Kingstown

There is some uncertainty about the history of this boat.  It is believed that the name was changed to Kerry and then to Kingsdown, its current name.  The wooden bottom has been replaced with steel and new steel fore-end and boatman's cabins constructed.  Kingsdown has been offered for sale on eBay in 2011, sign-written with the same registration numbers as Kingstown, so possibly the name change is a (deliberate?) spelling error.

There is some interesting speculation about the name change: the coastal port of Dunleary, Co Dublin, was renamed Kingstown in 1821 to commemorate a visit by King George IV. A hundred years later in 1921 it reverted to its ancient Irish name of Dun Laoghaire and it is believed that the butty Kingstown was changed to Kerry at about the same time. This may be no more than coincidence.

Ernie Thomas owned several butties built at Braithwaite & Kirk, many of which lost their identities during his ownership, so it is not certain that the Kingstown-Kerry-Kingsdown sequence of names is correct.