Royal yacht

“ She was designed by Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy. Construction: diagonal principle, Dantzic oak without, horizontal planking of Italian larch. This yacht, it may here be stated, was subsequently, when a new 'Victoria and Albert' was built, known as the 'Osborne.'
In 1844, it is to be noted, it was ordered that the Royal yacht should carry the Royal standard at the main, the Admiralty flag at the fore, and the Union Jack at the mizzen, which order remains in force at the present time. ”

“ She was steel-built, with steel lower masts, bowsprit, and lower and topsail yards; and even if she had not been sporting the ensign of the New York Yacht Club at her ensign staff and its burgee at her main royal-mast-head, I should still have known her for a yacht from the perfection of her lines, the dainty and exquisite beauty of her shape, the whiteness of her decks (notwithstanding their somewhat littered condition) , the beautiful modelling of her boats, her polished teak rails, and generally the high finish and perfect cleanliness of her deck fittings. ”

“ The Henrietta—Lead sheathing—Stowage of ballast—The Charlotte—Ruyter's victory at Chatham—The Fanfan—Panther—Folly—Monmouth—Merlin—The London docks—Plague and fire—Rebuilding of London—The yacht Lenox—The Solalis—The Kitchin and other royal yachts—Striking topsails to the colors—The yacht Industry's voyage to Maryland, the first English yacht to cross the Atlantic—The King's last yachting cruise—His dying words. IN 1663 only one yacht appears to have been added to the fleet—the Henrietta, built at Woolwich, by Christopher Pett, and named after King Charles's mother. ”

“ The Royalist, as already noticed, belonged to the Royal Yacht Squadron, which in foreign ports admits her to the same privileges as a man-of-war, and enables her to carry a white ensign. She sails fast, is conveniently fitted up, is armed with six six-pounders, a number of swivels, and small arms of all sorts, carries four boats, and provisions for four months. Her principal defect is being too sharp in the floor, which, in case of taking the ground, greatly increases the risk ”

“ A tin of white enamel and a bit of polished brass, a few deck-chairs and a slip of carpet under the awning aft—awning aft and all accessories included in the sale price—and a man might go swaggering round to Cowes and take anchorage under the very nose of the Royal yacht. ”

“ Some years elapsed, after The Yacht Club was established, before racing or its annual regatta became features of yachting at Cowes. The yachts composing its fleet were fine sea-going vessels, built, rigged, and manned in imitation of vessels of a similar class in the Royal Navy, and were often commanded by Naval officers on leave of absence. Speed was regarded as of less importance than good seamanship at the reviews of the fleet, which were occasionally held in the Solent, or, keeping the decks, guns, spars, and rigging in shipshape and man-of-war fashion. ”

“ Nowhere do we find royal yachts in England rigged as cutters during the eighteenth century, although the cutter rig was used on private yachts, smugglers, and in the Royal Navy.
There were also "customs" and "excise" cutters, known in the present century as revenue cutters, which, in the United States were all rigged as schooners until they became steamers. About the middle of the nineteenth century there was one celebrated revenue "cutter," rigged as a topsail schooner, called the Hamilton, commanded by Captain Josiah Sturgis, whose sister married Joshua Bates, of Baring Brothers, London. ”

“ The sight was beautiful in the extreme; for, independent of the racing-vessels, hundreds of other yachts were sailing about in every direction. The course also being round the Nab light, and a similar light-vessel moored at the mouth of the Southampton Water, the racing-yachts were the whole time in sight of Ryde. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club-house was decorated with banners, and from a battery in front of it were fired the necessary signals and salutes, while several yachts anchored off the pier-head were also gayly-decked with flags. ”

“ The introduction of steam-propelled vessels was objected to by sailing-yacht owners, but the advantages of auxiliary power in yachts intended for cruising overcame all opposition, and in the course of a few years the number of yachts of all rigs, even cutters, fitted with auxiliary power, steadily increased. Machine-driven yachts are intended as cruisers. A few steam-yachts had paddle-wheels, the latter being specially favoured for all vessels intended for Government or for Royal use, where sea-going qualities were required. ”

“ This was the first iron vessel owned by the British Government. Her dimensions were: length 144·8 feet, breadth 21 feet 11⁄2 inches, draught 6 feet, displacement 210 tons, horse-power 416, and speed 13·21 knots.
It is only fitting that the finest Royal yachts afloat intended purely for pleasure purposes should be at the disposal of the monarch of the leading maritime nation, and the latest Royal yachts built for the late King Edward merit this description. They are the present Victoria and Albert and the Alexandra, the latter built in 1908. ”

“ It was a beautiful ship, and the dockyard had been lavish with their attention to detail. From bow to rear tubes she was plated in pure gold. There are other metals with a higher albedo, but none that give a richer effect. All the fittings, inside and out, were either machine-turned or plated. All this work could not have been done in the time allotted, the Navy must have adapted a luxury yacht to my needs.
Everything was ready. Either Pepe would make his move—or I would sail on to my billionaire's paradise planet. ”

“ As here seen she justified the alterations made in her and remained for many years the fastest schooner of the fleet. But not only in rig and design did America make a complete revolution. Hitherto our sails had been mere wind-bags, but the America had her sails made so as to lace to the spars, while ours had been loose-footed on the boom. The American yacht’s canvas thus set flatter and she could hold a better wind than our craft. Henceforth English sail-makers adopted the new idea. ”

“ Still, sixteen knots is a pretty good pace; and it was an exhilarating sight to watch the rush of the white yacht over that glorious sapphire sea, with every sail accurately set and trimmed and tugging at the beautiful hull like a team of cart horses, the long, weighty swell chasing us, wind-whipped and capped with seething crests of snow-white foam, while the great, glass-smooth bow wave went roaring away on either hand with its hissing and leaping crown of froth sparkling like gems in the rays of the declining sun. ”

“ To keep one of the vessels costs more than the expenses of the majority of the households in the country. A crew of five men is needed, and it is a question whether, all things considered, more real substantial interest and enjoyment is not taken by a lover of the sea and of sailing in an ordinary sail-boat, which he and a friend or two are amply competent to man and manage, than is taken by the owners of the most luxuriantly furnished yachts in the world. As pleasure ships, however, the yacht is all that can be desired. ”

“ For the most part the devotees of steam yachting are drawn from the general public without special regard of the situation of their home, as a yacht can be kept on the seaboard or on the lakes, whilst the owner may live far from the sight and sound of the sea; the restless spirit of our countrymen prompts them to embark into every scheme of pleasure-making, as well as business enterprise. ”

“ In connection with this experience, it may be remarked that, as a general rule, our pleasure fleet is over-masted. We are advised in these matters by sailmakers, who look to the Solent and its sheltered water as the normal condition with which yachtsmen have to deal. When we venture forth from that smooth and too-much frequented arm of the sea into open waters, our vessels have to pass a far more severe ordeal, and (p. 34) they do not always come out of it to our satisfaction. Many are compelled to stay in harbour when a passage might have been made in a snugly rigged yacht. ”

“ It is only indeed of late years that racing-yachts have had a new suit of sails each season; although, for the America's Cup contests, yachts during the last decade have been provided with almost as many spare racing-sails as a Newport belle is provided with frocks.
The fleet had another addition this year in the Bezan, a small yacht; length of keel, 34 feet; breadth, 14 feet; depth, 7 feet; draught, 3 feet 6 inches; she came from Holland and was given to the King by the Dutch, but exactly by whom, is not recorded. ”

“ How will this work in a squall?—on a rock?—in the dark?—or in a rushing tide?—a crowded lock; not to say in a storm?
The internal arrangements of my boat having been fully settled with the advantage of the canoe experiences, the yacht itself was designed by Mr. John White, of Cowes—and who could do it better? She was to be first safe, next comfortable, and then fast. If, indeed, you have two men aboard, one to pick up the other when he falls over, then you may put the last of the above three qualities first, but not prudently when there is only one man to do the whole. ”

“ It was up to me to secure for myself an invitation to join the party on Sir Alexander Garth's yacht.
She was a beautiful craft, with a good turn of speed, to judge by her design. As we drew nearer, I could see, by the many evidences of comfort displayed, that her owner must be a man of wealth. The snowy decks, the burnished brass and copper fittings, the clean, well turned-out sailors who were busy on the deck beneath the striped sun-awnings, the neat gangway let down over the side with its clean white hand-rope—the whole impression given was one of luxury regardless of cost. ”

“ This species of vessel is similar, in nearly all respects, to the sloop; the only difference being that it is better and more elegantly built. Gentlemen’s pleasure yachts are frequently cutters; but yachts may be of any form or rig—that is, they may belong to any class of vessels without changing their name of yacht. Cutter-yachts are much more elegantly moulded and rigged than the sloops that we have just described. They are clipper-built—that is, the hull is smoothly and sharply shaped; the cut-water, in particular, is like a knife, and the bow wedge-like. ”

“ But Plank had not appeared; his new sea-going steam yacht still lay in the East River, and, at rare intervals, a significant glimmer of bunting disclosed the owner's presence aboard for an hour or two. That was all, however; and the cliff-watchers at Shotover House and the Fells looked seaward in vain for the big Siwanoa, as yacht after yacht, heralded by the smudge on the horizon, turned from a gray speck to a white one, and crept in from the sea to anchor. ”

“ We take it that the general yachting public require in a yacht: That she shall be safe in all conditions of wind and weather; that she shall combine the maximum of room on deck and below with the minimum of prime cost; and that she shall be driven as fast as may be with the least expenditure of labour—i.e. that she shall have a moderate and workable sail-area. Therefore, as but few men can afford to build for racing, and for racing only, and as the racer of to-day is the cruiser of a few years hence, any rating rule should by its limitations encourage such a wholesome type of vessel. ”

“ These several orders were executed; and the yacht lay rocking, with scarcely any progressive motion, on the sluggish surges, which all at once began to heave and swell, as if lifted by some vast and mysterious power beneath. She was nearly divested of her canvass, yet still beautiful in her nakedness, showing to advantage the graceful symmetry of her tapering spars, and the exquisite shape and proportions of her hull. Like a bird seated on the water, she yielded to every undulation of the heaving billows with a grace that seemed the instinct of life. ”

“ At every port along its course the New York Yacht Squadron receives large augmentations of both sailing and steam yachts, so that at last, when the fleet anchors in the harbour of New London, it is an armada of pleasure craft laden with pleasure-seeking yachtsmen, all in accord to make this demonstration the brightest and gayest event of the season. ”

“ Sailing in a race affords excellent opportunity for noticing the other competing craft and admiring the goodly company assembled around. The big cutters are leading, and some of the forties astern. That 'Queen Mab' will hold her own with the best is a point upon which we feel happily confident, her racing flags being proof of her capacity—thirty-six is the number she showed at the end of the season. This yacht, as mentioned elsewhere, was built with a centreboard, but instead of a huge partition in the centre of the saloon, the board came under the main companion, and was quite unnoticeable. ”

“ It is possible for those who have a fresh-air fund of their own to steam away in a yacht, out of the midsummer ennui and the weary gayety of the land. It is a costly pleasure, and probably all the more enjoyed on that account, for if everybody had a yacht there would be no more feeling of distinction in sailing one than in going to any of the second-rate resorts on the coast. ”