Donald Campbell

MY Mulvane is fictional. She is based on two notable motor yachts from the prewar era, both of which remain in service following exemplary refits.

The first of these is Blue Bird (pictured; photo credit: David Stearne). Blue Bird was built for Malcolm Campbell, a famed British speed record setter during the interwar years, both on land and water. He named everything Blue Bird—whether car or boat, and whether built to break records or simply meant for pleasure—and so there is a profusion of Blue Birds. Sometimes the words were separate, as in the Blue Bird, but often they were concatenated: “Bluebird.” Adding to the confusion, his son, Donald, also bitten by the speed bug, continued the tradition. There were three MY Blue Birds alone, and so at some stage this one was rechristened Blue Bird of 1938, presumably to distinguish it.

The author first came across her anchored off Positano in 2013, and among the many superyachts vying for attention she was a real standout, far smaller than the others, no pool or water toys or helicopter pad, just restrained elegance rather than overweening extravagance, and—like the Mulvane in Monaco harbor—“the only one with a proper buff funnel.” For her service during the Dunkirk evacuation she was granted the rare privilege of flying a white ensign instead of a red one—inspiration for the same honor given to the fictional Mulvane. As can be seen from the photo, she attracts crowds of well-wishers wherever she goes, in this case Ramsgate harbor. Her history as a Dunkirk little ship, and many interior photos showing how well she has been restored, can be seen here.

The other vessel, also a Dunkirk veteran, is the MY Malahne, built by Camper & Nicholsons in 1937 and restored to her original glory at the Pendennis shipyard seventy-eight years later. She is substantially larger (164 ft/440 tons versus 107 ft/175 tons forBlue Bird) and her physical characteristics are a closer match to the fictional yacht. Readers might recognize from the Malahne‘s photographs the inspiration for some of the Mulvane‘s furnishings and fittings, such as the Frank Lloyd Wright-like mirrored screen behind which Evans is suprised to find a Bébé and a Bechstein, or the little bench seat installed into the curve of the elegant counter stern favored by the Marchesa, or the ovoid dining table that “is a much chummier shape for a large dinner party than the usual rectilinear.” These days the Malahne does duty as a charter yacht; pictures and details are available here.

A last note: Malcom Campbell broke the world land speed record nine times and the water speed record four times. Often the record he broke was his own. In all but the first two land attempts, the car or boat involved was named “Bluebird.” Donald Campbell broke the land speed record once and the water speed record seven times, always in a “Bluebird.” He, Donald, was killed when his Bluebird K7 crashed during an eighth water speed record attempt. His land speed record of 403.10 mph, set in 1964 in a Bluebird-Proteus CN7, remains to this day the fastest ever by a vehicle powered through its wheels.