WALKING along the Chelsea Embankment in 1983, admiring the colourful array of vessels bobbing off Cadogan Pier, art dealer Martin Summers was asked by his young daughter the inimitable question: ‘Daddy, why don’t we have a boat?’ It sparked an idea.
Having discussed some options with his friend Scott Beadle, an artist and experienced mariner, Mr Summers began to scan through magazines advertising boats for sale until one caught his eye. Moored deep in the Camargue and in a state of considerable disrepair, her elegant lines were nevertheless arresting. Better still, she had been built for the British speed-record breaker Sir Malcolm Campbell and, at £12,500, appeared to be cheap.
The pair ventured to the port of Le Grau du Roi in the Gard, where another chapter in her history was revealed: the American vendor thought the boat might have been involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Bearing a new name and in a shabby condition—no one had stepped aboard for more than a year —she was, nevertheless, Campbell’s Bluebird.
The powers that be thought such a historic boat couldn’t be left at the bottom of the sea
This story is from the June 30, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
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This story is from the June 30, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
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