This postcard, featuring a trip to the Black Rabbit on 31st August 1922, shows several of the fleet, with just the front of Britannia 111 visible on the far right. At one time, four of them were working concurrently, each identified by a Roman numeral. All the launches were essentially similar, open to the elements and with a powerful inboard engine so that they could proceed against the tidal streams if necessary. This rendered them ideal as towing craft or occasional rescue launches. The card is by unknown publisher, but possibly W. Wareham. The text on the back records the date and identifies the sender's place in the boat.

The name Britannia may have been taken from a riverside public house in Littlehampton. One of the Britannias possibly survived from the 1920s until the 2000s. These craft were operated by William Wareham also known for his postcards of the area, his first Britannia appeared in 1919, and additional craft were added to the fleet with at least four under this name by the 1930s. The Britannias frequently appear on postcards, often with passengers loading in Littlehampton. Many of the photographs were unique to specific trips, taken at the start and sold as completed cards to the passengers when they returned later in the day. Other cards were mass produced and intended for the general public at the resort. Examples of both types are shown here.

After WW1, when the tug Jumna was no longer around, the Britannias were used to tow large sailing vessels in and out of the harbour, and occasionally as far upriver as Arundel.  In 1928, Britannia 111 and a brave group of local volunteers saved the Spritsail barge Lady Maud and her crew in a very high westerly gale and heavy seas. The incident became known as the Littlehampton Sea Epic.

One of the Britannias was sold on to an operator upstream after her services were no longer needed downriver, and was featured in the West Sussex Gazette in 1999.

Sometime after that the craft broke free from her moorings in a flood, possibly in 2007, and ended up in the field opposite the Black Rabbit as a wreck. We visit the site in our Burpham video.