Hero (pinnace)

Hero is a steam-powered pinnace,[1] a small boat of the type used, for example, as a tender to larger vessels, believed to have been built as an electric launch,[1] by Andrews of Maidenhead, England in 1895,[1] with the name Avondale.

She is made from teak on steamed oak ribs laid in the carvel style, with a clipper bow, counter stern and a wooden canopy on 10 brass stanchions.[1] Her overall length is 35 feet (11 m), beam 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) and draft 2 feet (0.61 m).[1]

The vessel reportedly attended the Cookham regatta in 1901[1] and was known to be electrically powered in 1912.[1] She was converted to run on petrol by the late 1960s,[1] after which, she was again converted, to run on steam,[1] with a Merryweather boiler.[1] It was in this state that she was acquired by John Player & Sons,[1] who used her for promotional purposes, and lent her[2] to the producers of the television series The Onedin Line, in which she was featured.[1][2] She also appeared in the series Edward the Seventh.

Players also installed an oil fired scotch dry back boiler.[1] The vessel was acquired by its current owner Nigel Thomson in 1996,[1] who again replaced the boiler, with one built 1998 by D.& S. Steam Engineering Ltd of Raunds, Northamptonshire.[1]