That sinking feeling

Roger Brown, the quality watchdog turned Southampton Institute principal, is unsurprisingly keen to steer clear of the murkier events in the institute's past. He was noticeably nervous posing for publicity shots in front of a picture of a boat. Was it, he wondered, The Halcyon, remembered dimly by long-serving staff as the former institute yacht, whose sale was shrouded in corporate mist? Dr Brown was assured that all pictures of the boat have long since sunk without trace.