The story of Voluta begins with her first owner George MacAndrew, a businessman who took his holidays at Seaview on the Isle of Wight and who wanted a boat that could be moored close inshore. MacAndrew was a serial boat owner and astute yachtsman who had already commissioned boats and yachts from several Solent boatbuilders. In his notebook ‘Notes Relating to my Sea Boats and Yachts, 1886-1902,’ he describes his adventures in said craft and his dealings with the boatbuilders, in a charming glimpse back into a distant age, when yacht cruising was still a fledgling sport. A yachtsman could walk into a boatyard through the wood shavings and sawdust, see the craftsmen at work and stop and talk through his conception for a new yacht build with the boatbuilder and/or designer, who would then add his expertise to those ideas to create a unique new yacht.
In 1886, MacAndrew commissioned a 15ft (4.6m) open centreboard boat from Picket of Southampton, before taking on and finishing to his requirements , a 35-footer (10.7m) in 1890. That same year, he commissioned Lukes of Hamble to build a 17ft (5.2m) “scientifically designed miniature yacht” – . He was very taken with ’s sea keeping and speed, and it led to the conception of . In 1893, with his family of an age to take more involvement with his yachting, he commissioned , a 34ft (10.4m) yacht, choosing Stow and Sons of Shoreham over Paynes of Southampton to build her, the quotes given being £300 versus £450 respectively, leading him to conclude that “one has to pay for contracting a fashionable firm!” He had.
