Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-29
COST OF ROYAL YACHTS.
ENORMOUS SUNS LAID OUT FOR
THEM ~ THE OLD WORLD.

Exam pies In Recent Russian Boats-Fivs
Million Dollar. Expended for Two Yachts.
Ous 81 Which Wa Never Used-Engiand's
OatiAys and . Protest Against Them
Admitting the importance in country .
shich has nionarchical form of govern
lent that the splendor and dignity Of /
he sovereign should be maintained The /
.ondon Daily News remarks that there {
re extravagant as well as reasonable /
aethods Of maintaining all the splendor !
md dignity that may be desirable. and /
ew people who give themselves the |
rouble Of inquiring into the subject will |
re found to deny that an enormous /
mount Of money has been needlessly /
wasted in connection with royal achts. |
Great Britain is far from being the |
,nly country in which such wasteful ex- |
',enditure has occurred and is occurring. 4
.sussia is a great transgressor IL this re- |
pect The late ear already possessed /
ialf dozen capital yachts when he gave |
orders for the building of the notorious /
Lvadia. She was to be the largest and I
most magnificent as well as the most /
original yacht in the world. Unlike all |
Dther vessel, Of the kind, she VS. 10 he |
constructed with beam equal 10 two
thirds of her length. So that she might
Knot roll. aud the imperial family might |
oe spared the horrors of se;ssic kneSs. |
She was 10 he supplied with three screws
20 that she might be handy as we'll as
last And upon her spacious deck was
o be built veritable palace. The plans
we're carried out, and the Lvadia was
launched at Govan in 1880.
ExTRAvAGAST GLARS.
Probably no one knows what she
cost but ii is certain that from first TO
LAST considerably more than $500, 600 was
expended on her. Yet her imperial own
n would have nothing to say t. her. AS
Yacht she was colossal failure. and
oday she is only useful as "A kind of float
ing barracks in the Black sea. The pres
ent car Is, nevertheless, expending
| further f500. 900 over a new vessel,
| which is to be called the Polaruaia
Zvezda, and which. should she be a sue
cess, will haveall the masnificence, near
| w all the size and more than the speed
and hardness of the discredited Eoans
ark in which his majesty once hoped to
| take his pleasure.
| The cars extravagance does not in
| lure US. Neither does the yachting ex
travagance of the young German emper-
or, who, although he possesses in the
| Hohenzolern one of the prettiest and
most comfortable craft of the kind afloat,
has Just applied to his faithful subjects
| for q grant Of money equal to e225, 900
in order that he mav build himself new
yacht. These examples are interesting
to the British taxpayer only because
| they illustrate what appears to be very
| general tendency ON the part of the Eu-
ropean royalties. 1t is not until the tax
payer comes to consider the royal yacht
| question as il affects him personally that
| he experiences any very dlscomforting
| 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-
ticai purposes are yachts also, and the
| Alberta and the Eltin. The oldest of the
four is the little Yacht Eltin which was
built at Chatham in lS49. and which is of
only nintythree tons displacement. She
originally cost Sc, lGS. or about f68 Is.
ton. The EuchlntreSs, the present ad-
miralty yacht, is beautifully fitted
craft of 900 tons displacement, yet her
original cost was rather less than SAT
ton. 1t is clear, therefore, that, at the
outset. the Elm Was an expensive bar
gaiu. She has now been in existence
forty years. and, during that period. with
out rec Aoning the wages of the crew and
| the price of her consunable stores, she
has cost an additional sum of over $40,
900, or, on the average, more than 81 900
4 year. her total cost up to date being
about CT. 900 1t is as ii an ordinary
citizen had bough. q house for f6,00)
forty years ago and had since spent ell
600 not in adding to it, but simply keep
ing it in repair. The little Eldn at this
moment has cost the country over $3.50
for every ton of Ter displacement.
COMPARING ENGLISH VESSELS.
Next of the four in point of age is the
Victoria and Albert, the largest of the
roval Yachts. She is of 2.410 tons dis
placement and was built at Pembroke il.
1865, Ter original cost. inclusive Of in
cidental dockyarti charges, was fl,6.Se
or over 81 a ton. She. too. was expeu-
sive at the outset In the thirty four
years which have since elapsed-settins
aside as before the wages of her crew
and the price of her consulnable stores
she has cost, including incidentais, an
additional sum Of more than G3S7 600.