The vessel offering such an attractive prospect - a short cruise around Poole Bay lasting about half an hour - was, in fact, the Skylark 6. This small vessel was owned and operated by J. Bolson & Son Ltd of Hamworthy, Poole. Since 1914 Bolson had been operating such trips from Bournemouth pier with great success. The Skylark 6 was a 45 feet open passenger launch, motor-powered and licensed to carry 82 passengers. Built locally at Poole in 1922 it already had an interesting history. During May 1940 it had been involved in the famous Dunkirk evacuation but was put out of action by a near miss from a bomb and had subsequently drifted about the Channel for about four days practically waterlogged. The vessel was finally recovered, taken to Dover and then towed back to Poole. After being fully overhauled Skylark 6 was again requisitioned by the Admiralty for use in Poole harbour until it was handed back to Bolson early in 1946.

The Skylark 6 returned to its peacetime duties for the first time on Easter Saturday morning operating from the pier. Three short trips were completed without a hitch but after the fourth journey certain problems were experienced with the gear box. The vessel had to be pulled into the landing stage by ropes to allow passengers to disembark. The launch was then towed back to the yard at Hamworthy and immediate repair work undertaken, which lasted through the evening and night. The vessel was fully tested before returning to Bournemouth pier ready to ply its trade once again around the Bay.

The Skylark 6 was in the charge of Frederick Vincent assisted by Reginald Kent, and on its first trip of the afternoon some 70 passengers were taken on board. The weather was clear and fine with just a light offshore breeze and a calm sea. The vessel left the pier at exactly a quarter to two and all seemed to be quite normal until a heavy knocking was heard. Vincent first thought that the noise had come from the gear box so he lifted the floorboards to examine it, but then decided that the knocking had come from further aft. Kent was sent to make an examination and he tightened some bolts, which he thought may have been the cause of the noise. The engine was put back in gear but the same knocking noise occurred and the engine appeared to be racing. A further inspection was made but it was now noticed that water was seeping up through the floorboards.

The appearance of the water, quite understandably, caused a good deal of alarm among the passengers, 'if not actual panic' - as the official report stated. Vincent's first idea was to row to the shore (about a mile or so) but unfortunately two of the oars broke as soon as they were used. The two pumps were put into action, although apparently no attempt was made to locate the leak. The klaxon horn was continually sounded as a sign of distress and a makeshift flag was waved from the end of an oar. Some of the passengers got quite excited and stood up waving frantically, which did not help the stability of the vessel. However, the sad plight of Skylight 6 appeared to have gone completely unnoticed by those on the beach and the promenade, until at a fairly late stage one person with field glasses noticed passengers diving off the boat. Mr Bolson, senior, who was on the beach was informed that his vessel was apparently in some distress and he immediately organised a rescue.

Meanwhile back on board the life-rafts had been put over the side with some of the younger children. Other passengers used the rafts to support themselves in the water. Vincent, Kent and several passengers were still trying unsuccessfully to bale out the water using a bucket, baler and even a ventilator cowling, but the level of water kept steadily rising.

By now a variety of small rowing boats was coming to the resuce and when the first one arrived it found that the water in Skylark 6 was almost up to the thwarts (the top of the wooden seats). Two of the resucing boats were rowed by two schoolboys - aged 14 and 15 years - both of whom saved a number of passengers as well as towing others to safety. They were later highly commended by the official inquiry. Shorly afterwards the high-powered launch of British Overseas Airways Corporation arrived from Poole (the harbour was used as a major terminal for its flying boats) and successfully rescued the remaining passengers. The Poole lifeboat Thomas Kirk Wright had been launched but because it had over five miles to travel, when it did arrive virtually all the rescue work had been completed. However, the lifeboat crew did manage to find one man, who was drifting out to sea on a life-raft. By a coincidence the Thomas Kirk Wright was also a veteran of the Dunkirk evacuation.

Amazingly what could have been a terrible and costly tragedy all within sight of a busy beach resulted in the loss of just one person, the crew member Reginald Kent. After assisting some of the passengers to get on to the life-rafts Kent unaccountably equipped himself with a lifebelt, jumped overboard and began to swim towards the shore. One of the schoolboys' boats took him in tow but after hanging on to the stern for about 20 minutes, Kent relaxed his grip and floated away with his head collapsed on his chest. When he was finally dragged aboard one of the boats he was unconscious and despite valiant efforts at artificial respiration he was pronounced dead when the boat reached the shore.

The Skylark 6 was towed back to the owner's dockyard, but just as it was being brought alongside the jetty a wave caught the boat; it plunged and then quickly sank to the bottom. The Ministry of Transport investigation into the loss of Skylark 6 came to the conclusion that 'the incursion of water from some unexplained cause, which may have been produced by the fracture of or other failure in the propellor shafting was the likely explanation of the accident'. The report also highlighted the apparent ineffectiveness of the klaxon horn, which was supposed to have a range of two miles, yet the vessel had been no further than a mile from the crowded beach and not a single person had heard the disress signals.

The accident, like the Bournemouth sinking of 40 years earlier, showed how an innocent and very pleasant cruise could so easily and quickly turn to disaster. Thankfully on both occasions the sea conditions were most favourable, otherwise there would have been far more tragic results.

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