CRAFTSMANSHIP
RESTORING PATNA PART FOUR Tough love
Cherished by one owner after another, this 1920 Nicholson yawl weathered 11 Atlantic gales in a row. By Greg Powlesland
G
eorge Mackenzie was the man who launched this story, ordering Patna in 1920 from Camper & Nicholson. He had hoped she would compete with the 12-Metre class, according to former
skipper Walter Amos. However, she proved too small, and Mackenzie found the boat so expensive that he sold her after one season to Walter Preston, MP for Cheltenham. Preston sailed her in the Solent under her original Marconi gaff rig during the Twenties, but eventually sold her to Charles ‘Chas’ Jacobs. Jacobs kept a professional crew of two hands led by skipper William Amos. He was also a committee member of the Royal Burnham Yacht Club, where he sailed her for 25 years. He was popular and fond of music, but very fussy about his smart yacht, always having a steward ready with a dustpan and brush for any cigarette ash or crumbs dropped on deck. He had a lively sense of humour, which notably failed him when Patna was dismasted in a collision with Southerly Wind off the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in 1929. Believing she was overcanvassed, Jacobs switched to a bermudan rig, the new 75ft (22.9m) mast being the same height as the Marconi, though later shortened. Between races, Patna carried a large 15ft (4.6m) gig in davits to port, aft of the shrouds, restricting the boom when running off. The crew were kept at it polishing the brass stanchions and wiping off the topsides with a chamois. A smaller engine and a wheel replaced her tiller before she was laid up at King’s of Burnham during the Second World War. When peace returned she was soon out racing again with the chauffeur as third crew, winning the Burnham Town Cup in 1948. At the age of 70, Chas married his housekeeper, who insisted that Patna be sold. She was eventually bought in 1955 by business associate Alan Simpson for a very easy figure – complete with silverware and embroidered linen.
86 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2012
GREG POWLESLAND
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