Every one who has cruised down Channel is familiar with the French Chasse-Marée, a curious figure on the sea-line, with her lug-sails and three crazy-looking masts. Over the mainmast she sets a square topsail, while forward she carries a long bowsprit with a small jib, the latter being in shape more of an equal-sided triangle than the modern English jib, while the French lug-sail is sheeted very high, as will be seen from the sketch (see Fig. 107).

At one time Norfolk was famous for its beach yawls. Those who have visited Great Yarmouth will have noticed these very large open boats painted white with (if I remember correctly) a riband of green running along the gunwale. Double-ended, they are now usually rigged cutter fashion and used as pleasure boats. Clinker-built, they have a very fine entrance and a clean run, and sometimes measure 50 feet in length and 10 feet beam. They used to carry three lug-sails and jib owing to French influence. In the days when sailing ships were more frequent than to-day, Yarmouth Roads were usually a crowded anchorage, and these yawls would be launched almost every day during the winter to assist a vessel that had been picked up by the shoals. Nowadays one still sees them used for bringing pilots ashore, but it is at the Yarmouth and Lowestoft regattas that one is able to realise alike their enormous speed on a reach and the dexterity of each crew, numbering about twenty. The three-masted lug rig of olden days has now given way to a two-master with a dipping lug for the main and standing mizzen, besides a small jib forward.

Until about 1860 the Scotch fishing boat was entirely influenced by Norway, and even to-day no one could deny that this influence is altogether wanting. But at last the fisherman began to seek the herring further out to sea, and so a bolder, decked ship was evolved, and clinker-build gave way to carvel, and the design was given finer lines and greater draught. I have watched a fleet of such vessels as in Fig. 108 running into Scarborough Bay with an onshore breeze in the soft light of a September afternoon, with their yacht-like lines and their fine massive hulls suggesting an ideal combination of strength and beauty. Most of these large “Zulus,” as they are called, carry steam capstans for getting in the heavy nets, hoisting sail and warping into harbour. Within the last few years they have been fitted with steering wheels instead of helms. They are good boats to windward, and are able to carry their enormous lugs longer than most vessels could keep aloft a similar area of sail.

The Cornish lugger is able to carry a larger mizzen but a smaller lug forward than his Scotch cousin. Fig. 109 is an example of a Penzance lugger. She draws also more water aft than the “Zulu.” The Penzance luggers are famous all over England for their seaworthiness and easy lines. They are usually about fifteen or twenty tons, have in proportion to their size very high bulwarks to encounter the Atlantic seas, and an exaggerated outrigger over the stern unsupported by stays and cocked up at an angle to clear the sea when the ship is pitching. Her mizzen is longer than her mainmast, and rakes forward at a great angle. Sometimes they set a topsail, as seen in the sketch over the mizzen: and at times they also run out a bowsprit and jib.

We could not close our list of characteristic luggers without including that brave little ship the Deal galley-punt (see Fig. 110). Chapman in his “Architectura Navalis Mercatoria,” published in 1768,[117] shows a Deal lugger (or as she is called then a Deal cutter) with three spritsails, the mizzen having a bumpkin, whilst a jib is set on a bowsprit forward: but this type has become obsolete. In those days they were engaged in taking out from the shore heavy anchors and cables to vessels in the Downs which stood in need of them. With the advent of steam and improved holding gear their days of usefulness departed. But a smaller type, the Deal lugger, of which we now speak, is still a feature of the sailing craft at the eastern end of the Channel as she goes about her business “hovelling” or hovering on the look-out for such odd jobs as taking pilots ashore or attending on shipping between Dungeness and the North Foreland. Never a ship gets picked up by the treacherous Goodwins but the Deal lugger comes running out in any weather, ready for a salvage job and a third of its value as a reward. Even whilst these lines are passing through the press, they have been busy standing by the Mahratta liner stranded on the Goodwins, and hurrying ashore with the passengers and cargo of tea salved from the hold of the big steamer. These little craft sail very close to the wind and are out in the worst of weathers, and require considerable skill in handling. The one lug-sail has to be lowered and hoisted at each tack, but they are wonderfully quick both under sail and when rowed. Any sailing man will tell you how excellent a sail for lifting a boat the lug-sail is, and well the little Deal galley needs it. The yard of the sail hooks on to a traveller and is hoisted by halyards up the mast, a purchase being used to “sweat” it down taught. The rudder is made easily detachable, supported on pintles with a rope-strop attached. It is her length in proportion to her beam that gives her such speed. Clinker-built, the Deal lugger is about thirty feet long. Her mast is placed some distance from the bows, and is very stumpy, but in spite of this the Deal galley punt is a wonderful little ship on a reach.

Having shown the directions in which the development of smaller ships has taken place, and especially in the trading and fishing craft, let us now turn our attention to that very modern development, the yacht. As we set out not to write a history of yachting but of sailing ships, we shall consider not the marvellous growth of the queen of sports, but the influence which that has had in developing a particular species of ship used entirely for the purpose of pleasure and racing. We alluded in an earlier chapter to King Edgar, whose “sommer progresses and yerely chiefe pastimes were the sailing round about this whole Isle of Albion.” He at least showed the real spirit of a yachtsman, and had he lived in later times he might have established the sport on a sound footing many years before it began to prosper.

But let us make no mistake about this word yacht. Of Dutch derivation, and related to the Norwegian jaegt, the word in the seventeenth century signified a transport for royalty or some individual of distinguished rank. In that way we could include those esneccas mentioned earlier in this volume which were prepared for carrying British royalty across from these shores to France. But it was not until the early part of the seventeenth century that the yacht as a special type of vessel, distinct from one temporarily adjusted for a short voyage, was produced. As other fore-and-afters first saw light in Holland at this time, so it was but natural that the yacht should originate there. From old paintings and prints we see them rigged after the manner of those Dutch fore-and-afters which we mentioned as to be seen there in previous pages of this chapter. Especially popular for yachts was the sloepe rig with the two masts and sails but no headsails, although the boomless but gaff mainsail, fitted with brails not unlike the rig of the bawley, was also found. The high sterns, square and much decorated with carving and gilt, the comparatively low bluff bows and the pair of leeboards were the most conspicuous features. The rig was usually cutter or sloop (in the sense of having one mast mainsail and foresail, but without jib). Later on we find ketches being favoured.

In 1660 the Dutch presented Charles II. with a yacht called the Mary, “from whence,” writes Sir Anthony Deane to Pepys, “came the improvement of our present yachts; for until that time we had not heard of such a name in England.” This Mary was of a hundred tons and was the first yacht to appear on our Navy list. She was lost in 1675 near Holyhead. From this model Christopher Pett in 1661 built the Anne at Woolwich, her tonnage, beam, and length of keel being the same as those of the Mary, but she drew three feet less water. In the same year Charles was presented with another but smaller yacht of only 35 tons, called the Bezan, which also came from the Dutch. From the arrival of the Mary various sized yachts began to be built in England, of which the tonnage gradually increased. The Katherine, built in 1661, was captured by the Dutch in 1673. So far had this new departure progressed in our country that in 1674 a design was made for two yachts to be built at Portsmouth for the King of France in imitation of Charles II.’s. But the largest built about this time was the new Mary, to replace the first one lost. Of 166 tons, she was launched in 1677. The smallest yachts were the Minion of 22 tons, and the Jemmy of 25 tons, and the Isle of Wight of a like tonnage. Incidentally we find in the Naval MSS. of the time that the dimensions of the biggest yacht’s mast of the year 1683 were: length 20 yards, “bigness” (i.e., thickness) 20 inches.

It was during the reign of that apostle of hedonism, Charles II., that the yacht became not merely the vessel of state but of pleasure. He introduced into England yacht racing, although the Dutch had for a long time delighted in regattas and naval sham fights with yachts. In 1661 Charles sailed in a match from Greenwich to Gravesend and back. One impulse that had been given to the Dutch to build so-called yachts with finer lines and high capabilities of speed was the trade carried on to the East by their Dutch East India Company, and it was this company that had made Charles the present of the first yacht he ever possessed. During the eighteenth century yachting began to be a new sport for noblemen and wealthy gentlemen, especially in the neighbourhood of Cork. By the end of the century the Solent was becoming the cruising ground for a large number of English yachts, and in 1812 a yacht club was started at the Medina Hotel, East Cowes. In 1817 this newly-formed yacht club was joined by the Prince Regent, who used to cruise between the Wight and Brighton in the Royal George.[118] George III. had also patronised yachting, and the illustration in Plan 4 gives some idea of his yacht the Royal Sovereign. Launched at Deptford in 1804 she drew 9 feet forward and a foot more aft. She was copper-bottomed with a streak of yellow painted above, with another streak of blue above that, while her stern was ornamented with medallions of the cardinal virtues. Neptune presided over the stern, while the figurehead represented her Majesty. It will be seen at once how similar in colouring and decoration she was to the type of ships prevalent in Charles II.’s time. She was said to have been very fast and beautifully decorated, as well inside as out. She was 96 feet 1 inch long on deck with a breadth of 25 feet 7 inches. Her tonnage was 280 18 94 . She was ship-rigged and carried royals and stuns’ls, judging from a print of 1821. In the external decoration of this yacht we can see the influence which is still manifested in the royal steam yachts of this country to-day. The lavish display of gold leaf, the heavy stern and general clumsiness—all vile inheritances from the days of Charles II. when naval architects knew no better—were all reproduced in the old Victoria and Albert and have been perpetuated even in the newest royal yacht the Alexandria.

It is only with the nineteenth century that yachting really begins, but it was not till after the Crimean War that the sport began in earnest. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the cutters were built on the lines of the revenue cutters, which as we saw just now, owed much to Dutch influence. The reader who wishes to see what clumsy creatures they were has only to look at Turner’s pictures (see, for example, the cutter in Fig. 71). In such a painting as Charles Brooking’s The Calm, numbered 1475 in the National Gallery, we readily see the square topsails above the fore-and-aft mainsail and headsails. Brooking lived from 1723 to 1759, but fifty years later the cutter had remained much the same. The spars these yachts carried were enormous, and they were built of such strength that they were up to the Government standard. Although the cutters were of large dimensions, sometimes having a tonnage of 150, yet they were very tubby, round creatures, their proportions being three beams in length and heavily ballasted after the mediæval manner with gravel, yet sometimes also with iron ore. But as match sailing became commoner, naturally a means was sought for making the cumbersome craft less heavy. The heavy ballast remained, but both timbers and planking were of less thickness. Hitherto of clinker build, this gradually gave way to carvel-work. One of the most famous yachts of the first quarter of the century was the Arrow, built clinker fashion in 1822 and still in existence.

The illustration in Fig. 111 represents the Kestrel, 202 tons, belonging to the Earl of Yarborough, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron. In the early ’forties she was a well-known ship. She is rigged as a Hermaphrodite brig, that is to say she is brig-rigged on her foremast but schooner-rigged on her main. She also carries a tier of guns. The influence, indeed, of the Royal Navy on these early yachts is notable. The cutters were influenced by the Government revenue cutters and the bigger yachts by the Naval brigs. Fig. 112 also shows a yacht of this period. This is the Xarifa which belonged to the second Earl of Wilton. She is rigged as a topsail schooner and also carries guns. The rigging of yachts at this time was chiefly of hemp, but, as will be seen from the accompanying illustrations, the sails were very baggy.

In the ’fifties racing between yachts went rapidly ahead. The crack cutters of the south coast were the Arrow, 84 tons, the Lulworth, 82 tons, the Louisa, 180 tons, and the Alarm 193 tons. A general improvement was taking place. The old-fashioned gravel ballast was thrown out and lead was slowly but surely introduced in spite of the criticism that it would strain the ship and cause her to plunge badly in a seaway. Next, instead of inside the lead was put outside below the keel. Finally the tubby proportions vanished and yachts were given greater length, greater depth but narrower beam. Early in the ’fifties Thomas Wanhill of Poole introduced the raking sternpost. Instead of the Dutch-like bow the long clipper bow, now famous among the mercantile ships, was coming into popularity.

But a new force was to come from across the Atlantic which had far-reaching effects on the yachts of this country. Let us return once more to Massachusetts. The theory of the advantage possessed by a sharp entrance and hollow water-lines had been proved, in the case of the Gloucester fishing and pilot schooners, to be sound and correct. Then it was decided to build a yacht on similar but improved lines: so in 1851 was launched the famous America, costing £4000. She was sailed across to England and on August 22, 1851, was the winning yacht for the special cup offered by the Royal Yacht Squadron. In the race round the Isle of Wight she beat the pick of our cutters and schooners so handsomely as to make yachtsmen and yacht-builders, designers and sail-makers open their eyes in amazement. The cup was afterwards presented by the owners of America to the New York Yacht Club as a perpetual challenge trophy to be raced for by yachts of all nations. The reader is well aware that in spite of various plucky attempts we have not yet succeeded in bringing it back to the country where it was manufactured.

After the success of America a change was made in the old type of yacht. The Alarm which had been built in 1834 as a cutter of 193 tons, was in 1852, consequent on America’s victory, lengthened 20 feet by the bow and converted into a schooner of 248 tons. The illustration in Fig. 113, which is reproduced by kind permission of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde, shows the Alarm after she had been rigged after the manner of America with one headsail, having its foot laced to a boom, with a foresail having gaff but no boom, and with a mainsail with both gaff and boom. 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. Schooners at least took to the new shape at once but the cutters were a little time before they followed the lead thus given to them. It was to America, therefore, that the last existing relic of mediævalism in British ships was banished off the face of the waters for ever.

In 1852 the famous cutter Arrow, for the same reason as had transformed the Alarm, was rebuilt. Her previous length when she was first built as far back as 1823 was only 3·35 times her beam. In 1852, also, Mr. William Fife of the famous “Fife of Fairlie” firm came into prominence with the Cymba. Sail-making in the hands of Lapthorn & Ratsey proceeded along scientific lines, and eventually cotton was used instead of flax. In the ’sixties, following the example set by the builders of the clipper-ships, iron framework was used in combination with wooden skin, and from the early ’seventies to the ’eighties the clipper-bow had attained such success on big ships that it became of great popularity on yachts. But during the ’sixties the old straight-stem cutters were at the height of their fame. The Oimara, seen in Fig. 114 with the long bowsprit of the period, was a famous racing craft of the south coast. Built in 1867 by Mr. William Steele of Messrs. Robert Steele & Co., Greenock, the well-known builder of clipper-ships, her tonnage was 163. She sailed a memorable race round the Isle of Wight in August of the following year against the American schooners Sappho, Aline and others. Going east about, Oimara led the fleet until the Needles were rounded, but running back to Cowes against the ebb tide, she was beaten by the schooners. This fine ship is still afloat in Poole harbour above the bridge, and is used as a houseboat.

The Aline just mentioned was another beauty of her day. Built by Messrs. Camper & Nicholson of Gosport in 1860, she was the first yacht to get away from the raking mast so well seen in the illustration of the Alarm. In the Aline the mast was stepped almost upright and she was also given a running bowsprit and jib. Another fast ship was the famous Egeria, 153-ton schooner, built by Wanhill at Poole. She was at her prime during the ’sixties, and beat Aline during the former’s maiden race in 1865.

During the ’seventies and till the ’eighties, the tendency was to build yachts whose dimensions were still deeper, narrower and longer. Beam was thought deserving of little consideration and altogether undervalued until the year 1886, when an entire change of feeling came. The illustration in Fig. 115 shows the wonderful old Bloodhound. She was built by Mr. William Fife of Fairlie in 1874 for the Marquis of Ailsa and was one of the famous class of 40-tonners which flourished during the ’seventies and into the ’eighties. During the six years she belonged to her first owner she won about £2500 worth of prizes, and afterwards changed hands. Last year, however, Lord Ailsa re-purchased her, and with new sails the old ship showed that her marvellous turn of speed had not deserted her. She did remarkably well during Cowes week until she had the misfortune to be sunk in collision with L’Esperance, and lay for some time at the entrance to Cowes fairway, a sad sight, with her masts showing above water and her crew at work salving what they could. She has since been raised, and this year is again racing with surprising success.

Few yachts, perhaps, are so well-known in name, at least, to the general reader, as the Sunbeam, in Fig. 116. Built in 1874, and owned by that enthusiastic yachtsman and experienced navigator Lord Brassey, the Sunbeam is an auxiliary topsail-yard schooner. She was designed by Mr. St. Clare Byrne and is built of teak with iron frames. Her length over all is 170 feet; beam 27½ feet; depth 13¾ feet. Her displacement is 576 tons; her registered tonnage 227; her draught 13½ feet; while her sail area as now altered is 7950 square feet. She has cruised round the world, and been into almost every port where she could get. She raced across the Atlantic in 1905 to the Lizard, with the Valhalla among the competitors, although it was not to be expected that she would come in first against such an extreme type as the Atlantic. In her time she has covered as her best run under canvas, 299 knots from noon to noon, whilst her highest speed, also under sail alone, was 15 knots. She is still happily with us, and is a familiar sight at Cowes, where she fits out.

During the ’seventies, thanks to Mr. William Froude and others, experiments of the highest educative value were made to discover the laws which governed the resistance of water to bodies moving through it. This led to a scientific basis on which to model the lines of yachts’ hulls. But suddenly and unexpectedly, from Maldon, on the Blackwater, in a remote corner of Essex, a Mr. E. H. Bentall, not a professional naval architect but an agricultural implement maker, who had received but little training in naval architecture, designed and had built the now famous yacht the Jullanar, in 1875. Since length means speed, he gave her much of this, whilst for stability she was given a fairly deep draught. But getting right away from existing conventions, he had the courage to dispense with the old-fashioned straight stem and stern, and cut away all dead-wood from both. And so the Jullanar, with her easy lines, and rigged as a yawl, came into being. She had a tonnage of 126 (Thames measurement); length over all 110½ feet; beam 16·6 feet; and a draught of 13½ feet. She immediately displayed such remarkable speed and was so successful as a racer that her lines considerably influenced the late Mr. G. L. Watson, the famous yacht architect of the nineteenth century, in designing the Thistle, although this ship did not come into being until 1887. The sketch in Fig. 117, showing the hull and rigging of the Jullanar, has been made from the fine little model in the South Kensington Museum.

Yacht-design has been considerably modified by contemporary existing measurement rules. Thus, when in the ’eighties the only taxed dimensions were, not length over all, but length on water-line and sail area, the temptation to introduce overhang both at bow and stern was irresistible. In Jullanar the germ of the idea existed, but it developed to its fullest extent during the ’nineties, and so by a curious fatality one becomes witness of still another revival, more strange and curious than all the others, the revival of that which was indeed one of the most characteristic features of the Egyptian craft in the early dynasties, the overhanging bow and stern. In 1893 was built the Satanita, in which this last-mentioned feature is well shown. (See Fig. 118.) This powerful beauty has on the water-line 97·7 feet, and an extreme beam of 24·7 feet, and a draught of 16·5 feet. Her sail area (Y.R.A.) was in her Solent days 9923 square feet. The beautifully-fitting sails seen in the accompanying illustration are in wonderful contrast to those hollow bags used in the pre-America days. In the same year was launched King Edward’s (then Prince of Wales’) Britannia, which with Captain Carter at her helm, won both fame and a considerable number of prizes during the ’nineties. Her length on the water-line is 87·8 feet; her extreme beam 23·66 feet; and draught 15 feet. The illustration in Fig. 119 of the counter of Britannia has been specially included to give the reader some idea of the weight of her mainsail, which, as will be noticed, is being hoisted by no less than fourteen hands on the halyard, including the ship’s cook and steward. The year 1893 was made memorable by the launch also of the Valkyrie, one of the famous trio of yachts of the same name. She measured on the water-line 86·8 feet; her extreme beam was 22·33 feet. The illustration in Fig. 120 shows Valkyrie I. It was during this year that beam, being no longer taxed, was allowed to show its value, and ever since that time the tendency has continued for a more wholesome type of boat, instead of the vicious old plank-on-edge class of craft.

The illustration in Fig. 121 is of the Valhalla, which, like the Sunbeam, has auxiliary engines and is one of the largest and finest sailing yachts in the world. Under the ownership of the Earl of Crawford she has made lengthy voyages to distant countries, and was one of the fleet which raced in company with the Sunbeam from the U.S.A. to the Lizard for the German Emperor’s Cup, obtaining third prize, and doing the passage across the Atlantic in 14 days 2 hours, using sail only. She was built in 1892, and was first rigged as a privateer of a hundred years ago with stun’s’ls. She even had her ward-room, gun-room and armoury after the manner of the naval ships of a century ago. In the accompanying illustration she is seen with courses, topsails, t’gallants and royals. But when she came into the hands of Lord Crawford the stun’s’ls were abolished, and she was given double topsails instead of single so as to facilitate her being worked with less labour. The old-fashioned deck arrangement below was also entirely changed. This handsome 1490-ton yacht has recently been sold, and left English waters to become an American training-ship.

Although American yachting existed long before the races for the America Cup, yet these contests have given an enormous fillip in the United States to the building of cutters as apart from their fast schooners. Such vessels, built to defend the Cup, as the Defender, launched in 1895, the Columbia in 1899 (see Fig. 122), the Constitution in 1901, and the Reliance in 1903, are about 90 feet on the load water-line, and carry about 13,500 square feet of canvas; though when Reliance beat Shamrock III., the former carried over 16,000 square feet. But the most popular American large racing cutters are the 70-footers. In build the Americans have been accustomed to use lighter scantlings than we on this side of the Atlantic. Meteor, in Fig. 123, the well-known schooner belonging to the German Emperor, was the product of an American yard. The photograph here reproduced was taken while she was racing for the King’s Cup inside the Isle of Wight.

Some sensation was caused in the Solent last summer by the arrival and success of the Germania, a remarkably fast and pretty schooner, notable as showing the ability to which German yacht designers and builders have now attained. That we can in England still build cruising as well as racing schooners is proved by two such different examples as the Elizabeth and the Pampas. The sail plan of the former will be found in Plan 5. Launched in 1906 from the yard of Messrs. White Brothers of Cowes from designs by Mr. H. W. White, her tonnage (Thames measurement) is 236, her length over all 132 feet, but on the water-line 93½ feet. Her draught is 12½ feet, and her sail area 7938 square feet. She is also fitted with a motor that can be run on either paraffin or petrol with a two-bladed propeller, giving a mean speed under motor alone of six miles per hour. The deck plan and longitudinal section showing motor installation will be found in Plans 6 and 7.

The Pampas is one of the most interesting yachts of 1908. In her will be found the very last word in schooner designing and building. The requirements were that she should be suitable to go to any part of the world in comfort and with speed. In order therefore that she might not be handicapped in the Doldrums she was fitted with a 60-horse-power motor giving a speed of six knots in smooth water. Designed by Mr. C. E. Nicholson, and built by Messrs. Camper & Nicholson for Señor Aaron de Anchorena, of Buenos Ayres, she has considerably more overhang than the Elizabeth, and has shown herself to be very fast under sail alone. The sail and rigging plan in Plan 8 will explain itself, whilst from the other plans the general internal arrangement of this most modern of yachts will be realised. She has between her two masts a sunken deck-house, a feature that has recently become very popular on sailing yachts. The two large cabins athwart the ship are fitted in satinwood, and other accommodation is in ivory white. Electric light and ventilating fans are also found on her, and she is classed twenty years A1 at Lloyd’s.

To return to the English cutters, one of the most interesting of modern yachts is that seen in Fig. 124, which represents White Heather II. For size and sweet lines, with her bold bows and white graceful hull, her lofty mast and her mountain of canvas, she is an imposing sight if one comes across her on the Solent. She is at her best in a strong wind; in light winds she used to be no match for the latest Shamrock. But during the past winter White Heather has had some structural alterations made to improve her power in light winds.

An important step was taken in 1906, when an international conference was held to devise such an international rule as would be acceptable to the whole of yachting Europe. During the last fifteen years various rating rules had been in force at different times. It was now felt that something should be done to prevent the success of the racing-machine and skimming-dish type, and recent rating rules had indeed tended to produce a wholesome cruiser that was nevertheless good for racing. The conference therefore formulated a new rule based on that which had produced such recent healthy types as Nyria; but a premium was placed on freeboard and a check on clumsy overhangs, in order that a thoroughly healthy type of sea-going yacht might be evolved that should be good as well for cruising as for racing. Care was taken also to ensure the requisite strength in construction. The rule came into force on January 1, 1908. Under this rule, Shamrock IV., seen in Fig. 125, was built, and during her maiden season last year she showed that in light weather there was nothing of her size to catch her. In spite of adverse criticisms the new rule has in it much that is likely to be an influence for good; and since it is to be in force for ten years, it will certainly add to the prosperity of yachting by introducing to an extent hitherto unknown the element of international racing.

Shamrock, the fourth of that name owned by Sir Thomas Lipton, belongs to the 23-metre class. She was designed by Mr. William Fife and built by Messrs. William Fife & Son of Fairlie. She is of composite construction, her planking being of mahogany and her frames of steel. In yachting, as in the biggest sailing ships, wire rigging has now ousted the old-fashioned hemp. Runners, topping lifts, bobstay falls, outhauls, halyards—all are of wire. Racing boats and many cruisers now have rigging screws too, while the custom as to ballast is to bolt most of it outside the keel.

But our limit is at length reached. We have watched the primitive ship evolve from the tree; we have seen how she has been changed and revived, degenerated and improved, made larger or smaller, tubbier or more graceful according as it has pleased the hand of man. Now that we have shown, however imperfectly, with however many omissions, her noble and illustrious pedigree, her ancestry reaching back through the centuries into the first blush of the dawn of the world’s creation, perhaps we shall regard her with an interest, a respect and affection at once greater and deeper because we have become better acquainted with the reasons that have caused each of these developments.

THE END.