Wartime Hero Takes to the Water: Our SN2 Surfboat replica at Trebah Military Day

On 30 May, we were proud to take our newly built replica WW2 S.N.2 SOE replica Surfboat to Military Day at Trebah Garden.

A Day of Remembrance at Trebah

Organised each year by the Royal Cornwall Branch of the Parachute Regimental Association, Military Day at Trebah is a poignant event. It exists to remember and commemorate the bravery of the men and women of the British Armed Forces who gave their lives in active service. It is a day of quiet reflection, proud ceremony, and heartfelt community spirit.

This year, our S.N.2 Surfboat played a special role in the ceremony. Rowed out to sea by EPIC GIGability – The Military Veterans Cornish Pilot Gig, the boat retrieved the commemorative wreath delivered by military helicopter before rowing it ashore.

During WW2 the peaceful Helford River served as a crucial launching point for Special Operations Executive (SOE) missions into occupied France. Brave operatives would tow these specially designed surf boats across the Channel, to within a kilometre of enemy coastlines, before rowing silently ashore under cover of darkness to deliver vital supplies to the French Resistance.

The replica follows original S.N.2 plans discovered at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich – designs created by Lt. Cmdr. Nigel Warington-Smyth of Naval Intelligence in Falmouth. In 1942-43, he undertook Operations ‘Slide Rule’ and ‘Panimeter’, to test a variety of hull shapes suitable for rowing ashore in surf. The S.N.2 being the result.

We were delighted to show the completed boat to descendants of Lt. Cmdr. Nigel Warrington-Smyth at the event.

Pictured (l-r) Bob White, Boat Collections Manager at NMMC, Dee Watt (niece of Nigel Warington-Smyth), Julian Smyth (nephew of Nigel Warington-Smyth) and members of their family and Mike Selwood Assistant Boat Collections Manager, with the EPIC GIGability crew in the background.

The Boat Behind the Story

If you’ve visited the Museum in the last 18 months, you’ll have seen our Boatbuilding workshop buzzing with activity. Staff and volunteers have been painstakingly constructing a replica of the S.N.2 Special Operations Executive (SOE) Surfboat, a vessel synonymous with  daring covert missions in the Second World War, launched from the Helford River just a few miles from our door.

What’s Next for the S.N.2