Carimuda's story
Carimuda is a living link to the era when British engineering and quiet determination reshaped maritime rescue.
She represents the practical outcome of one of the most important technological developments of the early Royal Air Force – the creation of fast, reliable vessels to recover downed airmen quickly and safely. Her origins trace back to T. E. Lawrence, best known as Lawrence of Arabia.
After the First World War, Lawrence returned to military service under the name Aircraftsman T. E. Shaw, based at RAF Mount Batten, Plymouth. During that period he witnessed a fatal incident in which a seaplane crew drowned after their rescue boat failed to reach them in time. The event convinced him that the RAF needed purpose-built high-speed boats – the maritime equivalent of aircraft in design precision and responsiveness.
Lawrence worked closely with Hubert Scott-Paine, founder of the British Power Boat Company, to develop and test the 200-Class Seaplane Tender, an innovative 36‑knot craft far ahead of existing naval rescue vessels. Over several years they ran trials throughout the Solent and Poole Harbour, gathering performance data and refining hull shapes. Their work established the engineering foundation of the RAF’s Air‑Sea Rescue Service, which went on to save more than 13,000 lives during the Second World War. Even after Lawrence’s death in 1935, his ideas remained central to RAF launch design.
When Carimuda was built in 1943 by J. Samuel White & Co. at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, those design principles were evident – a hard‑chine mahogany hull for stability and lift, a fine bow entry for reduced spray and drag, and triple engines for power and redundancy.
Carimuda was one of eight J. Samuel White 60‑foot Special Duty Pinnace Mk I launches, numbered 1271 to 1278,
A total of nineteen boats of this 60‑foot Mk I type were built by seven different builders, but the Carimuda is the sole survivor.
Research by Philip Simons, citing RAF Marine Branch historian Terry Holtham, confirms that 1272 was the only White & Co-built pinnace specifically constructed for overseas service. Completed and equipped for tropical conditions, she was dispatched directly to RAF Gibraltar without operating in British or Channel waters.
Her posting required a fully copper‑sheathed hull, a costly but effective measure against marine decay. This decision proved her salvation: where sister vessels left in colder northern waters deteriorated, Carimuda’s structure has survived intact, her timberwork remaining exceptionally sound thanks to both excellent Cowes craftsmanship and her favourable service environment compounded by the copper-plated hull.
During the war, she supported RAF flying‑boat operations and air‑sea rescue duties around Gibraltar and the western Mediterranean, used for fast response missions, light towing tasks, and personnel transport in challenging sea states.
After the war, she transferred, in 1947, to the Ministry of Civil Aviation at Poole, supporting BOAC flying‑boat movements across the Channel and Bay of Biscay – a fitting peacetime continuation of her rescue origins.
By the early 1960s, she had been sold out of government service and carefully converted into a live‑aboard vessel. Much of her structural fabric, including the copper sheathing, engine beds, and interior joinery, was retained, and successive owners preserved her authenticity through modest adaptation rather than major alteration.
Today, Carimuda — still carrying her wartime number 1272 and proud RAF roundels — lies quietly moored in London as the sole surviving 60-foot Special Duty Pinnace Mk I in existence.
Registered with National Historic Ships UK (No. 3819) and recognised as a candidate for the National Historic Fleet, she endures thanks to robust wartime design, expert Isle of Wight shipbuilding, and decades of careful stewardship.
Carimuda is not merely a vessel; she is a living monument. The RAF craftsmen who conceived and built her came from the same engineering tradition that produced the Spitfire — a culture of ingenuity, precision, and purpose. In her speed, strength, and life-saving mission, she and her sister craft earned the title “Spitfires of the Sea.”
Every curve of her copper-sheathed mahogany hull carries the legacy of those who vowed that “the sea shall not have them.” For Londoners passing her mooring each day, she stands as a quiet reminder of Britain’s resolve — a craft built to save lives, not take them, preserved today as the last of her line.