The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-06 00:00:00

The peculiar English amusement of yachting, which
has become so immensely popular, and attained such vast
proportions, is worthy of a space in your excellent jour-
nal, so well devoted to the sport; pastimes, and muscular-
Christianity of the Anglo-Saxon race ; and I therefore
propose giving a series of papers on the subject, in which
will be traced the history and progress of the science of
yacht building, rigging, sailing, &c.
The first reliable record I can find of yachting, orploa-
suring on the water, in this country, is that of King Edgar,
who in the year 973 was rowed in his barge on the river
Dee from Chester to the Monastery of St. John the Baptist,
by eight tributary princes or king; Edgar himself taking
the helm. The names of these kings were, Kenneth, King
of the Scots ; Malcolm, of Cumberland ; M'Orries, of An-
glesey and the Isles; Dyfuwal, Griffith, and HoWell,
kings of Wales ; Jago, king of Galloway ; and Jukil, of
Westmoreland. Divine Service having been performed,
Edgar returned to Chester in the same manner, and on en-
tering his palace, exclaimed, "My
.successors may indeed
boast of being kings, since they can command the service
of so many princes." And well may we say, in the words
of a poem of the early part of the 15th century : ,
" Such another rowing I dare well say,
Was not seen of princes many a day ;"
though I cannot prove that these feudatories followed the
practice spoken of by Ossian, who says

" And all the way to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time,"
the Anglo-Saxon bat-swan, or boatswain, beating time
with his staff. I think there is no reason to doubt that
Edgar's boat was a pleg-scip, i.e., play-ship or pleasure-
vessel of the Anglo-Saxons, whose vessels are said by the
old chroniclers to have had ovens, fire places, and other
domestic conveniences, and were usually accompanied by
boats covered with hides, as tenders or attendant boats.
Egyptian The classical ancients had several kinds of pleasure
vessels, amongst which may be named, " Cubieulatx ;"
" Lusoria ;" " Navigiolum ad aninawn oblectandurn," and
the Thalarnegus, a yacht or vessel of parade and plea-
sure;
definitions
lnight add the naaTeesnootf others,cisneivteeranllear,ana it i
but
s
needless
first mention of the word yacht in this country I
find in " Pepys' Naval Minutes," who says the name of
the
to say anything of the hts
Charles
yacht was not known in England until IMO, when
the Dutch presented one called the “ islary,,, to
Johnson, in the sixth edition of his " Dictionary" (1785),
says the word yacht is a Dutch one, and signifies a small
. T
II
ship for carrying passengers; in Falconer's "Marine
Dictionary" (1815), it is said to be a French word, and is
described as a vessel of state for conveying princes, ambas-
sadors, and other great personages from one country to
another; various kings and princes of this country have
had pleasure vessels, and often cruised in them, but the
Commissioners of the Royal Dockyards were amongst the
first to institute regular yachts as a part of their establish-
ment, one having been built for the. Commissioners of
Portsmouth Yard about 1790, and named the "Mercury,"
and this same yacht I saw afloat and under weigh last
autumn at the visit of the French fleet; she looked in
good condition, but very old-fashioned from here peculiar
rig. at
rig. There is also another old yacht of the
good order. It is amusing to con-
dockyard, and looking in
vessels (in all liken-
trast the form and rig of those two
models and designs
hood-considered the perfection of naval.
of the exquisite craft of the present
in their day), with that
of which everything that science,
day, in the construction
Chatham, where I saw her about a year ago lyingsam off the
wealth, and .
luxury can procure is called into requisition.
' Amongst other things we must not forget that we owe
the early receipt of the Battle of Waterloo to one of the
earliest members of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Mr. Asshe-
ton Smith, that fine old English gentleman, and firm up-
holder of all sports'and pastimes in this country that in any
way conduced to the manliness of our men. Ile was cruis-
ing off the coast of the Netherlands when the news of the
battle reached the coast, and he at once got under weigh, and
was the first to reach England with the announcement of
the glorious victory. The Royal Yacht Squadron w-sinsti-
tuted early in this century and from that date yachting and
regattas made giant strides till our present fleet is one of the
most splendid evidences of the wealth and hardihood of
our present generation. America has many yacht clubs,
and some very fine vessels of great speed in them ; but,
generally speaking, accommodation and comfort are
vessels,
for speed, the result being extraordinary fast v
built
of very light scantling. The French have a :
with comparatively little room in them, and they
two, but are at the best sorry amateur sailors, thinking
more of the polish and shine of the vessel and boant,aonrds
theatrical appearance of the men, covered with
of the
anchors
on every button, ribber!, coat-cuff, and collar, thanseamanship
yacht areclub
or
sea-going qualities of their vessel and efficient
of their men.

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