Keep on runnin'

Sir,

Further to Doug Nye’s mention of Alfa Romeoengined boats, I recently discovered a book about the wartime bomband mine-defusing exploits of my uncle, Commander Edward Woolley, GM and Bar. Veteran car owners might remember him as the owner of an 1897 Daimler, the oldest British production car in existence, and a 1923 Renault 45. The book, Mines over Malta, is interesting in its own right, but in particular there is an account of the recovery of an Italian motor boat abandoned off Malta. It was powered by a six-cylinder Alfa Romeo 2300cc twin overhead cam engine, still in running order. Thomas Woolley, Rothley, Leicester