Sir Bernard Docker, the British industralist commissioned John Thornycroft & Company to build a yacht to his specifications. The yacht was completed in 1938 and christened MY Shemara.
It was requisitioned by the Royal Navy at the start of the Second World War in 1939 and used as a training vessel for anti-submarine warfare. It was during a training exercise with HMS Shemara that the submarine HMS Untamed was lost. Untamed was on a training exercise in the Firth of Clyde on 30 May, 1943 acting as a target.
In the second exercise that day, Untamed was used as a target for anti-submarine mortar practice by the Shemara. When the submarine did not respond to attempts to contact her nor surface, assistance was summoned. Shemara located Untamed with sonar and heard the sounds of her engines being run and tanks being blown.
HMS Thrasher arrived but no more was heard from Untamed after 17:45 – nearly three hours from the first indication of a problem. Weather prevented divers inspecting the submarine until 1 June. There was no outward sign of damage and it was not until after Untamed was salvaged on 5 July, 1943 that it was found that she had been flooded through a sluice valve.
After the war the Shemara was returned to Sir Bernard Docker and was used as a yacht once again. In 1965, Bernard Docker put Shemara on the market for £600,000; it was eventually sold for £290,000. She has had numerous owners ever since but three and a half years ago she underwent a major refit which has returned her to her former glory.
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