The couple who bought a World War II ship on eBay

Going through eBay looking at market listings for broken-down boats is something of a ritual for Simon Robins, who dedicates much of his leisure time to rescuing and refurbishing crumbling vessels.

But Gemma, his beloved wife and business partner, felt he might be taking his passion a little too far when he suggested they purchase a former World War II vessel that showed up on the auction site in January.

Seeing how excited her husband was about rescuing the 72-foot vessel built in the year 1943 for the UK’s Royal Navy and understood that it was stationed not too far from their home in Wrexham, Wales, Gemma agreed to go and see it for herself.

A few days later, the old ship known as L1392 was bought by the couple for £6,500 (about $9,140) while it was used for harbor defense, in order to save it from being scrapped.

She said she didn’t really want a ship but when she researched her [the ship’s] long history, she discovered that she’s quite a really significant boat and there’s not many of them left in our world.

“It was just so heartbreaking to see her so neglected and abandoned. It pulled on my heartstrings.” she said.

While over 400 of the Harbour Defence Launch (HDML) were constructed 80 plus years ago, very few can still be found around today.

Although the pair, Gemma and Simon, knew too well that fixing up the 80-year-old vessel, which weighs 59-tons, would most definitely cost them thousands of dollars and require a great deal of their time,as well as the fact that there are many things that can go wrong while trying to restore a boat of this age and magnitude, they however, resolved to take on the risky challenge, estimating it would take a decade to complete, particularly as they would have to earn the money for the repairs as they went along. Wow!

“If it was a World War II plane, she would have been in a museum by now,” says Simon, who admits he was stunned when Gemma gave the project the go ahead.

“I feel historic boats do not get the care, attention and publicity they deserve, with a bit of love and hard work she will hopefully live a very long life.”

Their stories may have inspired some many people around the globe and perhaps you too can be.

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