Saunterer is a yawl built by Charles Sibbick & Co of Cowes and launched in 1900. Her dimensions are LOA 47′ (60′ inc spars), LWL 35′ 6″, Beam 10′ 4 “, and Draft 7′ 1”. Her first owner, Mr J Simpson, sold her to Capt.Lawrence Edward Grace (“Titus”) Oates, who perished in 1912 on the ill fated Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica under the command of Capt. Robert Falcon Scott.
She came onto the RNYC Register in the 1920s in the ownership of Thos Belt, the proprietor of a rope and canvas business in the Bigg Market, Newcastle upon Tyne. Some of his escapades are recounted in RNYC History The First Hundred Years. Subsequent owners included the Kayll family from Sunderland, and the Sutherlands of Monkseaton in Whitley Bay.
After a period ashore, in 2009 ownership passed to Guy Cottam and Chloe Savage of Dartmouth, who began her restoration working sympathetically to maintain her character and launching a website Saunterer dedicated to the vessel and her heritage and fascinating history. This work was taken further from 2013 onwards by the current owner, Iain Rawlinson, who is based in the New Forest and who has brought her back to the Beaulieu River, a few miles from where she was launched. This ongoing work was carried out by Guy Cottam, and has included replacing her iron floors and keel bolts in bronze (2016), and completing the restoration by reinstating her original main mast and gaff mainsail (in 2025). The combined efforts of Guy and Iain have preserved this magnificent vessel for future generations.
