A quick pic of the crew (all 4.5 of us!) in front of the newly painted Beta III. The latest round of blacking looks a treat and the hull might not look this smart again. Next job, welding the anodes on – the painting was the icing on the cake and these are like, um, the very expensive iced gems?
betaiiifireboat 
Hi Helen, firstly hope you and your family are all staying safe during this rotten time. Secondly how excited was I to come across your site. I am just starting to get into family history and feel a connection to Beta iii as I have a few photos of the firefloat with one of my ancestors on board as captain, together with his crew, of the boat in its London working days. At the moment I know nothing about him,(my 90 Yr old cousin has identified him from the photos) apart from his name which is Will Salter but I’m hoping to further research him and his family who are probably a couple of generations back. So glad to see her being saved for the future, well done you. If you would like copies of the 3 or 4 photos I have (somewhat dogeared round the edges but the boat is all there) I would be happy to post them to you for your records.
Take care, stay safe.
Kind regards
Hey Jean! Great to hear from you!!! I completely missed your comment on here – so sorry. Yes please to the photos!!! That would be amazing. If it is beta III, then the maritime museum at Greenwich and the London fire bridge are great sources of extra info.