| First owner |
First port of register |
Registration date |
| Percy F. C. Topham, Darland Hall, Wrexham. |
Glasgow |
11/02/1908 |
| Other names |
| 1940 BUNTING - 1940 FREEWILL - 1947 FREELANCE |
| Subsequent owner and registration history |
1918 Herbert A Payne, 54 Bishopsgate, London EC2
1922 Commander Henry W A Adams, RN, Cullompton, Devon. Re-registered at Glasgow.
1925 William Exshaw, London
1928 John E D Shaw, Welburn Hall, Kirbymoorside, Yorks.
1937 Sir Spencer J Portal, 20 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3
1940 The Admiralty, London
1947 John M Williams, Globe Hotel, King's Lynn, Norfolk - reg King's Lynn
By 1955 The Hon. J M W North, Clifton House, Euston Road, London NW1.
By 1960 Foreign Properties Limited, Bank Lane, Nassau, Bahamas
By 1977 Hugh R M Bailey, Catamaran Hotel, Falmouth, Antigua, West Indies - registered St John's, Antigua.
1978 Government of British Columbia. |
| Vessel history |
1922 first auxiliary engines fitted - tonnages altered to 80grt 54nrt
29/9/1940 acquired by Admiralty as auxiliary patrol yacht
22/10/1940 renamed BUNTING as a baseship at Cliff Quay, Ipswich
3/1944 renamed FREEWILL as an accommodation ship
1945 for disposal
Later based in the Caribbean
1976 represented Antigua in US Bicentenial "Operation Sail" tallships gathering at New York. |
| Remarks |
Designed by Frederick Shepherd.
Admiralty swapped names and roles of two yachts: BUNTING ex-MERLIN (1897, Mackie & Thomson Yd 184) became FREELANCE in 1940. |
| End year |
Fate / Status |
| 1978 |
Abandoned |
| Disposal Detail |
| On delivery to Government of Colombia (British Columbia?), ran aground on an off-shore reef near the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. She was abandoned after being looted by armed locals and failure of refloating attempts. |
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