Early Types of Yacht

EARLY TYPES OF YACHT Early English Yachts.—Among the earliest of which there is any record were the "Pearl," 95 tons, built by Sainty at Wyven hoe near Colchester in 1820, for the marquess of Anglesey, and the "Arrow," 84 tons, originally 61 ft. 91 in. long and 18 ft. 51 in. beam, built by Joseph Weld in 1822, which for many years re mained a racing yacht, having been rebuilt and altered several times. The Thames soon followed the example of the Solent and established the Royal Thames yacht club in 1823, the Clyde founding the Royal Northern yacht club in 1824, and Plymouth the Royal Western in 1827. In this year the Royal Yacht Squa dron passed a resolution disqualifying any member who should apply steam to his yacht. In 1830 one of the largest cutters ever constructed .was launched, viz., the "Alarm," built by Inman at Lymington for Joseph Weld of Lulworth Castle, from the lines of a famous smuggler captured off the Isle of Wight. She was 82 ft. on the load-line by 24 f t. beam, and was reckoned of 193 tons, old measurement, in which length, breadth and half-breadth (sup posed to represent depth) were the factors for computation. Some yachtsmen at this time preferred still larger vessels and owned square-topsail schooners and brigs like the man-o'-war brigs of the day, such as the "Waterwitch," 381 tons, built by White of Cowes, in 1832, for Lord Belfast, and the "Brilliant," barque, 493 tons, belonging to J. Holland Ackers, who invented a scale of time allowance for competitive sailing. In 1834 the first royal cup was given by William IV. to the Royal Yacht Squadron. In 1836 the Royal Eastern yacht club was founded at Granton near Edinburgh; in 1838 the Royal St. George's at Kingstown and the Royal London; in 1843 the Royal Southern at Southampton and the Royal Harwich; in 1844 the Royal Mersey at Liverpool and the Royal Victoria at Ryde. The number of vessels kept pace with the clubs—the so yachts of 1812 increasing nearly tenfold before the middle of the century.

First Alteration in Type.

In 1848, after J. Scott Russell had repeatedly drawn attention to the unwisdom of constructing sailing vessels on the "cod's head and mackerel tail" plan, and had enunciated his wave-line theory, Mare built at Blackwall an entirely new type of vessel, with a long hollow bow and a short after-body of considerable fulness. This was the iron cutter "Mosquito," of 59 f t. 2 in. water-line, 15 f t. 3 in. beam, and measuring so tons. Prejudice against the new type of yacht being as strong as against the introduction of steam, there were no vessels built like the "Mosquito," with the exception of the "Volante," 59 tons, by Harvey of Wyvenhoe, until the eyes of English yachtsmen were opened by the Americans three years later. About this period yacht racing had been gradually coming

into favour in the United States. (See below.) John C. Stevens, who played a leading part in the development of boats for pleas ure sailing and racing in the United States, commissioned George Steers of New York, builder of the crack pilot schooners, to construct a racing schooner to visit England in the year of the great exhibition, and the result was the "America" of 170 tons. She crossed the Atlantic in the summer of 1851, but failed to compete for the Queen's cup at Cowes in August, although the club for that occasion threw the prize open to all the world, as her owner declined to concede the usual time allowance for difference of size. The members of the Yacht Squadron, not wishing to risk the reproach of denying the visitor a fair race, decided that their match for a cup given by the club, to be sailed round the Isle of Wight later in the same month, should be without any time allow ance. The "America" entered and competed against i 5 other vessels. The three most dangerous competitors being put out through accidents, the "America" passed the winning-post 18 minutes ahead of the 47-ton cutter "Aurora," and won the cup; but, even if the time allowance had not been waived, the American schooner yacht would still have won by fully a couple of minutes. The prize was given to the New York Yacht Club and consti tuted a challenge cup, called "the America's cup," for the yachts of all nations, by the deed of gift of the owners of the winner. (See below for a complete account of these races.) The First Great Era of Yacht Racing.—Between 187o and 188o there were some very notable additions to the racing fleet, including the schooners "Gwendolin," "Cetonia," "Corinne," "Mi randa" and "Waterwitch"; the large cutters "Kriemhilda," "Vol au Vent," "Formosa," "Samoena" and "Vanduara," a cutter built of steel; the 4o-tonners "Foxhound," "Bloodhound," "Myosotis" and "Norman"; the 2o-tonners "Vanessa" (Hatcher's master piece), "Quickstep," "Enriqueta," "Louise" and "Freda"; and the yawls "Florinda," "Corisande," "Jullanar" and "Latona." The "Jullanar" may be noted as a specially clever design. Built in 1874 from the ideas of Bental, an agricultural implement maker of Maldon, Essex, she had no dead wood forward or aft, and possessed many improvements in design which were em bodied and developed by the more scientific naval architects, G. L. Watson, William Fife, Jr., and others in later years. Lead, the use of which commenced in 1846, was entirely used for ballast after 187o and placed on the keel outside.