministry of Civil Aviation, Poole Flying Boat operations
1965: Re‑registered as Carimuda, Dover; converted to live‑aboard
1974: Re‑engined with twin Perkins T6 354s
1999 – 2006: Seen on the Thames, Limehouse, Cadogan Pier
Present: Preserved and registered as Historic Vessel No. 3819, London
SUMMARY
RAF Special Duty Pinnace 1272 / Carimuda is a direct descendant of Lawrence of Arabia’s pre‑war rescue launch experiments, built at Cowes during Britain’s maritime zenith, spared by copper sheathing and a fortunate posting, and now one of the last of her breed still afloat.
She is not just a boat—she’s a tangible piece of aviation‑naval history that links heroism, design brilliance, and sheer good fortune into one remarkably preserved wooden hull.