Main: Mary Isay
o Brownsea
Island, Poole
harbourLeft: in 1970 with
white ensignCLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2019 59the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm during World Wat Two
when he survived the sinking of the aircraft carrier
HMS Ark Royal. He became a merchant banker and
a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and he would
later be appointed chairman of BOAC. He named his
new boat after his mother.
Guthrie was a friend of Group Captain EF ‘Teddy’
Haylock, the editor of Yachting World which featured
a four-page article about Mary Islay in December 1956.
Haylock himself wrote that “Mary Islay will have an
instant appeal to those who admire the qualities of
some of the traditional types of workboat,” boats with
“bold sheers and good beam...(that) could stay at sea
in bad weather without causing anxiety to their crews...
above all, (that are) staunchly built and expected to
last a long time.” John Powell wrote that “it was
a pleasure to be given such a commission by Sir GilesMary Islay was designed by John Powell and built in
1956 by Aeromarine in Emsworth, where Powell was
the yard manager. She was solidly constructed with 1¼in
teak planking on English oak frames and Canadian rock
elm timbers with fastenings in gunmetal and Crotorite (a
copper-manganese-iron alloy), with an oak centreline
and teak superstructure. She had a Foden 70HP 2-stroke
diesel engine with tank capacity to give her a range of
560 miles at 9 knots, and a sail plan which included a
steadying mizzen and a genoa intended for occasional
off-wind sailing. She had a 1½ tonne lead keel which
was moved forward a couple of feet soon after she was
built because she was trimming down by the stern.
Although she has the appearance of a work boat,
she was built as a yacht for Sir Giles Guthrie BT OBE
DSC JP, who also owned a 21ft 3in Herreshoff Islander
sailing boat called Alma. Guthrie served as a pilot with