Like two of the other surviving wherries, Maud and Solace, she was built by Daniel S. Hall of Reedham.

[1] The wherry was named Hathor in memory of Ethel and Helen's brother Alan Colman who had died in Luxor in 1897 whilst on a convalescent trip with the family; they had travelled the Nile on a boat called Hathor.

The design was based on Egyptian hieroglyphics and mythology, which Boardman's partner Graham Cotman had sketched from originals at the British Museum.

The Hathor had cabins to sleep six, with extra accommodation for the skipper and steward, and made her maiden voyage on 2 August 1905.

She was then sold on and used as a houseboat until 1985 when the Wherry Yacht Charter Trust purchased her in a dilapidated state and undertook an extensive two-year restoration.