1920s and 1930s. The dimensions are virtually identical as is the profile. Only a doghouse was added which at the time was a typical English feature and does slightly spoil her streamlined looks. German naval officers presumably needed less headroom than an English general. The advantage, however, was that this addition created space for an owner’s cabin and a navigation station. The general only paid one English pound for the yacht and it was put on the books as »Wiedergutmachung«, i. e. war reparations. This, of course, was not something he wanted to have announced loudly and so, having a surprising sense of humour for a soldier, he christened the yacht Whisper. After she was delivered, Whisper was given a berth in Southampton near the general’s estate who remained active in Germany for several more years. He had a private plane, a Tiger Moth, with which he and his pilot flew back and forth. His pilot John Elliot told how Prior-Palmer once ordered him to skim low over the anchored Whisper to scare his wife while she was sunbathing on deck. Prior-Palmer was also the founder of the Royal Artillery Yacht Club. After a serious polo accident in 1955, Prior-Palmer sold his yacht to a certain Alexander Black, a British-Portuguese who took the yacht to Lisbon, Portugal, where Whisper was apparently used to transport refugees from the dictatorship of the Salazar military regime. A copper plate which is still in place reads »Brigada Naval No.2957 Seccao de Desportos Nauticos«. This is the old nautical sports department of the Portuguese navy. Sometime between 1966 and 1995, Whisper lost her beautiful counter stern for a sawn-off plywood construction. In 1995, Berthon sold the yacht for 60,000 English pounds to Dutchman Twan de Loos. He sailed her from Portugal to the Netherlands where she was given a berth in Drimmelen. He lived on board for several years and from 2004 to 2008, Whisper was more or less abandoned there ashore under a deck tent. In 2008 the present owner, Floris Agterhof, bought her for approximately the value of her lead keel as by now she was in a rather dilapidated condition. After one season of sailing he embarked on a long restoration that wasn’t finished until 2015. // WHISPER DESIGNER: HENRY RASMUSSEN SHIPYARD: ABEKING & RASMUSSEN, LEMWERDER YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 1946 OWNER: GENERAL G.E. PRIOR-PALMER BUILT TO LLOYDS LENGTH: 15.65 M LENGTH WATERLINE: 11.70 M BEAM: 3.30 M DRAUGHT: 2.30 M DISPLACEMENT: 20 TONNES HULL: HONDURAS MAHOGANY ON OAK FRAMES DECK: NEW SOLID TEAK 34 MM, BRONZE SCREWED MAST: HOLLOW, GLUED, 20 METRES LONG ENGINE: D2-55 VOLVOPENTA PROPELLER: MAXPROP FEATHERING, 3-BLADED MAINSAIL: 65 M2 JIB: 33 M2 GENOA: 50 M2 SPINNAKER: 95 M2 read more 94 95 Fotos: Jan Bart (3), Ron Valent (2), ZVG Archiv (2)
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