Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-01-24
COST OF ROYAL YACHTS.
ENORMOUS SUMS LAID OUT FOR
THEM IN THE OLD WORLD.


Million Dollars Expended for Two Yachts.
One of Which Was Never Used-EngIand's
outlays and Protest Against Them.
Admitting the importance in country
which has monarchical form of govern
ment that the splendor and dignity of
the sovereign should be maintained. The
London Daily News remarks that "there
are extravagant as we'll 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
orders 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
a 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 a
further e500,000 over 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 hardness of the discredited Noah's
ark in which his majesty once hoped to
take his pleasure.
The cars extravaganza does not in
jure us. Neither does the yachting ex-
travagance of the young German emper-
or, who, although he possesses in the
Hohenzollern one of the prettiest and
most comfortable craft of the kind afoat,
has just applied to his faithful subjects
for grant of money equal to e225, 600
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
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 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 Elfin. The oldest of the
four is the little yacht Elfin, which was
built at Chatham in 1849, and which is of
only ninty-three tons displacement. She
originally cost &c, 16S, or about eG6 rs. a
ton. The Enchantress, the present ad-
miralty yacht, is a beautifully fitted
craft of 1000 tons displacement, yet her
original cost was rather less than e47 a
ton. 1t is clear, therefore, that, at the
outset, the Elin 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
year, her total cost 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 G41,-
900, 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
cidental dockyard charges, was e176, $50,
or over e71 a ton. She, too, was expen-
sive at the outset. In the thirty-four
years which have since lapsed-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 9367 900,
or on the average nearly e12,0 900 a year
her total cost up to date being, rough
ly speaking, e565, 900. AS she lies in
Portsmouth harbor today she has cost
the country about 1925 for every ton of
her displacement. Third in seniority is
the Alberta, which was built in 1868 at
Pembroke, and which is of $40 tons dis
placement. We regret that we have not
succeeded in finding out the exact
cost Of this vessel. We are informed
that. it is about e70,000.
We believe it to be more; but, accept
ing the estimate, we pass on to the
fourth and newest of the royal yachts,
the Osborne. She was built at Penn
broke in 1870 and is of $50 tons dis
placement. Including incidental charges,
her original cost was close upon e134,-
coo, or about e72 SIS. q ton. In the nine
faap x-aore fbot bovo g;,oa e---.;,oJ .J,o