26' Converted U.S. Navy Whaleboat (1942) - GREMLIN

GREMLIN is a U.S. Navy 26′ motor whaleboat built in 1942 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and was carried on board a 165’ steam-powered wooden rescue tug. ATR18, built in Camden Maine, was one of four Director class ocean rescue tugs delivered to the United Kingdom as part of the lend-lease program during WWII. ATR-18 was commissioned as H.M.S. EMULOUS, BATR-18 (pennant # W-138). EMULOUS accompanied convoys during which time the ships’ whaleboats were used for repair and rescue missions. Also, EMULOUS was positioned as a Mulberry Harbor tug, towing Whale and Phoenix units across the English Channel to create artificial harbors off the French coast in preparation for the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Returned to the U.S. and sold as surplus after the war, GREMLIN was purchased by my father, a Navy veteran. Over the course of three years, he converted the open whaleboat into a cozy family cruiser. GREMLIN has been in our family since 1953, homeported in Manchester MA, and has been launched there every year since 1956.