As we reflect as a Club on the potential replacement of St Barbara V, we have recently received some wonderful archive photos of St Barbara III from her sea trials in 1970. The images were shared by Chris Johnson, the son of the late Lt Col Douglas Johnson RA. The photographs are likely to have been taken during her first sea trials in the Solent near Gosport.

St Barbara III was built by Camper and Nicholson in Gosport. The newness of the sails, together with the busy crew, suggests it was probably one of her first voyages. Chris Johnson believes that his father is pictured on the foredeck wearing his white cap (and likely with an RAYC cap badge).

In his letter with photographs, Chris recounts a story of a night passage on St Barbara III from Chegbourg, led by his father. Among the crew was a young cousin who was studying for a Commercial Masters Ticket. During the night, the cousin suggested using his sextant to take a navigational fix from the stars. After taking a reading, he disappeared below decks for 90 minutes before emerging and declaring that St Barbara III was 10 miles west of Versailles!

Fortunately, the cousin’s navigational readings were ignored by the skipper, and St Barbara went on to enjoy nearly 15 years of sailing with the Club. In one of her last voyages, she was skippered by Major General Robert Staveley in a race from Lisbon to Southampton against HMSTY British Soldier and HMSTY Kukri. For more details, read the First Fifty Years of the RAYC from 1933 to 1983.