Heritage · Lymington's shipyards
Built in Lymington. Raced Around the World. Remembered in History.
During the nineteenth century, Thomas Inman and the shipyard subsequently operated by his family produced some of Britain's most celebrated sailing yachts.
These remarkable vessels competed in prestigious regattas, helped shape the development of competitive sailing and established Lymington as an important centre of yacht-building.
The story is especially relevant to the Maritime Futures Hub because the Drill Hall building is associated with Inman's historic mould loft — where the craft of boatbuilding brought together design, mathematics and practical skills.
1821 — Arrow launched
Featured historic yachts
Figures are provisional until checked against primary sources. Tonnages are as recorded at the time; later modifications are noted where known.
1821
1828
Not to be confused with the famous twentieth-century racing yacht of the same name.
1830
Historical illustration being researched
1851
1860
1876–77
1851
In August 1851 the Royal Yacht Squadron staged a race around the Isle of Wight that brought together leading British racing yachts and a visiting American schooner, America.
Inman-associated vessels formed part of that story. Arrow and Alarm are recorded among the British yachts involved; Lulworth's participation is still being checked against the race records; and Stella, although entered, did not start.
America won the trophy — later renamed the America's Cup after the yacht. Its owners gave it to the New York Yacht Club as a perpetual challenge trophy, and it remains the oldest international trophy in sport.
This print shows America's match against Titania later in August 1851, not the Isle of Wight race itself.
| Name | Year | Rig | Tonnage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheldrake | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Haidee | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Water Kelpie | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Heroine | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Magician | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Petrel | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Rattlesnake | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| St Ursula | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Mariquita | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Ursuline | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Zoe | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Kingfisher | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Gannet | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Beatrice | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Flying Cloud | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Fenella | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Mirage | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Otaira | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Nore | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
| Samoena | Being verified | Being verified | Being verified | Berthon historic build registers — entry being verified |
The Drill Hall connection
In a nineteenth-century shipyard, the mould loft was where a design on paper became a real vessel. On its broad, smooth floor, shipwrights drew the lines of a hull at full size, then cut thin timber patterns — moulds — that guided the shaping of every frame and plank.
It was exacting work that joined design, geometry and practical craft: the difference between a drawing and a seaworthy yacht.
The proposed Maritime Futures Hub hopes to carry that spirit forward — through future programmes in design, making, engineering, maritime education and digital technology, in the building associated with Inman's mould loft.
Research sources
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