Berthon 46 ft Bermudan Yawl 1937

Built from the finest of materials to a very high specification under Lloyd’s supervision, with design by one of the world’s then most successful high performance, record breaking powerboat designers, SHUTTLE has always been special; defying identification by knowledgeable boat spotters; entrancing with her practical good looks and layout. Owners over eight decades have attended well to her upkeep, and she’s been in class with Lloyd’s more than she’s been out of it. Through previous ownership by his father and grandfather the current owner has known SHUTTLE for over sixty years, and for the past twenty of them she’s been an easily operated cruiser under a rig specially evolved for sailing by a couple of a certain age. The 1950s Camper & Nicholsons hollow spruce mast is carefully stored and can be reinstated.

2018-2019
- Deck seams routed out, re-cut and re-payed.
- Main bilge repainted with tanks removed

2018
- New Whale bilge pump
- Replacement of starboard fwd bulwark in Burma teak

2017
- New buttoned Dralon saloon upholstery
- All standing rigging and rigging screws replaced by RigShop
- New electrics on mast by RigShop

2002
- New alloy mast and boom

Late 1990s
- Converted to yawl rig

c1994 UNDER LLOYD'S SUPERVISION
- Floors refastened with epoxy embedded EN58J stainless steel

1986
- New (current) engine
- Substantial thrust bearing floor fitted fwd of stern post
- under Lloyd's supervision

1978 - BERTHON, LYMINGTON UNDER LLOYD's SUPERVISION
- Initiated by boatyard damage
- Ballast keel off bottom work
- 30 + Frame and timbers ends repairs
- Floors re-galvanised; re-bedded; refastened
- New laminated lower outer stem section
- Part of horn timber replaced
- Garboards and 5 more planks replaced in iroko
- These planks fastened with custom EN58J stainless steel screws to frames
- Other localised plank replacement
- Transom replanked
- Extra copper plank fastenings to frames and at hood ends

c.1975 - LA SPEZIA, ITALY
- New teak laid deck over 15 mm marine plywood

Lloyd's Register of Yachts simply credits SHUTTLE's design to "Builders". However, an excellent 1937 Yachtsman magazine article on UK offshore racing yacht design trends, by 'Barnaby', reveals that SHUTTLE was drawn by 39-year-old Fred Cooper, then living near the Berthon yard at Lymington, but most probably working on a freelance basis. A great friend and exact contemporary of Uffa Fox, Cooper came with an astounding CV in high performance and record breaking powerboat design through the 1920s and 30s. Both to his own account and with yards, he designed, among many others, Sir Henry Seagrove's MISS ENGLAND I (1929, with The British Powerboat Company/ Hubert Scott-Paine) and MISS ENGLAND II (1930, with S.E. Saunders Ltd), Sir Malcolm Campbell's record-breaking BLUEBIRD K3 of 1937 (Saunders-Roe), and Betty Carstairs's impressive 32 knot 58ft cross-channel fast motor cruiser BERANIA of 1932. Working at the highest possible end (and horsepower) of powerboating perhaps softened failure to be able to work in his chosen field, aircraft design - apparently persuaded against it by his father who thought there was no future in aviation. During the Second World War, as Chief Designer at The British Powerboat Company, Fred Cooper's responsibilities included the hull design of Royal Navy/ RAF High Speed Launches ('HSLs'), including the only survivor of the HSL 100 Class, the restored "HSL 102".

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

BERTHON BOAT CO. BUILD NO. 521
As offshore racing in UK waters gathered post-Great Depression momentum, by late 1934 moves were afoot to create within RORC Class II a set waterline length of 35 feet. The result was a fine, relatively level-rating fleet of moderate displacement, true 'cruiser-racers' / 'fast cruisers' of very handy overall size, such as Robert Clark's ORTAC, William Fife's EVENLODE, and Jack Laurent Giles's MAID OF MALHAM.

SHUTTLE was conceived at 35 ft waterline length for retired London stockbroker, Royal Yacht Squadron member, and founder member of (Royal) Lymington Yacht Club, George S. Burge of The Drokes, Beaulieu, to join the movement with this very attractive cruiser-racer, beautifully built to a high specification by his local boatyard, Berthon Boat Company. It is presently unclear if SHUTTLE's designer, Fred Cooper (see above), was working for the Lymington yard at this time or acting freelance, but he did then live in Pennington, Lymington.

The concept was clearly influenced in both lines and original layout by Olin Stephens’s designs of this period, with relatively short ends, a generous cockpit and a separate after cabin, while elements of her deck structures are recognisably pre-war Berthon house style. Yet the whole is something quite unique, just like all Fred Cooper's designs.

The high quality specification resulted in an exceptionally expensive boat, costing over £2,500 when a standard Berthon 12 ton Gauntlet was offered at 1,000 Guineas and one could buy a substantial house for a few hundred pounds.

Mrs Gwendolen Burge launched SHUTTLE into the Lymington River on Saturday 24th April 1937, but the couple unfortunately weren’t allowed time to enjoy the new yacht: George passed away less than four months later at Lymington Cottage Hospital. SHUTTLE moved down channel, probably to Fowey, in the second ownership of Arthur McDougall, D.S.O. of St. Austell, whose grandfather, Alexander, was the inventor of self-raising flour - McDougall's Self Raising Flour.

In 1938 McDougall raced SHUTTLE at the post-Cowes Week West Country regattas against, among others, Percy Holman's 55 ft Mylne/ Percy Mitchell cutter MORVA, and Ian and Edna Spooner's 39 ft Robert Clark Mystery Class sloop NAIANDE, both new boats that season - and he also cruised SHUTTLE cross-channel to France. In 1939 she took part in the Royal Thames YC's Morgan Cup race from Ryde to Le Havre and back, rubbing shoulders with some of the most famous UK offshore racers of the day, including BLOODHOUND, ERIVALE, EVENLODE, and THE BLUE PETER.

Post war, SHUTTLE's home moved east to Torbay when owned by Lloyd's underwriter John M. Foster of Paignton. Along with membership of local yacht clubs, Foster was a member of KNS, the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, so therein must lie a story. She is reported taking part in late 1940s Torbay regattas, a vibrant scene, in particular when the Olympic Regatta took place there in 1948.

During 1950-1951 Eastbourne chartered surveyor Cecil F. Baker was briefly SHUTTLE's owner. As well as one of the town's leading maritime lights - a founding member of Easbourne Sovereign Sailing Club and longtime Hon. Secretary of the local RNLI lifeboat station - Baker became a serial owner of significant pre-WWII offshore racers, including TRE SANG (Becker 30 Sq M) 1944-45, CERIDA (Giles) 1947-48, MAID OF MALHAM (Giles) 1948-1949, SHUTTLE 1950-51, and ROSEMARY IV (Fife) 1951-1958.

A more stable period of ownership commenced with 1951 purchase by Birmingham ‘Postans’ Paint manufacturer C. Owen Morley, a Royal Thames YC member who moored SHUTTLE on the Hamble River. The pre-purchase survey found degradation of her elm wood keel, perhaps caused during wartime layup, and a new wood keel was fitted by Port Hamble.

Then in 1960 the first chapter in ownership by the present owner's family commenced. His father, Alastair Peck, and grandfather, Alan Peck, both Bristol shipbuilders and Naval Architects, bought SHUTTLE from Morley in 1960, laid up in the North Yard, Port Hamble. Having a young family, Alastair Peck moved the companionway aft to be accessed as it is now from the cockpit into the after cabin. He also moved the galley, from forward in the “hand's” separate accommodation, aft to the previous starboard entrance space amidships.

In 1966 she was sold to Milan-based industrialists and Yacht Club Italiano members, Piero Stucchi Prinetti ('Badia a Coltibuono' Chianti wine maker and CEO of 3M Italia) and Riccardo Berla who returned SHUTTLE to her builders, had her re-classed to Lloyds ✠100A1 and restored the accommodation to the original layout, with crew accommodation and the galley forward.

After ten swinging 60s/ early 70s seasons living la dolce vita between Viareggio, Barcelona and beautiful points between, and receiving a new deck at La Spezia, in 1977 SHUTTLE returned to the UK with the son of her last UK owners. And once again her interior was reconverted to the current layout to accommodate family rather than professional crew. The Lloyds ✠100A1 classification was continued until 2007.

For the current owner, in effect it's been a 60 years love affair with this special yacht.

From owner-supplied notes with additional research by
©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

SHUTTLE was originally built under Lloyd's supervision to their then highest wood yacht class, 18A1. Since then, while some owners allowed the classification to lapse, she has nevertheless been more in class than out of it. In 2007 - after she had passed survey - the present owner decided not to continue in class when it next came up for renewal in 2013 as the Lloyd's surveyor had pointed out that he did not need Lloyd's with his knowledge of the boat and that Lloyds were now concentrating on superyacht classification.

LLOYD'S CLASSIFICATION
- Built to Lloyd's 18A1 - expired 1947
- 1966: Re-classified Lloyd’s ✠100A1
- 1978-2013: In class Lloyd’s ✠100A1

CONSTRUCTION SPECS
- Burma teak carvel planking
- Iroko extended garboards
- Grown oak frames; 2 x Canadian rock elm timbers between
- Copper and EN58J stainless steel fastened
- Canadian rock elm wood keel (Port Hamble 1950s)
- Garvanised iron strap floors to all frames
- Galvanised steel strap floors to all timbers
- Floors are EN58J stainless steel fastened (1979)
- Ballast keelbolts are Croterite (aluminium bronze)
- Pitch pine beam shelf
- Pitch pine bilge stringers
- Pitch pine deck beams except in way of mast
- Teak laid deck on 15mm plywood substrate (c.1975)
- Teak thickness is 7/8 in / 21 mm (of original 1 in /25 mm)

GENERAL
- Raw teak laid deck
- Raw teak inner bulwarks with varnished caprail
- Stainless steel stanchions and guard rails

FROM AFT
- Chromed fairleads at taffrail port and starboard
- Chromed stern light
- 2 x Chromed raised mushroom vents
- Stainless steel pushpit
- Outboard motor stowage bracket
- Flush chromed ensign staff socket
- Tufnol mizzen sheet blocks at pushpit and deck
- Mizzen mast position
- 2 x Chromed and teak mooring cleats
- Tiller
- Varnished teak fashioned rudder head plinth
- Lazarette hatches
- Tufnol mainsheet blocks
- 2 x Barient 25 mainsheet winches on teak plinths
- Associated teak cleats at coaming

COCKPIT
- Engine space access teak hatch in sole
- Throttle control
- Steering compass on teak athwartships bench
- 2 x Harken 42 Headsail winches on teak plinths
- Associated teak cleats at coaming
- Perkins engine panel
- B&G analog Navigation displays
- Autohelm panel
- Bridge deck

CABIN TRUNK
- Companionway hatch
- Varnished teak handrails port and starboard

SIDE DECKS
- Chromed Simpson-Lawrence runner levers port and starboard
- (Runner lever only used with spare spruce main mast)
- Headsail tracks port and starboard at rail
- Teak liferaft stowage chocks
- Alloy hatch
- 2 x Dorade vent boxes; bronze cowls

MAIN MAST POSITION AT DECK

FOREDECK
- Butterfly skylight over forward lobby
- 2 x 'Lemon squeezer' deck prisms
- Teak chocks for Danforth anchor stowage
- Raised hatch over forward cabin (replaced in present ownership)
- Teak and chromed mooring cleats port and starboard
- Teak chocks for fisherman anchor
- Chromed ventilator

GROUND TACKLE
- Orvea electric windlass; chain gipsy; warping drum
- 45 lb / 20 kg CQR bower anchor
- 75 lb / 34 kg Fisherman anchor (original)
- c.40 lb / 18 kg Danforth anchor
- c.20 lb / 9 kg CQR Anchor
- 3 x 27 m 3/8 in / 9 mm Galvanised anchor chain

GENERAL
- 6 x Steps down to teak sole
- Japanese oak and teak panelling; white painted carpentry
- All panelling is solid (no plywood)

AFT
- Original solid Japanese oak panelling
- Quarter berths port and starboard
- Stowage under
- 2 x Bulkhead reading lights
- 2 x Opening ports
- 1 x Deckhead light

GALLEY TO PORT
- Original solid Japanese oak panelling
- Gimballed Neptune 4500 2 x burner hob with oven
- Stainless steel sink
- Foot pump fresh water taps
- Hand pump seawater tap
- Plate and pot lockers
- 2 x Opening ports
- 2 x Deckhead light

NAVIGATING AREA TO STARBOARD
- Original solid Japanese oak panelling
- Full size aft facing chart table
- Bench seat; locker under
- Folding navigator's stool
- VHF radio
- Chart plotter
- Nav instrument repeaters
- B&G log
- Ship's isolator panel
- Bulkhead light

SALOON
- Original solid Japanese oak panelling
- Settee berths port and starboard
- Bunks hidden port and starboard above settees
- Lockers and book cases above/ outboard
- Drinks locker
- 4 x Opening ports
- 1 x Deckhead light
- 2 x Bulkhead lights

FORWARD PASSAGE OFFSET TO STARBOARD

WC COMPARTMENT TO PORT
- Jabsco manual toilet (2023)
- (Original Blakes toilet in store)
- Ceramic basin; foot pump fresh water tap
- Locker

VERY LARGE HANGING LOCKER TO STARBOARD

FO'C'SLE
- Solid teak panelling
- V-Berths (convert to double)
- Chain locker forward
- Fore hatch in deckhead
- 2 x 'Lemon squeezer' deck prisms
- 2 x Bulkhead lights

In 2002, to make the boat easier to handle for her owning couple, the RigShop built a new masthead white aluminum mast, dispensing with the runners and with a new fully-battened Doyle mainsail on Harken cars. The fittings are almost all Harken. The boat balances perfectly under this rig, and there is a movable baby stay for a staysail/ storm jib if required. The genoa is on a Harken roller system. The 1950s Camper & Nicholsons hollow spruce mast is carefully stored and can be reinstated, together with its rigging and sails.

RIG
- Alloy main mast (RigShop 2002)
- 2 x Sets custom stainless steel spreaders (RigShop 2002)
- All fittings by Harken
- Spinnaker pole track
- 2 x Harken 42 halyard winches
- Alloy main boom with vang strut (RigShop 2002)
- Alloy spinnaker/ whisker pole
- Wood mizzen mast & boom (RigShop late 1990s)
- Spare hollow spruce main mast (Camper & Nicholsons 1956)
- Spare rolling spruce boom (Italy 1970s; some restoration needed)
- Spare, spruce spinnaker pole (stored with C&N spars)
- New main halyard and topping lift, 2022

SAILS
- Mainsail; Harken fully battened with lazyjacks and 'stackpack' (Doyle 2003)
- Mizzen (Quay Sails c.1998)
- Genoa on Harken roller (2003)
- Harken genoa furler
- Staysail set on removable baby stay
- No. 3 Jib (old but serviceable)
- Storm jib set on removable baby stay
- Trysail - heavy cloth, unused
- Spinnaker (Velesaleta, Genoa)
- Mizzen staysail
Older sails for spruce main in store
- Mainsail (Velesaleta, Genoa)
- Genoa
- No.1 Jib
- No. 3 Jib

CANVASWORK
- Stackpack type mainsail boom covers (2017)
- Mizzen sail boom cover
- Sparayhood (2024)
- Hatch covers
- Cockpit weather cloths (Quay Sails 2017)
- Boom cover for spare rig

MECHANICAL
- Perkins 4108 50 hp diesel (1987)
- 3:1 Reduction gear (1987)
- Stainless steel shaft; nylon outer bearing (2022)
- Bronze fixed 3-blade aperture propeller (1987)

ELECTRICAL
- TBA

TANKAGE
- 2 x Linked water tanks in main bilge (Total c.100 Gal/450 L)
- 2 x Hull side diesel tanks in engine space (Total c.70 Gal/318 L)
- Dipsticks

NAVIGATION
- Constellaton Danforth White steering compass
- Garmin GPS chart plotter at chart table
- Standard Horizon chart plotter at companionway (detachable)
- B&G analog
- Log
- Network wind, analog
- Clipper depth
- AIS transmit and receive (2022)
- Simrad TO32 tiller pilot (via Autohelm ST4000 control panel)

COMMUNICATIONS
- M-Tech VHF Radio
- Sailor VHF radio

- Whale Gusher 30 double action manual bilge pump (2018)
- Second manual bilge pump
- Auto engine space fire extinguisher (2022)
- 2 x Horseshoe lifebelts
- 6-Person Ocean Safety liferaft (2022)
- (1st Liferaft service due 1 March 2025)
- LED Navigation and spreader lights

- Teak boarding ladder
- Ribeye inflatable tender (2019) (Stows on foredeck)
- Aluminium bottom; beaching wheels
- Tohatsu 4 hp outboard motor
- Varnished Fairy Duckling sailing dinghy
- Stows on the coachroof when original rig (no vang) is used

- Various writings by motorboating historian Kevin Desmond