LUCA PAPALUCA (ITALIAN, 1890-1934)

S.Y. 'Cutty Sark' R.Y.S.

Gouache

Signed 'L. Papaluca' (lower right) and titled (lower left)

15 x 27in. (38 x 69cm.)

Built for Major Keswick in 1920 by Yarrow from plans intended for a destroyer, Cutty Sark registered 883 gross tons, was powered by two of her builder's own turbines and could develop 5000bhp giving a healthy 24 knots - enough to attract the attentions of the Duke of Westminster to whom she was sold in 1927. She became well-known in yachting circles and even sported a mention in Noël Cowards Private Lives when alluded to steaming along the Riviera in view of the cast. In World War II she served as a submarine tender and was fitted with a gun platform in front of her bridge. After the War she passed into commercial service and, as the Joseph Hertz smuggled immigrants into Palestine in 1947-8, being scrapped shortly thereafter.