Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-10
FROM THE BEGINNING.
The First International Race-Hist0ry
of q Glorious and Booming Sport.

From the London Times
The term yacht is derived from the
Danish word jaght, meaning a chase; hence
yachting Is the chasing of one vessel after
another, and, accordingly, yachting and
yacht racing are synonymous expressions.
yacht is and always has been essentially
a pleasure craft, but in the early days no
yacht of any size existed; thus we find a
writer in 1706 referring to a yacht as "a
small ship built for swiftness and pleasure
rather than for merchandise or warlike
service" History does not tell US where,
when. or under what circumstances yachts
were first built, but it is certain they are
of ancient origin. and were only owned by
royal persons and great mobiles. The lat
ter fact receives confederation from an an
Gent but carefully compiled dictionary of
singular words, where yacht is defined
as "a pleasure craft of not more than 100
tens for the kings use" The earliest men
ton Of a yacht in this country was as far
back as the Anglo-Saxon period, when King
AthelStan received from the King of Nor
way present of a magnificent state barge,
rugged with purple sails and decorated with
wrought gold. Queen Elizabeth, We know,
frequently used a state barge. and so have
successive sovereigns to this day. 1t Is
curious to relate, and goes far to show, the
primitive nature of our early resources,
that while foreigners were able to build
this country till 1888. when the first English
yacht was constructed at COweS and
launched from that port.
But while 1858 may be fixed as the COM
mencement of yacht building in England. 1t
cannot be said that during the next half
century much progress was made with the
newly acquired industry. Indeed, had 1t
not been for Charles III, it is probable that
the trade would not have been established
for some time to come. King Charles, how
ever, was very fond of sailing, and the
Dutch East India Company, with the view
of gaining royal favor, presented him with
a small sloop-rigged vessel. The advent of
the foreisn-built vessel evidently stimu-
lated native talent, We find Evelyn in
his diary of October l, 1861, writing: II
sailed this morning with his majesty in
one of his yachts pleasure boats vessels
not known among us till the Dutch East
India Company presented that curious
piece to the king" But the king was not
only yachtsman, he was also a designer
and drew the lines of the jamie a TWENTY
hve-tonner, built at Lambeth, and raced
her against the Bean, a small Dutch-buiit
vessel belonging to the Duke of York. The
course was from Greenwich to Gravesend
and back and the prize 100 which was
won by the Bean. AS the ships were de-
signed and constructed In different coun-
tries the race may fairly claim to have
possessed an international character while
from the fact that the royal owners steered
their own boats ii was clearly an amateur
match Unfortunately. with the death of
Charles ii came another lull in the history
OF yachting, and 1t was not till early in the
eighteenth century that any real revival
TOOK place. During this long interval, how
ever. yachting had gradually become a
more democratic amusement. and the sport
of kings had descended to the level of COM
moners- Cork harbor became a fayorite
yachting ground, and during the summer
months was crowded with diminutive pleas
ure vessels Indeed, so popular did the
sport become that in 172O the Cork Harbor
Water Club was formed to encourage yacht
racing. The club ultimately developed into
what Is now the Royal Cork Yacht Club
Here. then. We have the first authentic at
tempt at organization in the yachting
world.
A few years later the sport came into
favor in the south of England and Matt
land In his History Of London" n739 re-
fers to sailing as one of the amusements
to be met with on the river Thames while
later still Qs0D Strut, in his well-known
work on Sports and Pastimes." mentions
the existence of society consisting of GER
tain gentlemen who gave a silver cup to
be sailed for annually in the vicinity Of
London. Toward the close of the eight
zenith century Cowes became the favorite
resort Of yacht racing, but still the con-
tending vessels were of small size, none
being over thirty-five tons. 1t was not un-
TIL the foundation of the Yacht Club after
ward the Royal Yacht Club and now the
world-renowned Royal Yacht Squadron
that yachting in this country may fairly be
said to have established itself as a nationa
sport, and even then QSl2) the number of
yachts ahoat only reached fifty. all told
But from this time the popularity of yacht
ing rapidly grew, and club after club fol-
lowed in quick succession. The ROYAL
Thames was founded in 1923 and in the
next year the Royal Northern was started
on the Clyde. In 1927 the Royal Western
was formed at Plymouth, and in 1886 the
Royal Eastern came into existence Then
succeeded the Royal London and the Royal
st. George in 1898, the Royal Southern and
H4rwlch NJ fxr-o
later came the Royal Mersey and the Royal
Victoria at Ryde, so prominent this wear
by reason of the international match be-
tween the Britannia and Navahoe The
Royal Irish was founded in 1916 the ROYAL
Welsh in 1S47 and the Royal Clyde in 1856
Now there is scarcely a place where Yacht
ing Is possible that does not possess its own
club, and, in many cases, a handsome club
house. According to Hunt, there are at
| the present time about seventy recognized
clubs in the United Kingdom
The little fleet of fifty vessels in 1872 has
grown into the gigantic roll Of over g. 900 in
1893, OF which about one-fourth are steam
ships Placing the gross tonnage, steam
and sail. at 100000 and the initial cost at
TO per ston, we find that in order to pro-
vide this pleasure navy f13, 800 900 must have
been spent in building alone. To get at
the annual expenditure We may take il
that two-thirds are in commission at one
time, which means yearly yachting ac-
count of about 10000 Naturally the ex-
| penditure of so large a sum has caused a
rapid increase in the number of builders
and at the present time the number Is not
! far short of $50 Designing has also inn
proved, and now the profession is fairly
lucrative one, while successful designer
is a very much sought-after individual. 1t
| Is scarcely possible to calculate the number
of men engaged on shore in connection
with this industry, but about Il, 900 are en-
ployed in the management of the fleet at
sea.
Turning to foreign countries, it will be
found that yachting has also made great
strides in recent years. France is fast be-
coming a yachting center and it is only
necessary to glance at the entries and the
amount of the prizes offered to show the
rapidly growing interest taken by the
French in this pastime. Twelve years ago
hardly a yacht existed in France now. in
the Cercle de la Wolfe de Paris, which may
be considered the principal French club,
seventy vessels fly the colors. 1t is true
that the sailing ships for the most part are
not of large tonnage, but on the club list
are two schooners of 80 and LIT tons, re-
spectively.
The largest European yacht club is, per-
yachts on its list, but here, again, the sail
ing vessels are of very small tonnage
Another important club is the Regio
Yacht Club Italano. with it's three schoon-
ers of 1871. 10 and 142 tons, respectively.
The purchase of the first Nalkyrie by the
Archduke Carl Stephen supplies an impetus
: to the Austrian Imperial Royal Yacht
Squadron and last. but not least. the sale