Name Diligence

HMCL Diligence was built in 1946 by the famous yard of J.Samuel White & Co, Cowes, Isle of Wight for the Customs & Excise Waterguard Service. She is riveted steel construction with single propulsion system powered by a 1977 Cummins NHC-250 Diesel engine. Her engine produces 250hp at 2100 rpm giving her a speed of 12 knots. She was the last revenue cutter to carry the name Diligence (first back in 1795) and spent all of her working life on the river Thames based at Greenwich, London. In 1972 she was sold into private ownership and had a long and successful career as a private motor yacht sailing around west coast of Scotland and the Bay of Biscay before returning to UK waters in the early 1990s. In 2007 Diligence was sold and moved to a new location in Douglas, Isle of Man where, after a few years of neglect in October 2013 she broke her moorings in a storm and drifted causing considerable damage to fishing boats before a local tug managed to rescue her. After lengthy negotiation's Diligence was saved from the breakers yard and bought by the current owner who is restoring her back to her original stature.  Diligence is the sole surviving example of an early Customs Revenue Cutter of her type.