In 1906 word went round the yachting community on the Clyde that the 20-Rater, Molly, a familiar sight in their handicap races, was not fitting out for the season. She had been sent to the “breakers”. I’m sure there was sadness, for sailors knew of her valiant, if not exactly successful, efforts at the Scottish regattas, and she was a Fife III design, built in 1891 at Fairlie. In 1907, there was an identical story about Bloodhound, another Fife, this time designed and built by the father, not the son.
Bloodhound was the older (1874) and larger of the two, a “40-tonner, commissioned from Fife Senior by the famous Marquess of Ailsa. By ’78, new developments in racing yacht design had left her “rather old-fashioned and outclassed”, so she was sold on, but had still held her own, especially for her last owner, Sir Thomas Dunlop, competing under handicap. She, Molly and local spectators had enjoyed many a tussle out on the cold waters of the Clyde.
The Marquess was very distressed when he heard of fate, and stepped in to save her. She was bought back, overhauled and refitted, before being dispatched to race down south, where she achieved astonishing success. This was proud, she did him proud in return.
