Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-02-12
COST OF ROYAL YACHTS.
enormous Sums Laid out For Them
In the Old World.

talned- Ihe London DdiFy Ns9rS re-
marks that there are extravagant as
well as reasonable methods of main
tanning all the spiendor and dignity
that may lie desirable, and few people
who give themselves the trouble of in
curing into the subject Will lie found
10 deny that an enormous amount Of
money has been needlessly wasted il
connection with royal yachts
Great Britain Is far from beng the
only country in which such wasteful
expenditure has occurred and is occur
ring- Russia Is a greaJ transgressor in
this respect The Late car already
possessed half a dozen capital yacht.
when lie gave orders for the building OF
the notorious Liyadia. She WAS To b.
the largest and most magnificent a.
well as the most original yacht in the
world. Unlike all other vessels of the
kind, she was to be Constructed with a
beam equal TO two-thirds of her length,
so that she might not roll. and the i'm
Perial family might he spared the hOT-
rors OF sea-slckneSs. She was to be sup
piled with three crews SO that she
might be mandy as well as fast. And
upon her spacious deck WAS to be built
a veritable palace The plans were
carried out, and the LivadIa Was
launched at Govan in 1850.
EXTRAvAGANT CZARs-
Probably no one knows what she cost
but Il IS certain that from first TO last
considerably more than e501, 900 was
expended on her. Yet her imperial
owner would have nothing to say tC
her. As yacht she was a colossal
failure, and to-day she IS only useful As
as kind of floating barracks in the
Black Sea. Tue pre- ent car Is, never
tEeless, expending "A further E5yO,OJu
over n new We sci, which - to be called
the Polarnaia Zvezla, and which should
she be a success, will have all the mag
nIficence, nearly all the size and more
than the speed and handiness OF the
discredited Noah ark in which his
majesty once hoped to take his
pleasure.
The cars eXtravagance does not in
jure US. Neither does the yachting ex-
IravRgance of the young German en-
peror. who. although he Possesses in
the HohenZollern one of tie prettiest
AMI most comfortable craft OF the kind
atioat, has just applied TO his faithful
subjects for a grant Of money equal 70
e225, 200 in order that he may build
himself a new yacht. These examples
only because they illustrate what ap-
pears TO be a very general tendency on
the part of the European royalties
Her majesty at present enjoys the use
OF four yachts and tenders. The yachts
are the Victoria and Albert and The
Osborne and the tenders, which for all
practical purposes are yachts also, and
ths Alberta and the Elfn- The oldest
of the four is the little yacht Elm,
which was built at Chatham in 1879,
and which is of only ninty-three tons
displacement. She OF gin.tlly cost
e6.l6S, or about e66 Is a ton. Tie
Enchantress. the present admiralty
yacht, is beautifully fitted Graf OF
/ l,G0J tons diSplacement,ye yet her original
cost was rather less than G4I ton II
is clear, therefore. that, at the outset,
the Elm was an expensive bargain
Che has now been in existence forty
years, and, during that period, without
reckoning the wages of the crew and
tie price of her consumable stores. she
has cost an additional sum of over s4O,-
OO0, or, on the average, more than
e. 900 a year, her total cost up to date
b-ing about e47 900. 1t is as If an
ordinary citizen had bought house for
90, 900 forty years ago and had since
spent e4l, 900, not In adding to 1t, but
simp'y keeping it in repair The little
Elm at this moment has cost the
country over $500 for every ton Of her
displacement
COMPARING ENGLISH VESSELS
Next of the iour in point OF age IS
the Victoria and Albert, the largest Of
the royal yachts. She is of 2,41O tons
displacement and was built at Penn
broke in 1865. Her original cost, In
elusive of incidental dockyard charges,
was elT6, $50. or over e1l ton, She,
too, was expensive at the outset. IN
the thirty-four years which have since
elapsed setting aside before the
wages OF her crew and tie price OF her
consumable stOres-she has cost lnclud-
ing incidentalS, an additional sum OF
more than e3S7, 600, or on the average
nearly el2,OO0 a year-her total cost
up TO date being roughly speaking,
ej65, 900. AS she lies III Portsmouth
harbOr to-day she has cost the country
a out e225 for every ton of her dis
placement Third in seniority IS tie
Alberta, which was built in 1868 al
Pembroke, and which Is OF $40 tons
disl.Iacemen'. We regret that We have
not succeeded in Hnding out the exact
cost OF tnlS VESSEL W 2 dAc AAAANA AAAS "a
that II is about 10000.
We believe it to be more; but, accept
ing the estimate, We pass on TO the
fourth and newest of tie royal yachts,
in Osborne. She was built at Pembroke
in 1870 and Is of l, $50 tons displace-
meut- Including Incidental charge
her original cost W close upon AlSi,-
600. or about eT2 S. a ton In the
nineteen years that have since expired
she has cost including incide tails, bu,
excluding wages and price OF parishable
stores. over $50, ,000 pounds, or nearly
g. .OyO a year. There has, therefore.
been sunk in her a sum Of about Gljj
for every ton of her displacement, or
some e2S5, 600 in all, and the eXpendi-
ture that has been incurred on the TAB
ric and furniture of the four royal
yachts is not lie 5 than e9oO, %. We
have good grounds for supposing that II
Il very considerably over IL ,OJO,UOO-
The average expenditure per ton OF dis
placenent has been more than A-Ob on
!, total tonnage of 4,6s3, and the aver
ace age of the four vessels Is about -
years
That n great part OF this large sum
NJ ee6O- 900 has been walsted becomes
tolerably apparent when we examine
into the relative cost Of other ships.
The Inconstant is q large iron and woJd
steam frigate launched in 1865, and Is
therefore 21 years old. Her displace-
ment exceeds that OF all the royal
yachts put together by more than =
thousand tons. y man-of-war IS not,
of course, decorated and furnished as a
rival YACHT is. On the other hand sue
has much more wear aid tear and con
tains expensive guns and machinery
snch as find no place in yacht. Ihe
original cost of the Inconstant, lnclud'
- ;,,,,5antaI. was inst over e2S3, ,ODO,