Hero is a steam-powered pinnace,[1] a small boat of the type used, for example, as a tender to larger vessels, believed to have been built as an electric launch,[1] by Andrews of Maidenhead, England in 1895,[1] with the name Avondale.
She is made from teak on steamed oak ribs laid in the carvel style, with a clipper bow, counter stern and a wooden canopy on 10 brass stanchions.
[1] It was in this state that she was acquired by John Player & Sons,[1] who used her for promotional purposes, and lent her[2] to the producers of the television series The Onedin Line, in which she was featured.
Players also installed an oil fired scotch dry back boiler.
[1] The vessel was acquired by its current owner Nigel Thomson in 1996,[1] who again replaced the boiler, with one built 1998 by D.& S. Steam Engineering Ltd of Raunds, Northamptonshire.