The war years: 1936 – 1947
The first entry in the Certificate of British Registry lists Jesse Frank Collier, Master Builder from Worthing, Sussex as the owner in March, 1936. The Certificate also refers to an auxiliary petrol internal combustion engine, 1934, Stuart Turner, 2 cylinder, 6hp. We assume this to be her first auxiliary engine.
Perhaps her most illustrious owner, Sir Lancelot Henry Elphinstone, is listed in the Certificate of British Registry as a Barrister, and owning ‘Cachalot’ from 8 April, 1936. We know a little about his military career, but sadly, nothing about his interest in ‘Cachalot’ and he sold her after only four months to two stock brokers; Herbert Charles Norton, Stock Jobber from Amersham, Bucks., and Hugh Leycester Bedwell, Stock Broker from Warwick Square, London in August, 1936. These same two owners are listed in the Lloyds Register of Yachts (1937-39), along with reference to the same Stuart Turner petrol engine.
Checking Census returns and Newspaper archives we find Hugh Leycester Bedwell, born 1902 of 29, Gloucester Street, London was married to Miss Gwendolen Mary Patrick at Craigs Parish Church, Glarryford, Co. Antrim on 4 February, 1937. They returned to live in London.
In the 1939 Register Herbert Charles Norton, born 1906 was living at Little Hertfordshire House, Amersham and listed as a ‘Royal Naval Volunteer, Supplementary Reserves’.
When did Hubert Somervell purchase ‘Cachalot’?
Did he own her when she was requisitioned to take part in Operation Dynamo, May 1940?
‘Cachalot’ is listed amongst the vessels requisitioned to assist in the evacuation of Dunkirk known as ‘Operation Dynamo’ taking place between 27 May and 4 June, 1940. In ‘The ships that saved an army’ by Russell Plummer, published 1990, ‘Cachalot’ is recorded as being owned by a Mr Spurling at the time of Operation Dynamo with no reference for the source. In 1947 ‘Cachalot’ is listed as being owned by Hubert Somervell in the Lloyds Registe, which states he was living in London and she still had her Stuart Turner petrol engine. Hubert Somervell is also listed as her owner in the ‘Alterations and additions to the 1939 Lloyds Register’ published 1946 to incorporate supplements from May and July 1939. Sadly, there is a gap in her Certificate of British Registry from 1939 – 1947.
So when did Hubert Somervell purchase her, and who did own her when she took part in Operation Dynamo? Hubert A. Somervell enlisted as a midshipman in 1916 and is listed in the London Gazette on three occasions (1918, 1920 and 1921) as a Royal Navy Lieutenant [retired, 1921]. In the 1939 Register a Hubert A. Somervell is living at 10, Fishpool St. London, a Clerk in Holy Orders but also listed at ‘LT RN retired’. Could this be the same man who owned her in 1947 and perhaps during the war when she was taken to Dunkirk?
‘Cachalot’ took part in the 1990 ‘Return to Dunkirk’. This allows her to fly the flag of St George on the bowsprit and ‘Dunkirk Jack’, House Flag of the Association for Dunkirk Little Ships at the cross trees. The ‘Jack’ is flown under permission of the Admiralty, the College of Heralds and the City of Dunkirk. It consists of the Cross of St. George (the flag of Admiralty) defaced with the Arms of Dunkirk.
