SERENADE
Before he died in 1976 Nicholas Potter left
instructions that many of his drawings were to be
destroyed. “The father of one of my brokerage clients
was the best man at Potter’s wedding,” said Cannell,
“and when he found out about this instruction he tried
to save the drawings but it was too late.” But help for
Serenade’s restoration was at hand from an unusual
source: some drawings from Heifitz’s personal collection
had survived in the musical archives at the University of
California. Furthermore, Cannell found a magazine
article which included an early drawing of Serenade,
albeit with a proposed transom and not the canoe stern
with which she was built, and he was able to ascertain
that her lines were essentially a scaled-down version of L
Francis Herreshoff’s 12-M Mitena. From these bits of
sketchy information, he was able to work out what
shape Serenade should be when rebuilding the hull.
The teak deck was renewed but without the
increasingly ubiquitous plywood sub-deck. “I’m not a
fan of sub-decks,” Cannell told me. “Although they give
extra stiffness, if there is a leak then water gets trapped
between the teak planks and the ply, and that leads to
rot. And anyway, Serenade was designed not to have one
so she’s stiff enough without it.” Part of this stiffness,
according to Kim, came from “a web of bronze straps on
her deck and hull and which gave her tremendous
strength” and these straps were retained or renewed.
The deckhouses were renewed but with the original
bevelled glass panes, and other original parts that wereAbove from top: Galley; companionway stairs to saloon, with seating
and berths to port and starboard; looking forward from owner’s cabin