A BURNHAM boat has inspired one man’s project to trace its history.

The Four Rivers boat was built by RJ Prior and Sons in Burnham during the Second World War.

Last year it fell into the hands of Rochford man, Steve Lowes, who, while renovating the boat, developed a passion for finding out its history.

He is now appealing to Burnham residents for help in collecting the final bits of information before he begins to put the pieces together into a book.

Steve, who is renovating the boat into a home, said: “One part of its history I haven’t been able to fill in is around the boat’s early life, when it was still in Burnham. It was originally built as a fishing boat for James Smart, a fisherman in the town, before it was redesigned as a pleasure boat for Ken and Penny Bridges, also from Burnham.

“I’m hoping to track down either them or their families who are hopefully still in the area and put this boat’s history into a book.”

So far Steve has managed to track the Four Rivers’ history as far back as the 50s and admits it has become something of an obsession.

He said: “This has all become a bit of a passion for me now.

“I bought a cheap home and between the renovation and the research have ended up with two new hobbies.

“The boat has quite a fascinating history. It was built at RJ Prior and Sons in Burnham.

“Work started on it before the Second World War, but they couldn’t finish it after the outbreak of the war because there was a shortage of wooden planks.

“Her sister boat was finished though, and ended up being used in the Dunkirk operations to transport troops.

“It was designed by a Burnham designer, Norman Dallimore, who is extremely well regarded. It was originally intended to be a fishing boat, but was built with the hull of a racing boat.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people about the boat and everyone I have come across has told me how this boat has impacted their lives. Hopefully I can find out more about its time in Burnham and complete the story.”

Anyone with information can contact Steve by e-mailing retaliatefirst@gmail.com or by visiting the boat’s Facebook page facebook.com/fourrivers1948.