Isle of Wight hero designed Goatley Boats for the Second World War

In 1937, accomplished boat designer Fred Goatley worked at Saunders Roe, known locally as Saro, in East Cowes.

In response to a War Office requirement for an assault boat he designed the assault or collapsible boat which had a wooden bottom and canvas sides and only took around two minutes to assemble.

It could carry ten men and an order for 1,000 was placed.

The Saunders Roe site as it is today. Picture by Alan Stroud (Image: Alan Stroud) They became known as Goatley Boats.

Their space saving capability made them an ideal choice for Commando operations, being used in action at Dieppe and on operation Aquatint, a failed raid by 62 Commando, on part of what would become Omaha beach, on the night of September 12, 1942.

Of the 11 men who came ashore, four escaped, four were captured and three were killed - they were buried in the church cemetery at St Laurent sur Mer.

One of the surviving Goatley boats is in pride of place in the Overlord Museum.

June 1941: Women war-workers preparing sheets of plywood for pressing into laminated sheets for boat construction at Saunders Roe (Image: Alan Stroud)

Mr Goatley also designed "Cockleshell Canoes" which were utilised successfully during the Frankton raid on Bordeaux Harbour - which would have failed without them.

Mr Goatley's efforts were not fully recognised during his lifetime.

In 2009, the County Press reported on a movement to get the Island hero the recognition he deserved, by author Quentin Rees.

He spent eight years researching the work of Mr Goatley, which was kept a closely guarded secret during the war years.

Lorries outside the SARO store in 1941 (Image: Alan Stroud) He wrote a book, The Cockleshell Canoes, and could never understand why Mr Goatley was not honoured for his work and was instead "treated appallingly".

Finally, in 2012, a memorial was unveiled in honour of Mr Goatley, in the form of a wooden frame information panel on the River Medina, near the Folly Inn.

It was the 70th anniversary of the Frankton raid.

The tribute was funded by the Isle of Wight Society.

Mr Goatley is buried in Kingston Cemetery, East Cowes.

The story of Operation Frankton was later turned into a film, 1955’s The Cockleshell Heroes. But there isn't much on record about the Island's very own hero of the story. 

In 2012 at Whippingham, the unveiling of a memorial in memory of Fred Goatley who invented the cockleshell canoe. Left, high sheriff Nick Hayward, Patricia Partridge, Fred Goatley's family Judy Hollis, Pamela Yates, Mary Holt, Jeremy Groves and standard bearer Alec Penstone (Image: IWCP) An old Saro advertisement (Image: Alan Stroud)