A Sopwith Bat Boat over Cowes harbour, 1913 [Westland Aerospace Ltd - C5608]

Lloyd's Register first lists vessel No.144471 in 1921. Her name is Pampa III and the owner is T.W. Simpson. This vessel changed name many times before finally becoming Glala in 1936. Under the heading 'builder' the entry reads: "A.R. Luke & Sons, Hamble, 1915 / completed Camper & Nicholsons, Gosport, 1920". Over the years this entry in Lloyd's Register has caused a lot of confusion. Who actually built her? Was she launched in 1915 or 1920? What happened between these dates?

No records before 1921 have been found, the Luke family have said that A.R. Luke's records were destroyed in a fire and Camper & Nicholsons' archivist has said that the vessel never had a yard number, indicating that she was not designed or built by them.

But we can deduce a few things from this. Although the register says "...completed, Camper & Nicholsons, 1920", if the work had been significant she would have had a yard number. The work in 1920 must have been limited to fitting out, or perhaps re-engining. So she must have been substantially complete in 1915.

There is another clue. There was a sister vessel launched two years earlier in 1913 called Mayfair. This vessel was commissioned by the Norwegian sportsman Hannibal Fegth and, although it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during the 1914-18 war, it was definitely not built as anything other than a yacht. Glala was essentially a larger version of Mayfair. This, and the limited work done in 1920, suggests that Glala was built as a yacht and not converted from anything else.

So some light can be shed on Glala's origins, but questions remain unanswered - T.W. Simpson owned her in 1921 and possibly earlier, but was not necessarily the first owner. Pampa III is probably, but not necessarily, the name she was launched with. She may have been requisitioned by the Navy, but without a definite name she is hard to trace.

Detail from the photo above. Glala's sister, Mayfair.

Glala's design tells us a bit about her origins too. No images of Glala have been found from before 1930 but there is an intriguing photograph of a Sopwith Bat-Boat undergoing trials over Cowes harbour in 1913. The big boat on the right is almost certainly Mayfair. Pictures of Mayfair give us a good idea of Glala's early appearance - a flush deck, no wheelhouse and no funnel.

Glala didn't have direct engine control until 1939 - there were no levers at the helm connected to the engines. Instructions were relayed from the helm to a mechanic in the engine room by telegraph, a technology inherited from the steam engine. This is why Glala has a full size engine room. In a sense, Glala was laid out like a steam yacht, but with internal combustion engines. The modern form of the motor yacht emerged later, during the 1920s when engines could be controlled directly through a throttle. Typically, motor yachts then had their engines installed in a compartment under the wheelhouse.

This layout also relects a social change; the full size engine room completely separates the owner's accommodation aft from the wheelhouse and the crew's quarters in the forecastle. Glala is from an era when the owners would have had servants at home, and a crew on the boat.

Glala has been modified over the years, reflecting evolving technology and a changing social world, but her original design is essentially pre First World War - Edwardian even - making her a surviving example of a very early stage in the evolution of the motor yacht.