Mayday call on VE Day: Virus threatens London boat business

LONDON (AP) — All four boats have had their moment in the sun. And all four were meant to have another on Friday as Britain celebrated the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

Instead, they're lying idle on the banks of the River Thames in southwest London, as the festivities surrounding VE Day have been all but canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

For brothers Danny and John Collier, the proud owners of the Princess Freda, the Queen Elizabeth, the Connaught and the Clifton Castle, it’s nothing less than a disaster, one that could spell the demise of the company their late father created in 1975.

“I’m very fearful," Danny Collier told The Associated Press aboard the Princess Freda on Friday. “We operate from March to October and we haven’t even had a beginning of a season because we were in lockdown straight away.”

This was supposed to be one of the most lucrative weekends — if not the most lucrative — of the year for Colliers Launches, potentially netting the firm up to 20,000 pounds ($25,000) in revenue.

It may not sound much, but for a company with a limited operating window, it can make all the difference, helping to sustain it during the fallow and costly months of winter. And when the sun is shining as gloriously as it is, it's a particularly cruel slap in the face.

“This week would have been busy as any week obviously because of VE Day,” Danny Collier said. “Ironically, we’ve had the finest weather in this country ... and my ability to earn money has ceased.”

All four boats were ready to play their part on what should have been one of the most joyous occasions of the year, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 following a war that the U.K. had toiled through for six long years.

Though all have...