Eric White - Builder of the Trident 24

The Trident as we know it today owes its existence to one remarkable man: its original builder Eric White. And the Trident's success laid the foundation for the Marine Construction boat company and the whole fleet of larger Marcon designs which followed.

Eric's practical engineering skills were honed through wartime service in the Fleet Air Arm. He grew up in London but by 1944 he was a Petty Officer airframe fitter aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable when her aircraft attacked the German pocket battleship Tirpitz in Norway's arctic Kaafjord.

After the war, Eric got a job as a lorry driver. He was one of four brothers whose passion was motorcycle racing. But when one of his brothers was killed, Eric gave it up and turned instead to sailing. He later bought Tarmin, a Yachting World 5-tonner, designed by Robert Clark who also also designed Sir Francis Chichester's Gipsy Moth III, the boat in which Chichester won the single-handed trans-Atlantic race of 1960. Tarmin was later to go on to set records for three single-handed circumnavigations of the World.

Eric also had a tatty old wooden tender and badly needed a new one. So he bought a book about fibreglass, rounded off the corners of his old dinghy to make a mould, and created a new GRP tender. Other yachtsmen at Burnham said, 'That's nice, can you make one for me?'. And soon he was launched into a career as a part-time boatbuilder. He was still driving his lorry but he soon began to think about building a cruising boat in GRP, a novelty at that time.

Still living in London, Eric laid Tarmin up at Cubitt's Dock, Chiswick. And it was in this yard one day that a fateful meeting took place. A young man approached him and said, "My boss designed your boat." Eric replied: "Do you fancy designing a boat for me?" That young man was Alan Hill who then worked for Robert Clark.

To finance the mould, Eric had to sell Tarmin. The new owner lived in Mallorca and Eric delivered the boat there himself through the french canals during his annual holiday.

Initially Trident hulls were moulded at a boatyard at Isleworth on the Thames. The hulls were then sent to Jim Nuttall of Brensall Boats, Highbridge, Somerset to have wooden decks completed (though Trident No 1 was completed at Wyatts Boatyard in West Mersea in Essex).

Trident No 1 was an instant success when she was launched in 1960: "On our first trial we won the Burnham to West Mersea Race," says Alan Hill . But disaster lurked just round the corner.

After about 10 hulls the whole Trident project was nearly wrecked by a blaze at the Isleworth yard. Everything was destroyed including the moulds. Eric contemplated emigration but then found a derelict yard at Woolston (Southampton). He got back the last hull sent to Brensall Boats and used it to create a new mould. They were soon back in business and developed a deck moulding as well.

About 275 Tridents were moulded, two thirds of which were sold for home-completion. In this way Eric pioneered the kit-boat approach which put cruising under sail within reach of the ordinary family. He even delivered hulls to customers' gardens with a special trailer which enabled them to be offloaded and reloaded when completed and ready for launching.

In 1967 Marine Construction or Marcon as Eric's company was known, launched the 27-foot Cutlass. Alan Hill's successful Sabre 27 was launched in 1968 followed by the Halberdier 36, Claymore 32, Tomahawk 25, Javelin 30 and Striker 22. Marcon also moulded Peter Brett's Rival yachts.

In 1970 Eric sold 80 per cent of the Marcon company to the Land and General Development investment company. Eric continued as managing director but eventually stepped down in 1976. Afterwards, Marcon seemed to lose impetus. And in a worsening economic climate, the company went bust in 1979.

At the sell-off auction Eric White bought the Marcon moulds he wanted, including those of the Trident and sold the mouldings through Seabourne Marine operating from Marcon's old Willments Shipyard on the River Itchen. Eric eventually retired at 65 and built himself a Nicholson 45, in which he cruised the Mediterranean and Black Sea for 5 years.

Alan Hill - Designer of the Trident 24

Tarmin - Three times around the world