Even those who have made their money through cutting-edge technology can appreciate classic boats and beautiful and classy design. This is certainly true of James »Jim« Clark, born in Texas in 1944 and the founder of numerous IT and finance companies, including Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Healtheon, and myCFO. With a sizeable flotilla to his name, Clark is known in sailing circles for having owned the sloop Hyperion, the three-masted schooner Athena, the J Class Hanuman – a modern replica of Charles E. Nicholson’s Endeavour II, which is still in Clark’s ownership – and the multiple winner Comanche, the maxi built by Hodgdon Yachts that has competed in top offshore races and held the transatlantic speed record and the 24-hour sailing distance record for a monohull with a displacement hull. Clark’s latest toy, however, is quite a different one. Her name is Atlantide, a 37-metre steel-hull yacht known to classic yacht gathering attendees for having been the support vessel to Mariette when the Herreshoff-designed schooner belonged to Tom Perkins (1932–2016), who would later own the celebrated Maltese Falcon and the explorer Dr. No. Designed by Alfred Mylne (1872–1951), one of the three great Scottish designers (the other being G. L. Watson and William Fife III), Atlantide was built by the Philip & Son shipyard in Dartmouth and launched in Spring 1930, with the first sea trials which took place in early June. She was originally named Caleta and went through three name changes before taking on her current moniker. The yacht’s first owner was Sir William Burton (1864– 1942), a multiple boat owner who commissioned the yacht because he needed a floating home and tender to follow races closely and to serve the needs of himself and his crew. Burton A CHARMING HISTORY took part in dozens of sailing competitions in UK waters with his numerous yachts, including the 19-metre International Rule Octavia (1911) and the 12-metre yachts Marina (1935) and Jenetta (1939), all designed by Mylne. Burton was also the helmsman of Shamrock IV, the boat with which Sir Thomas Lipton made his second-last failed attempt to win the America’s Cup in 1920, but that is another story. Caleta was requisitioned during the war and she was pressed into service by the British Admiralty. On May 14, 1940, the BBC broadcast an announcement from the British Admiralty: all owners of self-propelled pleasure craft between 30 feet and 100 feet in length not already requisitioned were to send the vessels’ details to the Admiralty within 14 days. The war was going bad for the Allies and thousands of soldiers were being pushed toward the coast of France, cut off from a means to escape advancing German troops. The only way out would be by sea but the Royal Navy lacked enough shallow water vessels to collect the retreating soldiers at Dunkerque. But Britain has always been a seafaring nation so it called on its citizens to offer up their own boats to save lives. In all, a collection of approximately 850 private boats and 20 warships participated in the so-called »Operation Dynamo« (May–June 1940). One of these »Little Ships«, as these glorious vessels were to be known, was Caleta. She was an active participant, setting out for Dunkerque on May 31st in the company of the other yachts. She operated under intense enemy fire and dive bomber attacks over seven days, during which time she assisted various vessels and embarked 35 troops from a disabled landing craft that she then took in tow. The tow parted twice, but still she was able to get it back to English soil. For this valent service, she is entitled to fly the distinguished St. George’s Cross. In 1950, eight years after Burton’s death, the yacht was transferred to the Mediterranean, where she was given the name Ariane by its Greek owner P. B. Pandelis. In 1960 owner and name changed again: as Corisande, based in Antibes, the yacht was used for rehearsals of »Tender is the Night« (»Tendre est la nuit«), the 1962 film adaptation of Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. // AFTER WORLD WAR 2 DESIGNED BY THE GREAT ALFRED MYLNE AND BUILT AS CALETA AS A SUPPORT VESSEL IN 1930, THE YACHT ATLANTIDE IS OWNED BY THE TEXAS-BORN IT TYCOON JIM CLARK, INDEED A GENTLEMAN WITH A TASTE FOR GENTLEMAN’S YACHTS. WORDS: BRUNO CIANCI Fotos: Cory Silken CLASSICSROBBEBERKING.DE | WWW.CLASSICYACHTS.COM | RESTORATION | BESPOKE YACHTS | WINTER STORAGE | BERTHS MAST | MUST HAVE DESIGN: Juliane Hempel WOOD: Touchwood ANOTHER FAST ROBBE & BERKING RIGG ON THE RACE COURSE read more 44
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