Workers in the 15-strong refit department are expected to feel the brunt of the job cuts after they complete work on the Dunkirk evacuation boat The Bounty .The company says it wants to concentrate on building Endeavour 42 powerboats, which are popular in the Mediterranean.

The memo said the Gosport site was not suitable for the type of work it needed to do.

Camper & Nicholsons recently finished refitting Gipsy Moth IV - the boat sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in the first solo circumnavigation in 1967.

BB tried to contact yard manager Rafael Burgio many times to confirm this story, but he refused to respond to the many messages left.

Lending weight to the information contained in the leaked memo is the report that the company is not taking bookings for boats to be lifted out unless they can be launched again by the end of September.

As BB went to press, the future for the most famous name in British yachting looked less than sparkling