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Designed & Maintained By Carol Gingell

<< Pages 11-20

More photographs from the holiday onboard Iverna in 1931

The motor cruiser “Sonata” on the River Bure in 1931. I haven’t been able to establish which Wroxham boatyard she came from, but there were three sister ships in the class - “Senorita”, “Sirocco” and “Summertime” which were built between 1927-28. The class were 32ft in length with a 10ft beam, slept 6, were fitted with a 10 hp Brooke Empire engine and cost between £12 and £17 per week. The brochure also noted that it had wheel steering with a tiller option!

An unknown private yacht pictured in 1931. In the foreground you can just see the bow “Enchantress” which, at 60ft in length, was one of the largest motor cruisers on the Broads and was available to hire from Leo Robinson’s yard at Oulton Broad.

Hoisting the sail on an unknown sailing cruiser.

The Maltsters Inn at Ranworth pictured in 1931. The pub has been heavily altered and extended over the years and the scene above is almost unrecognisable today. The Starling family were licensees at the pub from the 1880s up until the 1950s, the landlord in 1931 was Thomas James Starling.

This was another puzzle thrown up from this album of photographs. At first I thought it might have been one of the Pulham airships, but discovered that the UK suspended their airship flights after the R101 crashed in France in 1930. On researching a little further, I now believe that this is the German Graf Zeppelin LZ-127 which was one of the most widely travelled airships of all time. It was launched on the 18th September 1928 and, at 776 feet in length was the largest airship up to that time. During it’s lifetime it made a total of 590 flights including many transatlantic crossings, a round the world flight in 1929 and a research trip to the Arctic in 1931. Although it had a perfect safety record, the Graf Zeppelin was retired in 1937 after the Hindenberg disaster. In 1931 it also visited London on a goodwill mission, and this photograph taken on the Broads may well have captured the Zeppelin during that flight.

Another photograph of the party onboard Iverna taken at the same location as above.

Moored for the evening at an unknown location.

Probably a staged pose but, none the less, a charming portrait of some of the group.

Two of the ladies in Iverna’s tender.

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