| Abstract | In March 2009, the Museum had an enquiry from two brothers
who were about to embark on the restoration of a Yacht called ERIDANI 2. They knew she was built in West Mersea by William Wyatt between 1957 and 1959. She was designed by a man called John (Jolyon) Sloggett and has a Lloyds registration number. They were looking for more information.
Research by the Museum found there is quite a lot known. Two local shipwrights, John Milgate & Dick Gladwell, helped to build her with Jack Emeny who was the senior boatbuilder at Wyatts at that time. Jack unfortunately has died but John and Dick are fit and well. Dick in particular knows a lot about Mersea and Wyatts and remembers ERIDANI 2 well. Neither can remember the name John Sloggett and they think that Jack Emeny drafted out the lines.
She was built for Jack Massey who owned the first ERIDANI. The Museum has 2 photographs of her. Tragically, Jack Massey was drowned going off to ERIDANI 2 in Thornfleet by falling out of the dinghy. Both she and ERIDANI 1 were skippered by local men, 'Taffy' Milgate and Ed Wyatt.
In May 2020, Jolyon Sloggett's daughter got in touch to add to the above information.
"My Father is the John Sloggett referred to in the article [above], although his name is actually Jolyon rather than John. Jack Massey, for whom he designed ERIDANI 2, had trouble with the name Jolyon, and always called my Father John, which is probably how the mistake originated. Jack Massey was a friend of my Grandfather's, with whom my Father frequently sailed.
"It was my Father who drafted the original lines for ERIDANI 2 rather than Jack Emeny, although Jack Emeny may well have done the full-scale lines from my Father's figures.
"After gaining a First Class degree in Engineering and Naval Architecture from Glasgow University and completing National Service as an Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy and subsequently in the RNVR, my Father spent his career in Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, and was awarded the OBE for Services to Marine Engineering. He retired in 1998, and lives with his wife on a farm in Devon. He is now 87, and was very pleased to hear that ERIDANI 2 had been restored at some point.
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