Falmouth’s senior pilot Captain Dave Pickston has realised a childhood dream by acquiring and restoring, with the help of the master shipwrights of Mylor Yacht Harbour, the sturdy classic launch Soleil d’Or which carried Royalty, Politicians and other VIPs around the Isles of Scilly between the late 1950s and 1970s.

Frank Curtis and Pape Bros of Looe built Soleil d’Or, a gentleman’s boat, for the Dorrien Smith family in 1956. The sturdy vessel is registered on the National Historic Ships Register.

Dave who spent his childhood on the islands took on the role of detective and spent some time tracking down the “Sol” from her early voyages as a passenger boat owned by the Dorrien Smith family of Tresco, via the River Medway and Liverpool, to Cardiff where he was “lucky enough” to buy her last year.

In her first two decades this 43 foot tender carried the Queen Mother, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who had his holiday home on the Isles of Scilly), Margaret Thatcher when she was Education Secretary and many other famous and influential guests of the Dorrien Smith family – all chronicled in the photographs of the late, great Frank Gibson of “Gibsons of Scilly”.

“I knew the Soleil d’Or when I was growing up in the Isles of Scilly and had always admired her elegant lines,” says Dave, who has been a pilot in Falmouth for 17 years and who has spent a lifetime working in the maritime industries.

“In those days she had a full time boatman (whose daughter used to baby-sit for my parents) and under his steady hand proved herself to be a great sea boat.

“Knowing that she was built to a very high standard - Burma Teak on Oak - I felt sure that she would still be around and with the help of the National Historic Ships Register, and a couple of Harbour Master friends, I tracked her down to Penarth Marina, Cardiff.”

Having worked with Mylor Yacht Harbour on his previous boat and knowing the Marine Team has world-class skills and expertise on site, Dave immediately brought her down to complete the restoration work begun by her previous owner.

Shipwrights Chris Oliver and Reed Downing took her back to bare wood for a full survey, recaulked and repainted her with seven coats, returning her hull colour to its original black. They stripped her masts and spars to re-coat with four coats of Sikkens stain before Will Parkinson set about a sensitive modernisation of her hydraulic steering, diesel engine and fuel systems.

“A wonderful, historic vessel like this uses all our Marine Team’s skills – ancient and modern,” says Project Manager Henry Goldsmith, “and it was fantastic to see her looking so beautiful as she went back into the water and seeing her as sturdy and reliable as in her early heyday carrying VIPs in the Isles of Scilly.”

Dave Pickston adds, “She was launched into a Force 8 whistling down Mylor Creek, and performed perfectly. She is now at her new home on Penryn River where work is continuing to bring the deck-side cosmetic work up to scratch. She will mainly be used for family days out during the summer. Who knows – I might even give the sails a try one day!”Dave Pickston, meanwhile, is looking forward to some Cornish sunshine to set the full size Sol up for some genteel cruising around the South West and Isles of Scilly.