Seran
was built in 1926 for a Charles Clare Regnart, President of Maple & Co, the
furnishers of Tottenham Court Road. It has become clear that Regnart was a keen
sea angler, particularly focussed on tope.
He
lived in Margate
in the years prior to WWI and was a member of Margate Fishing Club. He donated
the Cobb-Regnart Cup in 1914 which was competed for at the annual Tope Festival
and won outright in 1930 by Major Clarke (the first to win it on three
occasions). During this period he owned a small open motor boat which he
presumably fished from in the Thames Estuary.
In
June 1925 a club called the Tope Fishers' Club was formed in London which seemingly had around fifty
members, all wealthy businessmen, military or politicians of which Regnart was
also a member.
In
March 1926 Regnart commissioned Seran which was a 35 ft twin screw motor yacht
with large open cockpit and dark room for developing photographic film. Not
dissimilar in design to the game fishing boats used by Zane Grey. This was
launched in September 1926 and was mentioned a number of times in the yachting
press.
In
May 1927 C C Regnart is mentioned briefly on a bass fishing trip off Bembridge
with a Captain E E Yeats, Hon Secretary of the Tope Fishers' Club.
In
May 1928, Regnart is briefly mentioned catching a record haul for the time of
year from Seran in the Solent.
In
1929 Regnart bought another boat - Cleone, an auxiliary ketch trawler which he
seems to have kept on the south coast and around the Isle
of Wight fro many years
In
1934 Regnart had Seran reconstructed. She was lengthened 5 ft with the addition
of a canoe stern and the previously open cockpit was covered by a cabin.
From
1938 the Tope Fishers' Club changed focus to Thresher Sharks which were
becoming more frequent on the south coast.
In
late May 1939 Regnart arrived at Fowey in Cleone. Several weeks later Captain
Yeats is recorded landing a 36ft, 4 ton shark there - presumably a basking
shark. It seems likely therefore that Regnart was also involved in shark
fishing in the late 1930s
I
have been trying to find out where Seran was based from the 1930s. In the
immediate post war years she was in Tenby and I have been wondering whether she
ended up in Ireland,
perhaps Ballycotton where Regnart could have used her for shark fishing.
