Apart from entries in the Certificate of British Registry and Lloyds Register of Yachts, we know virtually nothing about ‘Cachalot’ from when she was left in the Mediterranean by the Brigadier in 1956 and 1976 when she came into the hands of Ian and Jenny Kiloh. 

‘Cachalot’ had several owners between 1956 and 1976, one of whom must have brought her back to England in the early 1960s. Each owned her for only 2-3 years, including Hugh Ian Gibson, a Solicitor from London; Norman Frank Dixon, MBE, from Maldon, Essex; David Garber, a London Company Director; Cecil David Richardson, a Maldon Company Director; David Robertson Hiner a Property and Structural Surveyor from Maldon; Thomas Alexander Corbett, a schoolmaster from Hockley, Essex and Andrew Ross Wheatley a yacht broker in Wivenhoe. The 1963 Lloyds Register of Yachts lists a different engine: 2 cylinder, 8.5hp, Lister Blackstone 61.

In the earlier 1960s a good looking 30′ cutter’s hull sat up at the top of Dixon Kerly’s yard at Maldon, quietly drying out and deteriorating. Occasionally there was evidence that some work had been done on her, and in 1965 her then owner, David Garber was persuaded to join the OGA, and we looked forward to seeing her sailing. But it was not to be. In 1966 she was bought by David Robertson Hiner of Maldon, and things happened. David got her into sailing trim, and in 1970 he entered her for our East Coast Race, but she did not start. On the 16th September that year, David sold her to Thomas Alexander Corbett, who owned her until the 9th February 1975, when she was sold to Andrew Ross Wheatley of Wivenhoe. On 24th May, 1976, Ian & Jennifer Kiloh bought her from Wheatley.

Old Gaffers Association Newsletter, 1977

Jenny and Ian Kiloh spent many years restoring ‘Cachalot’ and researching some of her history. They lived aboard from the mid-1970s in Brightlingsea, Essex, moving to Heybridge Basin and Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Levington.