The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-11-17
BRITISH YACHTSMEN.

, lar pastime until about one hundred years
v ago. In 1850 the Duke of Richmond had
: a large yacht built at Southampton, IN
which he and his family lived and crInsed
during some portion of the summer months,
and several other gentlemen followed bus
example, although, perhaps, in smaller
: way. However, the long series OF wars
= in which England was engaged in up to
!, 1915 seriously interfered with the develop
ment of the pastime, although the taste
= for it was each succeeding year becoming
more pronounced Conclusive evidence
z of this is shown by the fact that IN ISL
G the yacht Club" lnow the Royal Yacht
: Sduadron) was established at Cowes. 1t
1 does not appear, however, to have been
s formally inaugurated until 1913, when
some fifty noblemen and gentlemen met at
r the Thatched House Tavern, st. Jamess
Street, and enrolled themselves as mem
Der of the ssYacht Club Although all
the original members have passed away,
: some OF the earliest vessels of the Yacht
Club still exist. and amongst them the
r Pearl, built by the first Marquis of An
glesey, and now owned by distinguished
, Corinthian yachtsman, MIR. w. Baden
Powell. The Anglesey family has always
, been noted for its yachting procllvltles,
4
Commodore of the Royal Welsh Yacht
Club and owner of steam yacht OF con-
siderable size; whilst Lord Alfred Paget
} has been a yacht-owner for more than
half-a-century A great portion OF Lord
Alfred's boyhood was spent at West Cowes
Castle (now the Royal Yacht Squadron
Club House,) of which the first Marquis
of Anglesey was Governor, and he began
his yachting career from the cradle. How
many yachts he LAS owned he probably
scarcely knows himself, but so far back
as 1912 he built the famous cutter Ays
terry, which, in 1874, he sold to the pres
emit Marquis of Londonderry then Earl
Vane) who that year won the Cup at the
Squadron Regatta with her, beating such
| we'll known flyers as Phantom, Blue Bell,
| &c. After this Lord Vane had the top
sail schooner Lotos, which IN 1863 he
matched against the Duke of Rutland's
Resolution, also a topsail schooner, but
Lotos was beaten by ten minutes. Since
that date topsail schooners have almost
entirely gone out of fashion, and, with the
exception of Mr. ]. r. Vests Goshawk
and Mr.. Broadwoods That's, schooner
with yards across is seldom seen. The
Duke of Rutland at present possesses the
large fore-and-aft schooner Shark, and no
vessel is better known in the Solent, al
though she has done nothing so memoir
able as to defeat a topsail schooner like
the Lotos.
Two other we'll known craft of bygone
age which are still in existence, are the
Alarm schooner, 24S tons, and Arrow cut
ter, lis tons. Both of these yachts were
built by the late Mr.. Joseph Weld, of Lul
worth Castle. The Arrow was not much
of success until she fell into the hands
of Mr.. Thomas Chamberlayne, who re-
modelled her bow, and for thirty odd
years between 1916 and 1878 she fairly
tackled all corners. Her present owner,
Mr.. Tankerville Chamberlayne, since his
fathers death has greatly improved the
old vessel; but she is too heavily handi |
capped by the existing tonnage rating to |
compete with modern racing yachts.
The period embraced in these changes |
from 1860 to 1SS0-may be called the |
golden era of yacht racing, and although |
we may know great deal more now as to |
what is possible to get out of a yacht, it is
unlikely that we shall ever again witness
such contests as took place within the
period named 1t was no uncommon
event to see eight or nine large schooners
in match, and one of the bestknown
among the competitors was the Egeria,
built for, and owned by, Mr.. John Mul
holland, in 1865 Mr.. Mulholland was a
yacht-owner some fifteen years before that
date, but his racing career may be said to
commence from the famous match the
Egeria made with the Aline in 1865, when
the pair at the finish, in fine breeze,
beam and beam. Mr. Mulholland was one
10 e
side Lead as ballast, and beginning with
about six tons on the keel, he had in 1868
as much 10 tI,;,-t,a.,- te,-,-- This Mt the
time was thought to be a very excessive
quantity, and it was not much exceeded
until the Miranda was built for Mr.. Geo.
Curtis Lampson in 1876.
The Egeria up to this period had fairly
held her own, and Mr. Mulholland won
more Queens Cups with her than any
other gentleman had ever succeeded in
doing; but Mr.. Lampson's vessel, both in
ballasting and rig, marked new depart
ure in schooners, And taken all round she
most be considered invincible among
yachts of her own rig, although this must
not be taken to imply that a schooner
could not be built to beat her
In speaking of the golden era" of
schooner-racing the Cetonia (which was
built for Mr.. William Turner, who for
merly had owned those successful cutters
Phosphorus and Vanguard) must come
in for attention This beautiful vessel
greatly distinguished herself whilst in Mr.
Turner's hands, and she was also raced
with varying success by her subsequent
owner, the Earl of Gosford Her present
owner is Mr.. Edward Guinness, who, by
iudicious alterations in her ballasting and
sail plan, has made her probably the fast
est vessel in the Royal Yacht Squadron,
not even excepting Mr.. Edward Baring's
Waterwitch
To give complete account of cutter
racing one would have to go back to the
days of the "MeTy Monarch" who used
to amuse himself on the Thames by steer
ing one of his numerous yachts against
some other steered by his brother, the
Duke of York. Such history of the "na-
tlonal rig" would, however, be as tedious
as twice told tale, and it will be sufici
ent to glance at the cutters just as they
happen to represent living British yachts
men. 10 60 back to 1864 notable year
for cutters-we find Lord Henry Lennox's /
Hlrondelle in competition with the old !
Arrow, Menai, Brunette, &c; but very
different kind OF craft had made her debut !
1 q
MIR. Z. Boucher This remarkable craft
was built by Fife, of Fairlie, and during q
the fifteen years she was raced by Mr.. Z. !
Boucher against all corners she won more =
prizes than any other cutter ever put r
atioat. Mr.. Boucher afterwards built and =
raced the Fiona schooner, and although h
be is now owner of large steam yacht +
also named Fiona) he is known to take
IS Keen an interest in yachtracing as he h
I'D on the first day when he hoisted the &
familiar "orange and red diagonal h
Concurrently with the remarkable sue n
'esses of Fiona the popularity of the cut d
'er rig was extended by the performances Il
1f Major Ewing's fine cutter Condor, Mr.
Wylie's Oimara, and Captain Hughes
1t had been thought that the
age for schooner sailing which set in
lfter the arrival of the America in 1851 7;
lad eclipsed cutter sailing for ever, and :,
hat we should see no more big Alarms, Il
Pearls, Menais, Lulworths, or %
= re,f.r,I