Lot Essay
Originally launched as the Goddess, Fantôme was designed and built by S. Dewdney & Sons at Brixham in 1892. Registered at 110 tons gross (108 net & 176 Thames), she measured 94 feet in length with a 21 foot beam and was rigged as a ketch. Originally owned by F.W.L. Popham of Hythe, Hampshire, she was subsequently sold to J.F. Laycock of Wiseton Hall, Bawtry, Nottinghamshire, who renamed her Gudruda. Later purchased by the Hon. Arthur Guinness in 1906, by which time she had been fitted with a petrol engine, he renamed her Fantôme and kept her until the late 1930s when she passed to the Marquess of Dufferin & Ava and rechristened Connemara.