Wichita eagle., 1890-02-06
COST OF ROYAL YACHTS.
ENORMOUS SUMS LAID OUT FOR
THEM IN THE OLD WORLD.

| AChe eu<1t sIio spfeuOOr anu dignity OF
the sovereign should be maintained. The
London Daily News remarks that '.there
are extravagant as well as reasonable
methods of maintaining all the splendor
and dignity that may be desirable, and
few people who give themselves the
trouble of inquiring into the subject will
be found to deny that an enormous
amount of money has been needlessly
wasted in connection with royal yachts.
Great Britain is far from being the
only country in which such wasteful ex-
| penditure has occurred and is occurring.
Russia is great transgressor in this re-
spect- The late car already possessed
half dozen capital yachts when he gave
oSders for the building of the notorious
Livadia. She was to be the largest and
most magnificent as well as the most
original yacht in the world. Unlike all
other vessels of the kind, she was to be
constructed with beam equal to two
thirds of her length, SO that she might
not roll, and the imperial family might
be spared the horrors of seasickness.
She was to be supplied with three screws
SO that she might be handy 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 1880.
ExTRAvAGANT CzARs.
Probably no one knows what she
cost, but it is certain that from first to
last considerably more than $500, 900 was
expended on her. Yet her imperial own
er would have nothing to say to her. As
q yacht she was a colossal failure, and
today she is only useful as a kind of float
ing barracks in the Black sea. The pres
ent car is, nevertheless, expending
further e500, 600 over a new vessel,
which is to be called the Polarnaia
Zvezda, and which, should she be sue
cess, will have all the magnifcence, near
ly all the size and more than the speed
and handiness of the discredited Noah's
ark in which his majesty once hoped to
take his pleasure.
The czar's extravaganza does not in
jure us. Neither does the yachting ex-
travagance of the young German emper-
or, who, although he possesses in the
Hohenzoilern one of the prettiest and
most comfortable craftof the kind afoat,
has just applied to his faithful subjects
for grant Of money equal to e225 900
in order that he may build himself new
yacht. These examples are interesting
to the British taxpayer only because
they illustrate what appears to be very
10, rf <>f ii
ropean royalties. It is not until the tax
payer comes to consider the royal yacht
question as it affects him personally that
he experiences any very discomforting
shock.
Her majesty at present enjoys the use
of four yachts and tenders. The yachts
are the Victoria and Albert and the Os-
borne and the tenders, which for all prac-
tical purposes are yachts also, and the
Alberta and the Elfn. The oldest of the
four is the little yacht Elfn, which was
built at Chatham in 1S49. and which is of
only ninty-three tons displacement. She
originally cost &c, 1853, OF about EGG Is.
ton. The Enchantress, the present ad-
miralty yacht, is beautifully fitted
craft of 1000 tons displacement, yet her
original cost was rather less than CAT
ton. 1t is clear, therefore, that, at the
outset, the Elhn was an expensive bar
gain. She has now been in existence
forty years. and, during that period, with
out reckoning the wages of the crew and
the price Of her consumable stores, she
has cost an additional sum of over e40,-
900, or, on the average, more than 81 900
a year, her total cojt up to date being
about e47, 900. 1t is as if an ordinary
citizen had bought house for $4,000
forty years ago and had since spent e41,-
600, not in adding to it, but simply keep
ing it in repair. The little Elfn at this
moment has cost the country over $500
for every ton of her displacement.
COMPARING ENGLISH VESSELS.
Next of the four in point of age is, the
Victoria and Albert, the largest of the
royal yachts. She is of 2,470 tons dis
placement and was built at Pembroke in
1865. Her original cost, inclusive of in
dockyard charges, was e1T6, $50, |
or over Ell a ton. She, too, was expen- |
sive at the outset. In the thirty-four |
years which have since elapsed-setting !
aside as before the wages of her crew !
and the price of her consumable stores |
she has cost, including incidentals, an |
additional sum of more than e3S1 900, /
or on the average nearly 81, 900 a year |
her total cost up TO date being, rough /
|y speaking, e5e5, 900. As she lies in /
Portsmouth harbor today she has cost /
the country about e225 for every ton of /
her displacement. Third in seniority is
he Alberta, which was built in 1863 at /
Pembroke, and which is of $40 tons dis
placement. We regret that we have not
in finding out the exact
cost of this vessel. We are informed
that it is about e70, 900.
We believe it to be more; but, accept
Dg the estimate, we pass on to the
fourth and newest of the royal yachts,
ne Osborne. She was built at Penn
1roke in 1870 and is of 1 $50 tons dis
placement Including incidental charges,
her original cost was close upon cI34,-
90. or about e72 IS. ton. In the nine
cen years that have since expired she
las cost, including incidentals, but ex-
;luding wages and price Of perishabie
'tores, over cI5o. 600, or nearly e, 600 a
rear. There has, therefore, been sunk
u her sum of about el53 fox every ton
If her displacement, or some f2e5, 600 in
u, and the expenditure that has beeE.
incurred on the fabric and furniture oi
ne four royal yachts is not lsss than
,sSo. 900. We have good grounds for
upposing that 1t is very considerably
,ver Ct CSC COO The aversge expenGi- /