Berthon History

1667, Berthon & all that…

Shipbuilder John Coombes bought what is now the Berthon site in 1667, described then as "all that piece of mud or sea oozy land, bounded on the North by the town slip, on the East by the sea or river, and on the West by the King's highway". Estate agents obviously weren't what they are today!

Harry 'Puffer' May, owner of the yard from 1918 to the late 1950s, was charming to customers but rarely bothered with his employees, to whom he seldom spoke. His nickname 'Puffer' can be attributed either to his persistent cigarette smoking, or to his habit of huffing and puffing when he was called upon to make a disagreeable decision!

The 36ft 9ins GAUNTLET was the result of an enquiry for a yacht by Mr Berge in 1934; however, he decided on a different design built by Phillips of Dartmouth. Harry May was so incensed by this that he built his design anyway and challenged the Phillips boat to a race. By throwing down the gauntlet and winning the race handsomely, this now famous design was born.

In 1921, Berthon was building a 14ft National Racing Class dinghy designed by Harry May and his chum Morgan Giles, together with this motor cycle sidecar in wood at a cost of Ł2/18/9d - history doesn't relate as to the success of the sidecar upwind!

Rev. Edward Lyon Berthon was a great inventor: in 1834/35, at the age of 22, he invented the screw propeller, which at the time was dismissed by the Admiralty as “a pretty toy which never would, and never could, propel a ship”. Three years later Berthon read that Francis Smith of Hythe had developed a similar device, which had also been rejected by the Admiralty. Berthon called upon Smith, certain that he had pirated his design from the patent office; Smith convinced him that he had actually arrived at the idea without outside influence. They collaborated and eventually Smith proved the device by towing the Lords of the Admiralty on their barge from Whitehall to Woolwich.

When on the 29th June 1849 the SS ORION was wrecked off Port Patrick, a friend of Berthon, the Rev Clark, was saved and wrote "Can not you think of a way in which boats, enough for all on board, be stowed on a passenger steamer without inconvenience?" Thus was born the Berthon Collapsible Lifeboat.

When demonstrated to Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales, the latter commented that a cannon ball would go through it easily. The Rev Berthon asked him what a cannon ball would not go through, and the Queen was reported to have been greatly amused. The Navy, however, did not accept the design until Berthon had perfected it in 1873.

Extract from the 1910/11 edition Encyclopedia Britannica.

Berthon built the 36 ton SHELMALIER in 1966, the largest yacht to be built in Britain for 13 years. SHELMALIER was sold to an Italian syndicate by Berthon International in the year 2000.

In 1932 at the Annual General Meeting of the Yacht Brokers Association in London, Mr Rodney Paul represented Berthon. From then we see the beginnings of Berthon International. The first brokerage advertisement appeared in 1935 under the heading 'Lymington Shipyard - Motor and Steam Yachts'.

The first Boat Show in 1955 attracted 120,051 visitors. Berthon did not exhibit but ran an advertisment in the yachting press headed 'BBC' and explained that "we do not go on air, but we build yachts, launches and tugs".

A Brief Chronology of Berthon

The Lymington shipyard is reputed to have been in use since Roman times. During the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) the Lymington shipyard supplied nine ships to the Defence of the Realm, more than Portsmouth.

John Rogerys owned the shipyard from 1513; he later sold to Charles Guidot. In 1667 it was bought by John Coombes, all the while continuing the building of wooden ships.

In 1819 Thomas Inman bought the yard, building customs cutters and gentlemen's sailing yachts. The three most famous were Alarm, Arrow and Lulworth, all of which raced against the schooner America around the Isle of Wight on 22nd August 1851, the forerunner of the Americas Cup. Sadly Arrow ran aground cheating the tide, Alarm went to her rescue and their race was over. America cut inside the Nab light, Lulworth was beaten and the rest is history. Mr Courtney took over the shipyard in the late 19th century.

Meanwhile in 1877, the Rev E L Berthon started his company in Romsey, building folding lifeboats and "other floating machines". Earlier inventions of his include the screw propeller. After his death in 1899, his son Edward ran the business.

Frank Aubrey May was wounded in the trenches in 1917 and was invalided out of the army due to the loss of an arm and a shattered knee-cap. He came home and bought the Romsey-based Berthon Boat Company as a nominee for his American-resident brother George, Edward Berthon having just died. His partner was to be his other brother Harry, the present-day owners' great-grandfather, who was too old to serve in the war. Harry was formerly a boat builder on the Thames at Chertsey (May, Harden & May), then at Hammersmith where he built International 14s with Morgan Giles under the name Giles and May, before moving Giles and May to Hythe on Southampton Water where he now traded.

Harry May bought the Lymington shipyard in 1918, and the next year moved Berthon Boat Company from Romsey, merging it with his new Lymington shipyard. Under the Berthon banner, Harry developed a diverse business of yacht and commercial boat building, repairs and mud berths. As well as one-off yachts such as the beautiful Vera Mary, a large class of West Solent one designs was built, and the Gauntlet series began. Tugs, pilot boats and naval launches also provided a mainstay of work.

Harry's son preferred banking, becoming a director of merchant bank Guinness Mahon, so the Lymington shipyard business was passed on to Harry's grandson, David, who took over in the late 1950s. He was an active yacht racer who built many winners, often sailing them to victory himself. In 1967 David May revolutionised Lymington by dredging the shipyard foreshore and building the marina.

David's sons, Brian and Dominic May, took over in 1990. They have modernised the shipyard and consider themselves as tenants for the next generation.

Speech by Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma At the Opening of The Lymington Marina on 4th May 1968

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am told that the modern definition of the word Marina is “a harbour for leisure craft providing sheltered and easily accessible alongside moorings and facilities.”

This very brief description certainly embraces what we see here today at Lymington Marina. Besides providing sheltered and easily accessible moorings, the facilities available are considerable. Mr May has admitted that there is an American influence in his development. He almost said it apologetically, but we can be wrong in following the lead of another nation who have more development experience in this field than we have in England. Some of the fringes available here – plug in telephone at individual pontoon berths, an ice making machine, and even Carmen hair curling rollers that can be rented – may be regarded initially as gimmicks but I am sure that they will soon become part of the generally accepted Marina scene.

Mr May has rather light heartedly mentioned the difficulties he experienced in the early stages and the 10 years of preparation and ground work which has resulted in this development. I would venture to suggest that some older and less progressive Managing Directors would have found the frustrations sufficiently wearing to give up the struggle. Nevertheless they all add up to a fearful indication of the inefficiency which, coupled with strikes for higher pay when they are not justified by higher productivity, is bringing our country to the verge of bankruptcy. I quote again from his experiences: months and months to obtain the Outline Planning Permission, and then only after Sherlock Holmes measures had been applied; British Railways lost the trolleys; the G.P.O. lost the overalls; British Road Services lost the fittings for the Toilet Block; the Customs at London Airport lost the electrical fittings. What hope has our unfortunate country got of making a financial recovery in the face of such terrifying examples of incompetence and indifference.

But there are encouraging signs of efficiency, competence and enthusiasm for without these Mr May and his Company would never have risen above these appalling setbacks and nevertheless have completed the Marina to schedule.

Mr May has mentioned that my wife’s father and grandfather had a real interest in the Berthon Boat Company. This was because the Reverend Berthon, who invented the original collapsible boat, was the Vicar of Romsey Abbey, and their personal friend. I have had personal experience of Berthon Boats, for we carried two of them onboard the Anti Submarine Escort, H.M.S. “P 31” when I was her First Lieutenant and Second in Command in 1918 during World War I. We would never have had room to carry boats of this size if they hadn’t been collapsible; and very good they were too.

There always seems to be people, particularly in rural areas who at once object to any proposed change of scenery and outlook. Rather than considering detailed plans on their merits, they take the easiest line which is to say “no”. But change and modernisation must come and although it is wise to have built into our democratic system safeguards for the protection of the individual citizen, we must be careful that these measures of protection do not disproportionately inhibit change and development which, on completion, are hailed as a substantial improvement for the common good. I cannot imagine, for instance, that this Lymington Marina development can bring anything but increased prosperity to the Borough of Lymington and the neighbourhood. As Governor of the Isle of Wight I know that the Lymington to Yarmouth ferry route is one of the more popular ones. So I am glad to see continued expansion taking place on this side.

Turning for a moment to the question of costs, some yachtsmen say that “a boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which one pours money.” Mr May, of course, denies this vigorously. To be serious though, the charges for a Marina berth at Ł7 per foot overall length per annum would, a few years ago, have sounded outrageous – perhaps they do to some today ? With space for moorings at a premium everywhere, the demand is such that it has only recently become economic to spend large sums of money on dredging and capital works to provide the sort of ideally convenient facilities in front of us today. The days of mud flats, old punts as tenders and taking all day to prepare for sea in a leisurely fashion are, for the majority of yachtsmen, on the way out. The man who nowadays can afford a yacht is very well aware of all his costs and one excellent feature of Marina living is the potential increase in boat utilisation. Another point is that in the winter we often have more settled weather than at times during the summer. With the comforts of shore side electrical heating available, I can see people using their boats all the year round.

On the 20th April I addressed a public meeting at Cowes called by the Solent Protection Society. I complained that planning in this area had started with the Buchanan Study for Southern Hampshire; this had later been followed by the South East Strategy; to date there had been no National Plan. The South East Strategy envisaged an overspill from London being accommodated between Portsmouth and Southampton. But Newcastle have said they would prefer the London overspill to go to the North instead of to South Hampshire and have asked the Government not to approve the South East Strategy. I suggested that instead of topsy turvy planning we should start again and do it logically;

first a National Plan, then Regional Strategies to comply with this, and finally Local County Studies. I was accused of talking “Dangerous Nonsense”. I leave it to you to judge which method of planning is in fact “Dangerous Nonsense”.

I said, earlier on, we must be careful that protective measures do not inhibit change for the better. I stick by that. But a change on this scale must be shown to be for the better of the country as a whole before it is adopted and this cannot be judged until we have seen and studied a sensible National Plan first. And a National Plan that has taken into account the various regional and local views, and has borne in mind the paramount importance of preserving certain areas of natural beauty where people can come to relax and enjoy themselves in really pleasant surroundings.

I spend the summer holidays with my daughter’s and grandchildren at my place in Ireland. Here I keep a cabin cruiser, really a glorified Irish Fishing Boat, which gives us all great pleasure. But in the days before the war, when I had a 66 ton yacht, I used to keep her in Chichester harbour with all the inconvenience which a modern Marina overcomes. If I did my yachting in England now, I would put in a bid for a berth here in Lymington Marina, though I doubt whether my Irish Boat, “Shadow V” would be up to the standard of the yachts I see here. How enormously yachting has increased since the war, and how popular it has become. Let us hope that this expansion will continue. Yachting and boating are no longer a purely rich man’s sport. And I am delighted to see the expansion of facilities, as evidenced here.

I have much pleasure in declaring the Lymington Marina officially open.