Couple Buys World War II Ship . . . on eBay?

Have you ever surfed around on eBay and become so tempted by something that you end up making a purchase you hadn’t planned on? Well, Simon and Gemma Robins of Wrexham, Wales, have got you beat: Lured by that ol’ eBay magic, they stumbled on—and made the purchase-plunge for—the ML-1392, a vessel involved in the Normandy Invasion of World War II.

You can buy a World War II vessel on eBay? Who knew?

Camper-van renovation specialists by trade, the young couple described this ultimate impulse-buy as “a heart-over-head decision.” They now have launched a restoration project that they are chronicling on YouTube and Facebook, and that has drawn media attention from Fleet Street to CNN.

“So here starts our maiden voyage,” they say in the introduction to their YouTube channel (which has enjoyed more than 1 million views). “We stumbled across an old World War II ship on eBay, and without thinking, we bought her!”