A CAMPAIGN to recover some of Barry’s maritime history has seen the artefacts successfully returned to the town.

The appeal, highlighted in the Barry & District News and supported by Barry-born weatherman Derek Brockway, needed to raise £800 to secure items from the Paddle Steamer Barry (PS Barry) to prevent them going to scrap.

The items – including the wheel and ship’s helm - returned home in time for both Gallipoli and Dunkirk commemorations and are now on display at the town hall, King Square, Barry.

The Silent Running team leader, who had recovered the items from the PS Barry also known as HMS Snaefell, had wanted to sell and had offered Barry first refusal.

Keith Greenway, of the Merchant Navy Association, in Barry, said: “The PS Barry was a heroine in both wars and indeed served her country well when needed. She saved many lives in both conflicts and is dearly remembered also for her part at Dunkirk in the Second World War – a little ship at Dunkirk, a heroine of Gallipoli. This year we remembered both Gallipoli and Dunkirk and should remember our own Paddle Steamer Barry.”

The PS Barry was built, in Glasgow, for the Barry Railway Company in 1907 to cater for tourists and was launched on May 4.

It was requisitioned in the First World War - stationed in Salonika, Greece, and took part in the Gallipoli landings.

PS Barry was renamed Waverley in 1926 and sent to the Brighton station replacing Ravenswood after the previous Waverley of 1885 had not been reconditioned after her service in the First World War.

She saw service in the First World War transporting German prisoners before sailing to the Mediterranean and carrying troops at the Gallipoli landings.

She was used as a transport and store carrier in the Galliopoli campaign.

A mine twice struck PS Barry’s paddle wheels but failed to damage her and she was the last ship to leave Suvla Bay after the evacuation. She later served at Salonika.

Campbell’s renamed her Waverley in 1926 and transferred her to the South Coast.

She became the HMS Snaefell in 1939 for the Second World War and was sent to the Tyne, based at North Shields.

At Dunkirk she was involved in the rescue of her grounded stable mate, Glen Gower, and evacuated 981 soldiers.

Her final voyage was on July, 5 1941 in which three were killed and nine wounded during a bombing raid off Sunderland.

The Paddle Steamer was remembered in Barry in 2007 and a framed poem titled the PS Barry by Joe Earl was presented to the then Mayor of Barry.

An exhibition commemorating the paddle steamer, 70 years after it was sunk by enemy aircraft was held at the town library with a 10 foot working model displayed in the window. Her wreck was discovered just before and the Snaefell/Barry is now a designated war grave.