Mosaique

19.01.2026 - present
m/y Mosaique
Captain

Mosaique in Salcombe

Mosaique in Ocean Village marina 

The Mosaique is a 50-metre motor yacht know for her Hampton's "country house" elegance and extensive charter history. Built by the Turkish shipyard Proteksan Turquoise Yachts and delivered in 2001 as NB35, she recently underwent a significant interior refresh and technical overhaul in 2022. After changing hands in 2025 she was due her special survey in 2026 and works were carried out towards passing the annuals including an aesthetic refresh of interior by Mark Berryman design.

Mosaique in Ocean Village Marina Southampton

Already in 2025 I had gotten whispers from some industry colleagues that she would be soon purchased and then in early Jan 2026 I got a call asking if I would be interested in joining her as full time Captain. Normally I would decline an offer this small but as I knew the principal to be a fair employer I accepted the challenge, and also for the chance to cruise UK. Soon I was packing my bag in the Philippines and flew to a frigid UK in January, from Heathrow I took the bus to Southampton and signed on a couple of hours later in Ocean Village marina.

Mosaique in Fowey

The outgoing Captain handed over as best he could, obviously he was eager to get home. I could not get a written handover note apart from the 'tick the box' exercise so my own would have to suffice. The bridge was still on paper charts which already told a story in itself - she was an old lady and needed upgrading. The Captain and C/E told me of various systems that are in a dilapidated condition and would need total overhaul or renewal. According to them so much was in a bad or inoperable condition that I started having doubts of her technical condition. The machinery monitoring system, main switchboard, main engines, generators, hull, A/C system, etc., etc.

Mosaique in Fowey

As days turned into weeks I had some systems in place, we were working on items not needing a drydock, the bridge was renewed for paperless, I got a decent chief engineer that really liked to get dug in. Did a proper engine test and got a clean slate of health. Then had few cruises, one to Fowey and back to Soton, another to Portsmouth, then to Falmouth. The last was Soton - Salcombe - Scilly Isles - Fowey - Dartmouth - Soton, almost 2 weeks. The one thing that really needs a lot of attention is the weather and tide, it brought back my years on the small coasters when I had been sailing to the continent and back to Finland. The small Cornish villages were very interesting and had loads of history to read about.

Mosaique in Fowey

It started to show very clearly that the electrical issues that had plagued her from inception were still much alive and the two and a half decades with various heroes having had a go at her did also show, some teething issues had been solved and other had been bypassed. The yard quotation processes went ahead and final contenders were Melita in Malta and Pendennis in Falmouth. After Pendennis sharpened their pen they got the contract and things were getting urgent, we had 4 weeks of charter contract to satisfy from July onwards.

Mosaique in Falmouth, Pendennis marina

As we arrived we did a seatrial for noise, vibration and engine performance, then we debunkered and was lifted up by 16th April, the yard faffed around the whole day as they got the weight distribution wrong but eventually she came up and bottom cleaning could start. The antifoul came off in long strips so possibly it was evidence of stray currents that would also need to be found out. I was also surprised by the few anodes that had been fitted on the hull and after reconsulting the docking plan it was as planned but later I found she had an active cathodic protection system from launch but seemingly been defunct for years. Yard did a plan for a new anode plan and in the end we blanked off the active protection units and put more anodes on the hull instead.

Mosaique in Falmouth, Pendennis marina

Yard gave us Cornish clotted cream and the landlady gave scrumpy as welcome gifts. The scrumpy I took a sip and left it for the boys to destroy, it didn't taste very nice as well as I have kept myself dry for some time now and didn't feel like having a blast. Days suddenly rolled into weeks and then a month had gone by, we had moved into a house some 2.5 km away so every morning and evening started and ended with a walk. It was not bad to unwind on a walk and get your thoughts together, by 5pm the town was pretty much closed apart from pubs and restaurants that I did not frequent, so walked straight home every day. Oddly the yard did not work weekends so neither did we unless needed. The weather had favored us pretty well, I think only one morning or evening I came home a bit wet. Works were going on in my opinion too slow and I pointed this out numerous times but seems the Cornish style is very laid back and nothing really happened. The yard kept discovering issues and variation orders kept coming in at a steady pace but the work pace stayed the same.

 

Mosaique in Falmouth, Pendennis marina

I could see the 2022 refit was only to change the interior from English style villa to the now touted Hampton's style country house. I've never been in Hamptons so to me it looked a bit like a Scandinavian summer house but painted over with grey color. Other than that it looked like no effort had been put into the technical side of the yacht as we kept discovering the proverbial Pandora's box for a whole warehouse of them. I think Donald Starkey and Kristina Ferrand may have baulked a bit if they ever saw the new grey look. Below I put some pictures of original & Hampton's grey look.

Mosaique's original white look

Aft deck

Upper deck

Upper deck al fresco

Sun deck

Owner's office

Master suite

Master Bathroom

Dining room

Main Salon

Upper salon

VIP cabin

Guest cabin

Main salon

Upper salon

Day head

Bathroom

*****

The Hamptons style refit, they got rid of the British baroque look that was the original. The colors look much lighter than they were in reality. Especially when it was cloudy and overcast outside.

Sun deck fwd

Jacuzzi

Sun deck aft

Sun deck

Upper deck

Forward of bridge

Al fresco on upper deck (they kept the old furniture)

Upper deck

Upper salon

Upper salon

Guest bath

Twin cabin

Guest bath

Double cabin

Guest bath

VIP cabin

Guest bath

Guest double

Guest bath

Guest double

Guest bath

Owner's

Master cabin

Dining room

Main salon

Main salon

*****

New Berryman renderings

Upper deck

Upper deck al fresco dining

Upper deck

Dining room

Main salon

Main salon

Main salon bar

Main salon

These changes happened during our special survey drydocking that took place in Pendennis in Falmouth. We arrived 13th April and started a frantic 8 weeks doing technical works on her to get in shape for the charter season. We already had many weeks booked in the Med so the cogs had to mesh or there would be hell to pay. Eventually we finished the 8 weeks and then some, unfortunately we discovered that the work that had taken place in prior maintenance periods was just shoddily done with poor spare parts or equipment was just simply run down into the ground. She really had been used to the hilt. Everything we opened up was a near disaster just about to happen, it was quite depressing really to quickly push for spares and labor to rectify. It also surprised me that we had had no mishaps during the winter when cruising the south coast of UK.

Major technical maintenance was done to main engines, auxiliary engines had several units renewed, alternators cleaned and bearings changed, main switch board got new instruments and a clean, stabilizers got new shafts and an overhaul, cutless bearing renewed, some structural and pipe hot works was carried out as per class observations, several overboard valve renewals, anode plan was redone, propellers polished and balanced, rudders pulled and refitted with new bearings, new anti-fouling, refreshed fresh water tanks, anchors renewed, the whole a/c system renewed with air handling units and overhauled compressors. Chart plotters were installed to make us paperless, fresh water treatment was installed (the old one having been discarded by previous crew), swim platform teak was renewed, hydraulic oil polisher was installed. On top of this we had to do all annual safety checks and inspections, they were a nightmare to book and coordinate as yard kept moving the goal posts for our refloating. 

The interior refit went along for public areas and the Master suite, new color scheme and furniture, brown details inserted in many places adding some color to the grey. I think the end result worked out quite well and the owners got what they wanted.

The last push was getting out of the yard and commissioning the a/c system and a few things that broke at same when were carrying out the flag survey, the surveyor kept us busy for one and a half day and then he delegated the rest to our class that then came and did the rest. To make matters worse was that it was weekend and we could get no support from yard and suppliers as they were all out of office, gone are the days when shipping had no rest.

Anyhow, yard made last effort rally to get us out on time and come Monday they hauled us up again and by Thursday we were refloated for seatrials. This time all was ok and the afternoon was spent satisfying Flag on their snaglist and finally we could leave and set our course for the Med with 2700 nautical miles to eat up. More adventures to follow... 

*****

Mosaique in Portsmouth 

History:

Having rooted around in the old documents I did find some interesting data about when she was built. It seems it had been a bit chaotic as one could imagine. First of all there was a lot of hand written notes being faxed back and forth from designers to the site manager/ build Captain Tork Buckley and yard rep's as sometimes design was not going according to reality and the design office was kicking off, it also looked like Mr Starkey and Ms Ferrand were not always on best terms of agreement. Another interesting aspect is that the drawings that were being faxed around are not as it finally ended up to be, at least not as it is now 25 years later.

Mosaique in Southampton 

Then more issues followed with MCA regarding stability and other safety items for compliance, it looks like progress was slow and MCA sent terse messages that they don't have time to come for unnecessary inspections. On 28th Sept 2001 there was a 63 point fax outlining safety issues to be resolved from previous visits and also referring to other points found in previous visit in 2000. The major issues remain that stability is under question (they sent other data than observed), then the rescue boat crane, seems the base was not built strong enough and may have to be de-rated.

Mosaique in Southampton 

Then follows drama between MCA, ABS and Proteksan. The yard is accusing ABS of waylaying drawings submitted to them I guess to lay blame on them why the project is presumably late, ABS denies this accusation. Also MCA responds to yard having told crew and esp. the Captain should not attend meetings with flag as well as yard insinuating he may not have the requisite certificate of competency for command, they tell yard that crew should be able to attend. Bit of a comedy really.  

Mosaique in Southampton 

Then by 28th January 2002 there is a fax to Owners from the Patton marine consultants outlining the de-rating of the crane SWL from intended 3t. It may have been done but the same inflatable rescue boat is still on the aft deck today. Maybe the stability would not allow a heavier boat, I saw they had built a 7m "Seahorse" limo tender to put up on deck. It was obvious that somebody had dropped a clanger and there was storm clouds brewing and legal beagles rustling papers. Patton marine issued to the yard a 27 page snagging list of items from keel to trunk. There was also some dispatches about fixed 10t of lead ballast that was added for some reason but never made official and then in 2014 it was removed. Personally I feel she's quite stiff, even now without any ballast.

Mosaique in Fowey

Then during summer 2001 (looks like Captain Tork had moved on by then and had been replaced by another Captain) there are several memo's issued from build crew to yard about snags. One complaint is about missing connections (one A4 of items) to ships earth system, it is reported an AV contractor got shocked from the A/C installation whilst installing his gear. 

Mosaique in Fowey

On 7th June 2001 there is an attempt for seatrials with ABS Class onboard, from the looks of it the whole exercise went pear shaped. The yard skipper had let go all lines but then engines would not engage. Subsequently anchor dropped but could not heave it up as no hydraulic pressure. Eventually this was fixed and vessel got out for some trials, crash stopping stalled engines. Sounded like normal trialing though. End of day there was a photo shoot before returning to dock.

On 12th of June 2001 there was another seatrial, pretty much the same results as in the previous one. Appalling safety arrangements with bilges full of oil and piping lacking lagging.

On 27th June 2001 there is again an attempt of seatrial and as they test engines the lines are slack and the aft is damaged against the jetty. Furthermore, the starboard propeller falls off and they discover it had been fitted wrong. Luckily the bow didn't fall off...

Mosaique GA (credit: Fraser yachts)

All in all the build seems to be a typical setup and major egoes about, some people involved perhaps did not understand what they were doing and other thought they did. Nevertheless they got the show on the road in the end and she still floats today. The chaotic electrical wiring is still a mess but we have cleaned up as much as we can and we reinstated the earth leak alarm. Like the saying goes, 'work never ceases onboard...'

Her specs as follows (edited for correctness):

Superyacht Name: Mosaique

Built by: Proteksan Turquoise Yachts Inc. in Istanbul, Turkiye and launched in: 2001

O.N. / IMO no: 733837 / 8976009
Length Overall: 49.99 metres
Waterline Length (LWL): 44.55m

Beam: 9.3m

Draught max: 2.84m
Naval architecture: Dubois Naval Architects
Interior designers: Donald Starkey Designs / Kristina Ferrand

Interior refit 2026: Mark Berryman
GT / NT: 589 / 176
Displacement: 480 tons
Hull / Superstructure: steel / aluminium
Helicopter landing pad: No
Decks: Teak
Flag: Cayman Islands
Official port of registry: George Town
Class: American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Completed survey under Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) Large Yacht Code: Yes
Max guests: 12
Number of crew: 12
Propulsion: 2 x 809 kW Caterpillar, model: 3508B diesel.
Total main engine power output 1619 KW.
Economic cruise speed is 11.5 knots
Top speed: 14 knots
Range in nautical Miles is 3500 at a speed of 11.5 knots.
Bunkering capacity: 85000 litres.
Potable water capacity: 24000 litres
Power generation: Caterpillar 2 x 160 kW
Stabilisers: Quantum
A/C: Nauticool.