George Jones, a yacht agent, bought Peter Duck in 1957 when his daughter Julia Jones was three years old and her brother Nick just fifteen months. She was replaced by the first Lottie Blossom. They were dissatisified with her (though the class became famous with over 40 copies being made), and sold her about 1950 to Philip Hayleman for £1,692. Swallow II a 10 foot clinker dinghy was towed behind Selina King and Peter Duck as a tender to avoid having to haul a dinghy on deck. She leaked under rain, and there were difficulties with the sails and the Pin Mill mooring. She had two bunks as specified, but Arthur was horrified there was only 2 feet 6 inches headroom at the aft end instead of 3 feet (though the plans he had been given showed 3 feet headroom only at the forward end). She was a ketch 28 feet 3 inches long with a draught of 3 feet 6 inches and a beam of 9 feet. Genia could not find a good thing to say about her, and after sailing in her once with Colonel Busk Arthur decided to finish with the sea and sell her for £1,200 then in just over a month he bought her back, so losing over £300! She was designed by Jack Gyles of Lymington, and built by Harry King of Pin Mill. Arthur wanted a sort of "marine bath-chair", a "minimum of work to sail and yet provide the maximum comfort for two". The sailing ketch Peter Duck was commissioned by the Ransomes in 1945 to replace Selina King, and completed in April 1947.
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