Hello all, I'm trying to find out some information on the ship that carried aircrews of No.s 2, 26 & 59 Sqn to France in early Oct. 1939. The 59 ORB names one "M.S. Daffodil" but I haven't been able to find a merchant ship of that name in service, at least not in 1939... I have found HMS Daffodil but she wasn't put to sea until Sept. 1940... Later an HMS Daffodil being requisitioned in 1941, which was a ferry train... Some details from the ORB are... "1st. Oct. 1939. Train arrived SOUTHAMPTON at 1045 and at 1500 boarded MS Daffodil (with No.2 and 26 Sqdn's). At 1700 left for France. Met with escorting destroyers at 0030 on 2nd Oct. and docked Cherbourg at 0630." Perhaps the name is recorded wrongly? I did think of M.V Royal Daffodil, launched in January 1939 and completed in May? Funny, I just realised that the launch date, doesn't mean that it was ready for service... I was watching "Sink the Bismarck" with Kenneth Moore yesterday and found it amusing that Hitler had a huge crowd going crazy about the Bismarck being "launched"... but obviously nowhere near completion... It looked like they were just sliding the hull into the water... Anyways, thanks in advance, Lorenzo.
Hi, She was the Royal Daffodil an excursion ship, who also became famous for her five rescue trips from Dunkirk.
I believe this was a sister ship to the Royal Iris, also an excursion ferry on the Mersey ? I think the two ships you refer to were the two ferries Daffodil and Iris that originated from WW1 and were out of service by WW2.
The M V Royal Daffodil took parts of my Father In Laws unit the 6th Motor Ambulance Convoy RASC from Dunkirk to Margate on 30 May 1940.
