[M] A BRONZE PLAQUETTE FOR THE YACHT MOTEUR CLUB DE FRANCE, 1938

A BRONZE PLAQUETTE FOR THE YACHT MOTEUR CLUB DE FRANCE, 1938

by Raymond Delamarre, presented to Harold C. Bell and his yacht, Sheemaun, undated [1938], in the Art Deco style, obv. a sleek motor yacht races the goddess Amphitrite standing in her chariot drawn by three rearing hippocamps, signed in the exergue, rev. the name of the Moteur Club with a map of France on which is a symbolic maritime compass, with a tablet engraved H. C. BELL ‘SHEEMAUN’ -- 2 x 3in. (5.3 x 7.6cm.) with arched top; together with a copy of Little Ship, Big Story - The Adventures of HMY Sheemaun by Rodney Bell, 2019

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The Sheemaun, now fully restored and still sailing, was commissioned by E. C. Richards and built at James Noble & Co.’s yard, Fraserburgh in 1935, to a design by G. L. Watson. She was purchased by Harold Bell in 1938, who had Albert Rowley, owner of the Rowley Gallery of Fine Art, Kensington, re-design the saloon. The award plaquette is almost certainly connected to the 'The Pavillon d'Or' cruise of 1938, in which Bell, sailing the Sheemaun participated. The ‘long drive’ competition, organised by the Yacht Moteur Club de France, was first run in 1937 (and won by another, now fully restored, British motor yacht, the Thelis). The 1938 cruise departed from Southampton bound for Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and then back to Southampton.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Bell sold Sheemaun to Lt R H Calvert-Ling, RNVR and she was soon acquired by the Royal Navy, becoming HMY Sheemaun serving from 1939-1945. As one of the Nore Command’s Examination Services small patrol boats, now armed with two Hotchkiss machine guns, she patrolled the Thames Estuary. She is believed to have been involved in Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuations. However, since Sheemaun was already in service with the Royal Navy, she does not appear in the original listing of the “Little Dunkirk Ships”, but she is recognised as a proud member of “The Historic Fleet of the United Kingdom”

Harold Bell owned Sheemaun from 1936 - 1939. The Bell family, wealthy farmers and landowners in Scotland, had sold up and moved South. Harold Bell purchased Sheemaun in 1936 for £1050.00. Bell was close friends with Sir Frank Brangwyn and Fine Art collector and Gallery owner Albert Rowley (Rowley Gallery of Fine Art 140 Church St. S Kensington). Rowley re-designed Sheemaun's saloon. In 1938 Bell cruised Sheemaun on 'The Pavillon d'Or' departing from Southampton bound for Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and then back to Southampton. So this trinket would have been presented in 1938. In July 1939 only weeks before the Declaration of WW2, Bell sold Sheemaun to Lt R H Calvert-Ling RNVR.

The Pavillon d'Or (golden banner) is an internationally renowned long-drive competition for motor yachts. It was created by the International Federation Union International Motonautique, so that European boaters were forced to travel to foreign countries.

The destination of the first competition in 1937 was Paris, which hosted the World Expo for the sixth time this year. 35 motor yachts in total, including 25 British, met in Le Havre and drove in bandage on to Paris. The organizers, the "Yacht Club Moteur de Paris", honoured the British yacht "Thelas" as the winner.