Silvers John Bain 50 ft 'Silver Leaf Type' Classic Motor Yacht

In her almost 90 years, the John Bain/ James A. Silver 50 ft ‘Silver Leaf Type’ classic twin-screw motor yacht HYSKEIR has been blessed with just a handful of careful and knowledgeable owner-drivers. We presume she came off relatively lightly at Dunkirk in June 1940, and some deep refits in her early 60s helped to steer this incredibly stylish, practical and useable yacht towards her centenary, while never interfering with time capsule 1930s authenticity. HYSKEIR’s varnish and paint may not be concours right now, but the patina evidence of her adventures, an honesty and a simple beauty, shine through, and her relatively young deck and engines leave her ready to be used while perhaps planning a deeper makeover.

2022
- Drive train overhaul

2011 FALMOUTH, UK
- Re-engined with current units
- New mainmast
- New sails
- Rewired with breakers and all new electronics

EARLY 2000s FALMOUTH, UK
- New teak laid deck on marine plywood by Pendennis Shipyard

HYSKEIR’s name offers a strong hint to her first owner, Robert Thom's family history. His forebears, in particular his grandfather, also Robert, established through the 19th Century more than a modest fortune as Thom & Cameron Ltd., successful Glasgow-based, but truly international, spirit and tea merchants, spirit rectifiers, warehousemen, and shipowners. As self-respecting Victorian Clydeside entrepreneurs did, grandfather Robert eventually purchased a waterside estate on the fringe of the Highlands at Barreman on the Gareloch, sensibly not far from railheads to the city. Then, in 1881, Thom added the Inner Hebridean Isle of Canna to his portfolio, probably more easily reached then by his steam yachts than now by Caledonian MacBrayne ferry.

Just over six nautical miles southwest of Canna lies the low-lying skerry outlier, Hyskeir (in Gaelic, Òigh-sgeir). When our Robert Thom commissioned this stretched John Bain 'Silver Leaf Type', HYSKIER, his family still owned Canna, but only just, selling the island in 1938 to Gaelic scholar John Lorne Campbell and his American wife Margaret Fay Shaw. In 1981 they gifted Canna to the present owner, the National Trust for Scotland.

Less than two miles along the lochside from Barreman, at Rosneath, through the early decades of the 10th Century James A. Silver Ltd yard managing director and designer, John Bain, perfected the art of building great looking motor yachts in volume, yet of such a high quality and so effectively marketed that even through the Great Depression years they almost couldn’t keep up with demand. Bain’s super stylish and very modern 'Silver Leaf' design had become increasingly popular through the 1930s, with variants increasing in length from the original 40 ft to over 50 ft. Such was the demand by 1937 that three 50 ft versions were delivered: TIDEWAY, followed by NONIE (II), and HYSKEIR, all commissioned by Clyde owners and originally powered by twin 6-cylinder Morris Commodore petrol engines.

Of the first launched, TIDEWAY, The Motor Boat magazine wrote: “There must be some outstanding quality about a motor yacht which, as a type, commands the attention of not one individual but of many experienced cruising men… no sooner was her keel laid than orders for two other models were placed with the builders. The reason for so much interest being shown in this enlarged edition of the original 40 ft Silver Leaf class of boat is not far to seek, as it is easily driven, weatherly and possesses the acme of refinement.”

We may add that in the larger Silver Leafs, Bain cleverly avoided packing more in. Instead, the same popular general arrangement of the 40-ish footers simply offered greater space.

Robert Thom’s family enjoyed three summers of West Coast of Scotland cruising before the outbreak of the Second World War, during which HYSKEIR is recorded in 1940 as one of the Dunkirk Little Ships, and by 1942 back in home waters as a member of the ‘Clyde Patrol’, a flotilla of government requisitioned motor yachts operated by yachtsmen.

Thom didn’t take back HYSKEIR after the war; instead he returned to John Bain and Silvers for HYSKEIR II: similar in length but very different in form, a canoe-stern MFV type.

HYSKEIR [I]’s second owner was Harley Street consultant surgeon and Royal Thames YC member Henry W.M. Wright who changed her name to CAIRNGORM. She may have had a mooring at Birdham Pool, Chichester Harbour during Wright's ownership from 1946 to 1958. In July 1949 she was one of 59 UK-based motor yachts participating in the then prestigious Pavillon d'Or gathering at Deauville and Hornfleur, Normandy.

In 1958 the medical theme continued - and half a century of life in England's 'West Country' began - in the joint ownership of Williton, Somerset family doctor Charles Killick and his wife Phyllis, members of Royal Torbay YC. By 1973 CAIRNGORM had moved further west to Exmouth and Salcombe with Bromsgrove, Worcestershire solicitor Norman Fisher, also a Royal Torbay YC member, and a stalwart of Severn Motor Yacht Club, Worcester.

The gradual move west was complete by 1977 on purchase by Falmouth-based racing yachtsman Jonathan Money who would keep CAIRNGORM for 38 years. Long, stable periods of ownership always bode well, and she benefitted during this period from much TLC, including a new laid teak on marine plywood deck by the expert hands of Pendennis Shipyard, and she was re-engined.

CAIRNGORM's home since 2015 has been Brittany, first in the ownership of French living legend, Gérard d’Aboville, best known for his solo ocean rowing adventures - 1980 across the North Atlantic (a year which began with him taking part in the Paris-Dakar Rally on a motorbike); 1990 across the North Pacific - also a politician, and founder of the popular traditional boat gathering La Semaine du Golfe du Morbihan where HYSKEIR is very well known.

In present ownership, still in Brittany, since 2019 HYSKER has operated as a classic charter boat.

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Pitch pine carvel planking
- Teak top strakes
- on steam bent and sawn oak frames
- Bronze spike and screw fastened
- Iron floors
- Iroko wood keel
- Long cast iron ballast keel; stainless steel fastened
- Steel rudder
- Straight laid teak deck on tongue & grooved substrate

SUMMARY
- Teak straight laid deck (Pendennis Shipyard n.d.)
- Varnished teak toerails
- Original varnished teak superstructures
- Original galvanised painted deck fittings
- Original galvanised painted stanchions w. varnished teak rail

LOWER AFT DECK
- Steering flat hatch; access to steering and exhausts
- Chromed mushroom vent thru hatch
- Mizzen sheet padeye and tackle
- Ensign staff socket
- Stern light
- Chocks for mizzen boom crutch
- Mooring fairleads and associated cleats port and starboard
- Gangway gate in rail offset to starboard
- Emergency steering position
- Chromed mushroom vent
- Steps/ benches to port and starboard
- Companionway to aft cabin; hatch and double doors
- Chromed opening port in bulkhead to port

AFT DECK
- Folding table that seats 6
- 6 x Folding chairs
- Liferaft stowage to starboard

UPPER HELM POSITION - AFT WHEELHOUSE BULKHEAD
- Bronze, Brown Bros. 'destroyer' wheel
- Furuno RD-50 multi input data display
- Raymarine depth display
- Engine gauges
- Morse throttle controls
- Original chromed binnacle mount for steering compass
- Lockers to port & starboard with lids as bench seats

WHEELHOUSE
- 2 x Opening sashes aft
- 2 x Windows and sliding door port and starboard
- Hinged companionway hatches in roof port and starboard
- 3 x Windscreen sashes: port sash contains Clearview screen; mid sash hinges open
- 2 x Chromed Dorade and 2 x mushroom vents on wheelhouse roof
- Grab rails port and starboard on roof
- Mainsheet padeyes and tackle
- Searchlight
- Horns

SIDE DECKS
- 4 x Teak mid ship mooring cleats
- Gates in rail port and starboard

FORWARD DECK
- Main mast on tabernacle fwd of wheelhouse
- Butterfly hatch over saloon
- Butterfly hatch over galley
- Hatch over fore cabin with covers
- Chocks for liferaft stowage
- Bronze mooring fairleads port & starboard
- Associated painted galvanised mooring cleats
- Central stanchion for forward wire only guardrails

GROUND TACKLE
- Believed original Thomas Reid mechanical windlass
- Rebuilt 2013
- Also manual operation
- Shaft and chain drive from port engine
- 2 x Chain gipsies
- 2 x Horizontal warping drums
- Anchor rollers port and starboard of stemhead
- 45 lb / 20 kg CQR anchor, galvanised
- 77 lb / 35 kg Fisherman type anchor, galvanised
- c. 45 m of 10 mm galvanised anchor chain

WHEELHOUSE
- Helm position; traditional ship's wheel; excellent visibility
- Ship's electrical panel
- Engine instrumentation; Eberspächer control; Morse throttles
- 2 x Engine pull stops; batteries monitor
- Navigation displays on "dashboard" and above central opening window sash
- Vintage NECO auto pilot control to starboard
- Stowage for International Code signal flags aft
- Dunkirk 1940 plaque
- Bench seating to port facing forward; chart table aft
- Vintage Sailor VHF set
- 2 x Sestrel hand bearing compasses
- Period clock and barometer
- Bench seat starboard facing port
- Companionways offset to starboard to fore and aft accommodation
- 2 x Deckhead lights
- Down 2 x Forward companionway steps to saloon

SALOON
- Well lit via 4 x opening ports and a large skylight
- All original oak joinery with fixtures and fittings in period
- Wainscotted panelling; white painted surfaces above
- White painted deck head
- L-shaped seating around drop leaf dining table
- Fine Captain’s chair in same style as the table – and stool
- Dresser sideboard to starboard
- Drinks and glasses cabinets
- Large plinth mounted brass encased Sestrel clock on fwd bulkhead
- Art Deco bulkhead lights
- 2 x Deck head lights
- Bulkhead mounted stereo speakers

PANELLED DOOR FORWARD TO GALLEY
- Plastimo Neptune 2 burner hob and oven to port
- Corelan type top surface to starboard; stowage under
- Stainless steel inset sink to starboard; pressurised hot and cold water
- Coolmatic Fridge
- Matching teak plate and cup racks
- Stowage for crockery glassware cutlery and provisions; louvre locker doors
- Butterfly hatch in deck head
- 2 x Opening ports

FOREPEAK CABIN
- 2 x Bunk berths to starboard
- Manual Jabsco Par WC
- Basin with hot and cold water
- Large hanging locker
- 2 x removable doors to chain locker
- 2 x Opening ports
- Fore hatch in deck head

AFT ACCOMMODATION
- Down 2 x Aft companionway steps to passage offset to starboard
- Settee/ 2 x berths to starboard
- Large chart/ 'office' table aft to starboard
- Stowage under; bookshelves outboard
- Entrance opposite to guest cabin to port

GUEST CABIN TO PORT
- 2 x Up and over berths
- Hanging wardrobe
- 2 x Port lights
- 2 x Reading lights
- Deckhead light

WC SHOWER COMPARTMENT TO PORT
- Electric toilet
- Wash basin; hot and cold taps
- Large shower area
- 1 x Port light
- 1 x Deckhead light

OWNER CABIN RIGHT AFT
- Original mahogany carpentry
- 2 x Berths; 1 each side; drawers under
- 2 x Hanging lockers
- Basin with hot and cold water
- Large mirror
- 5 x Port lights
- 1 x Deck head light
- Art deco reading light
- Aft companionway to aft deck (presently as escape hatch)

MECHANICAL
- 2 x Leyland Thornycroft 6 cyl diesels 125 hp each
- Newage PRM gearboxes
- Hours: Port - 2934 ; Starboard 3005
- 2 x 35 mm Stainless steel propeller shafts
- 2 x 22 x 16 outward turning bronze 3-blade propellers
- Max speed 11 knots; consumption 15 - 20 L/ hour
- Cruising speed 8 - 9 knots; consumption c 8 L/ hour
- Cable linked steering

ELECTRICAL
- 12 V & 24 V DC System
- Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery
- 2 x Service batteries
- 1 x Engine start battery
- 240 V shore power system
- Sterling Power SB 1600 W pure sine wave inverter
- Sterling Power digital 4-step battery to battery charger

TANKAGE AND ASSOCIATED
- 2 x Stainless steel fuel tanks total 460 L / 102 Gal
- Under mid side decks
- 2 x Stainless steel fresh water tanks total capacity 750 L / 165 Gal
- Under lower aft deck
- Engine heated calorifier and pressure water system
- Hot water tank

OTHER
- Eberspächer Hydronic M water heater/ heating system (2013)

AUXILIARY KETCH RIG
- For steadying, and downwind assistance
- Hollow, tabernacle mounted spruce main mast (Collars 2011)
- Main boom
- Tabernacle mounted spruce mizzen mast
- Mizzen boom

SAILS
- Tan mainsail and mizzen by (SKB Sails c. 2011)
- Very old jib (Sugget Sails)

CANVASWORK
Covers
- Mainsail and mizzen on their booms
- Hatches
- Windlass
- Deck table
- All over winter cover
- Bimini extending aft from wheelhouse
Dodgers
- at aft deck guardrails
Cushions
- 2 x For locker tops port and starboard of outer helm
- 6 x For folding chairs

NAVIGATION
- Chromed binnacle at outer helm; Ritchie steering compass
- Steering compass at wheelhouse (may not be corrected)
- Raymarine C140 chart plotter/ radar display (2011)
- Raymarine ST40 speed and depth
- Furuno RD-50 Multi display at outer helm
- Furuno GP32 GPS
- Furuno Navtex
- AIS
- NECO autopilot (functionality to be confirmed)
- Period clock and barometer

COMMUNICATIONS
- Northstar Explorer 725 VHF Radio
- Sailor RT144C (functionality to be confirmed)

- Gas detector
- First aid kit
- Life raft (service date TBC)
- Flares
- Space blankets
- Life jackets
- 2 x Horseshoe life buoys
- Fire extinguishers (specs TBC)
- Fire blanket
- 2 x auto / manual bilge pumps
- Whale manual bilge pump with manual switch over to either engine bilge
- Traditional port, starboard and stern nav lights
- Modern steaming light at mast

- Boarding ladder
- Marina steps of stainless steel engineroom flooring
- Clinker tender (details TBC)
- Fenders
- Mooring warps
- All glasses engraved (TBC)
- All place mats and coasters embossed (TBC)
- All towels embroidered (TBC)
- Crew clothing (shirts, tee shirts and rugby shirts) embroidered (TBC)
- Spare starter motor, cutlass bearing
- All engine filters, water pump, impellers, fan belts etc