My thanks to Frans for sharing this with us, what a fascinating story!
Roy
Hallo Roy,
You might find this of
interest.
It is a drawing done by
Herbert McWilliams in 1945.
Herbert McWilliams was an
architect in Port Elizabeth and also the designer of the Sprog and Extra dinghy
(plus a few other dingies which never reached class status). Going by
memory, the first Sprog was launched circa 1947 and first Extra circa 1962.
Anyway, McWilliams and
his life partner lived a very upmarket life in a huge house in Amsterdamhoek,
right at the mouth of the Zwartkops River. As a kid, I can remember the Rolls
and Bentley standing in front of the house. The house was loaded with
valuable art from Europe. Unfortunately everything was lost in a fire which
destroyed the house sometime in the 70 or 80's.
After both McWilliams and
his partner had passed away there was an auction of their substantial
properties and remaining loose goods in PE, including the Rolls. My wife
went to the auction and I asked her to buy me whatever yachty item came
up. The only yachty item was this drawing. She paid more for the drawing of
this dinghy in 1995 than what my dad paid for my second hand Sprog in 1972.
Frans.
