132 Boating New Zealand
she was serving Hood when the battleship was sunk by the
Bismarck’s gunners during the battle of the Denmark Strait.
Hood went down with some 1,415 men, but the picket
survived. For the remainder of the war, the craft served the Flag
Officer in Malta’s Grand Harbour and, in a well-sheltered cave,
successfully evaded the Axis bombings.
In 1958, she was decommissioned by the Royal Navy and
purchased by J.H. Millar, Esq., who made her a tender to the
Royal Yacht Squadron’s America’s Cup challenger Sceptre. She
crossed the Atlantic on a mother-ship.
Then named Maid of Honour, she was purchased by Pierre
Dupont to ferry guests and supplies from Connecticut to his
summerhouse on Fishers Island, New York. In 1981 she was
acquired by Mike Kelsey Sr., owner of the well-known yacht
building company Palmer Johnson, who moved her to his
marina in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
In 2002 Mark Gubin bought Maid of Honour and brought her
to Milwaukee. Information about her stay in the US is sketchy, but
it’s obvious her owners neglected her over the decades, driving her
towards an inglorious end.A NEW LIFE
When Koç purchased the vessel in 2014 she was in a very
poor state. The wooden hull and deck had been sheathed in
GRP for many years, something that contributed to the boat’s
deterioration. In fact, this sheathing was not mechanicallyTOP A plush interior – a far cry
from her original livery.
ABOVE Ready for launching after
months of painstaking restoration.
RIGHT Many of the replica fittings
were sourced from the UK.