One of three famous Operation Dynamo shipwrecks along the stretch of beach between Bray Dunes and Leffrinckoucke, the Devonia was a British paddle steamer pressed into action during the Dunkirk evacuation.
Resting the east of ships the Claude London and Crested Eagle, the Devonia was a large vessel measuring 245 feet in length and 29 feet wide.
She was built in 1905 for the Barry Railway Company by John Brown and Co. of Clydebank, Scotland and then sold in 1911 to P&A Campbell who operated her for public pleasure trips in the Bristol Channel and later on the south coast of England where she would cross the channel to French port including Boulogne-sur-Mer.
In 1914, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and worked as a minesweeper until 1919, after the end of the First World War, before returning to public use. Her wartime role was one she would reprise when once again requisitioned in September 1939.
On May 30, 1940, she crossed to the La Panne area of Belgium and on to Dunkirk where she aided in the evacuation of troops.
Bombed by German aircraft and damaged at the stern, the crew believed the vessel would be unable to make it back to the English coast and so, around 7pm, she was beached near to the French-Belgian border village of Bray Dunes.
Here she would act as a makeshift jetty for troops to reach other vessels and make their escape back to southern England.
Following the occupation of the area by German forces, parts of the Devonia were broken up but there is enough left of the hull for visitors to see remains of the remarkable vessel at low tide.