Title:TRIALS OF DRACONE BARGE, FREMINGTON, TAW ESTUARY AND BROADSANDS [Allocated Title]
Film Number:BFM 528
Other titles:AMPHIBIOUS TRIALS AND TRAINING UNIT, ROYAL MARINES [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: A dracone barge (a long, flexible, tubular barge designed to be dragged in the wake of a ship) is prepared at Fremington Camp before being tested in the Taw estuary.
Description: At Fremington Camp, the barge (which is basically a long cylindrical tube-like bag) is unrolled from a bobbin, laid out on the ground and inflated with air into its tubular form, presumably to check for leaks. A technician crawls into the large nozzle.
On the beach near Instow, the barge is unrolled. Inland from the beach, a bulk petrol installation is filled from a bowser (marked "Bulwark"); a hose is run from the installation down onto the beach and attached to the barge, which is filled with petroleum. Attached to the rear of a DUKW, the barge is towed out to sea and is seen in the water, partially submerged and undulating with the swell.
Back on the beach: the barge (now empty) is rolled up onto a bobbin and stored on the back of a special raft. Unrolled once again, men walk along the bag to push air out before it is once again filled with petroleum and taken out to sea by DUKW.
On the beach, the tube is emptied and folded.
At Fremington Camp, the barge is rolled up onto a bobbin.
Further scenes at sea, where the barge is put through various manoeuvres. Back on the beach, the barge is rolled onto a bobbin mounted on a raft; the raft is seen in the Taw estuary. Final scenes of filled barge at sea (location is possibly off Broadsands on the south Devon coast).
Alternative Title:AMPHIBIOUS TRIALS AND TRAINING UNIT, ROYAL MARINES [Allocated Series Title]
