Inside the two-year restoration of classic superyacht Marala

With Zapala on the market again, potential purchaser Arturo Lopez-Willshaw – a Chilean whose family had made their fortune in the guano trade – was given a tour of the yacht by Charles A Nicholson (whose uncle Charles E Nicholson had designed her), at the end of which he said that he liked her very much. 

A few weeks later, Nicholson phoned him to see if he was interested in taking the matter further. “Oh,” replied Lopez-Willshaw, “I told you I liked her so I presumed I had bought her.” He then did so, renamed her Gaviota IV and kept her until his death in 1962. 

The next owner was Robert de Balkany, who changed the name to Marala – derived from the names of his daughters Marina and Alexandra – and whose second wife was Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, the daughter of the last King of Italy, Umberto II. After de Balkany died in 2015, Marala was held up in probate for two years before she was bought by her current owners. 

The owners’ initial plan was to refit Marala gradually, while keeping her in commission. But after a family cruise in the Greek Islands in the summer of 2017, Captain Lawrence suggested it would be significantly more efficient to take her out of commission and do all the work in one go. So Marala spent two years at Melita Marine in Malta, where the shipyard replaced a great deal of the steelwork in the forward part of the hull, reconditioned the original 750-horsepower eight-cylinder MAN diesel engines and installed a bow thruster. She was then shipped to Falmouth by DYT’s Yacht Express for work to continue at Pendennis Shipyard.

Over the years a number of changes had been made to Marala’s external appearance and layout. Originally the upper deck superstructure encompassed only a small shelter aft of the funnel and a captain’s cabin, which had an open bridge above it. Within a couple of years, the bridge had been enclosed and the space below it converted into an owner’s cabin.

Subsequent modifications included extending the upper deck aft; adding a fixed awning aft of the shelter; extending the superstructure around the funnel, between the owner’s cabin and the shelter; replacing the railings around the foredeck with solid bulwarks; and extending the small sheltered areas each side of the owner’s cabin aft and adding three more windows to the two original ones. This last modification allowed the addition of an extra cabin on one side that was initially used by Lopez-Willshaw’s lover – Baron de Redé – and was known as the Baron’s cabin, which was later used as a storage area. 

“But the ship got really bulky, was top heavy and had lost some of her elegant lines,” says Nathan Hutchins of the London-based design studio Muza Lab, which was responsible for Marala’s latest design work. “So there was a little bit of a stripping back.” This included reverting to the two-window arrangement on each side of the owner’s cabin (which has now regained a better view) and to the railings around the foredeck. 

Each of the guest cabins on the lower deck has now been given a name with some significant reference to Marala’s history: forward of the engine room there are the Evadne and Gaviota cabins; while the cabins aft are Japan (where there were a number of Japanese prints on display when the owners bought the boat), Savoy and 388. Originally the 388 cabin was divided into two along the centreline with the bathrooms aft. Some time ago this was converted into one cabin and the area where the bathrooms were has now been incorporated into the lazarette.

No other significant layout changes have ever been made but almost all of the internal joinery and fabrics have now been renewed. There was very little of the original joinery remaining anyway, as much of it had been replaced by the French designer Georges Geffroy during a 1950s refit. All of the new joinery is made from American walnut  from just two trees, one for all the lower deck joinery and the other for the saloon, dining room and owner’s cabin. The craftspeople went to  great efforts to replicate the style of Camper & Nicholsons’ original 1930s joinery, and the lightly stained walnut was only moderately lacquered so that the open grain remains apparent.  

“We used 3D modelling throughout the interior to ensure all the spaces could be as large as possible, even with the installation of all the requisite modern systems,” says Pendennis project manager Nick Kearton. 

Once the old carpets in the main deck accommodation were removed, they discovered that the soles were made of Douglas fir that came from trees that were already around 300 years old at the time Marala was built. These have now been restored and reused. 

Hutchins has striven to address the “incredibly dark and oppressive spaces”, which he found in some parts of the boat, by careful choice of fabrics, the addition of mirrors and by maximising the natural light from outside. Much of this light comes through the original portholes, which were made by John Roby Ltd who also made those for the Titanic.

With regard to the fabrics, “we wanted to play with the history of the boat,” says Hutchins. “But at the end of the day, this is the owners’ yacht and so there also had to be touches of their personality throughout.” In particular, the owners have a love of art deco, and that is reflected in many areas, not least their own cabin “which is a little bit of a nod to the 1930s liner SS Normandie and includes a lovely de Gournay chinoiserie panel on the forward bulkhead,” says Hutchins.  

The berth surround in the Japan cabin is clad with 66 goat skins that were individually dyed in deep red and then meticulously arranged so that the small variations in colour blend together; in the Savoy cabin a rather short sleigh bed from the 1950s refit has been lengthened and then replicated to provide a twin; and as a homage to the source of Lopez-Willshaw’s fortune, the bulkhead fabrics in the Gaviota cabin are “reminiscent of seagull feathers”.

Although most of the joinery is new, many old fittings have been restored and reused. These include a multitude of brass door and drawer fittings; four light fittings that have been completely refurbished by Dernier & Hamlyn; a small stool from each cabin, all of them restored and reupholstered; a Second World War Ministry of Defence-issue clock on the bridge; much of the artwork that was hanging on the bulkheads; and “lots of little treasures and discoveries throughout the boat”, says Hutchins. Furthermore, 22 refurbished 1930s US Post Office telephones have been installed.

In addition to the steel hull structure made good in Malta, Pendennis replaced a further 100 tonnes or so, while most of the deck structure was found to be in good condition. The outside of the hull has been painted with a matt finish and with no fairing filler. “There is not much call for such a finish on yachts these days,” says Kearton, “but the owners are very sympathetic to Marala’s history and that is how her hull would have been treated originally.” 

Marala is now in the Mediterranean where she will be based for the foreseeable future. “Initially we will have a reintroduction to the vessel for my family,” says the owner. “Then I would love to be aboard Marala a few times every year and we will try to find a balance between that and letting other people use her on charter. There has been a lot of interest in that, which is not surprising as there aren’t many of these old girls left in the world.” 

There is no doubt that the owners’ aspirations have been realised, particularly in merging old and new. The project has peeled back layers to reveal the beauty of the original design and enshrined precious artefacts to acknowledge her history through the 20th century. But it has also made her a functional and comfortable boat fit for the 21st century – ready to begin a whole new chapter in her fascinating life.

First published in the March 2023 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.