The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-08
VICTORIA'S NEW YACHT.
mand the Biggest and COstIiest
Pleasure Boat Ever Launched.

Pleasure Boat Ever Launched.
London, Dec. 31.-Queen Victoria may
soon enjoy the pleasure of a cruise on her
new yacht, the largest ever built. The new
royal yacht, the name for which has not
yet been definitely chosen, but which prob
ably will be called the prince Albert"
is now so far advanced that it is expected
she will be launched next March.
The first keel plate was laid Dec. o. 1897,
at the government dockyard at Pembroke
by Mrs. Watson, the wife of Capt. Burgess
Watson, the superintendent of the dock
yard, with elaborate ceremony.
The British government has a remark
ably well developed faculty of keeping its
business to itself. The gates of the govern
ment dockyard rarely open, even to Brit
ish citizens, and almost never to foreign
ers. Consequently. although all English
men in general and yachtsmen and naval
architects in particular, have been burn
ing with curiosity to know what Queen
Victorias new yacht will be like, ever
since Parliament appropriated money to
build her, nothing is known about her ex-
cept the meager details the admiralty has
seen fit to give out. No eyes have seen
her except the officers and workmen who
have business in the dockyard.
English curiosity became so clamOrous
a short time ago that the admiralty decid-
ed to depart from its declared policy of
maintaining absolute secrecy about the
royal yacht so far as to give out some of
the principal dimensions of the vessel
The new yacht is to be $50 feet in
length by so feet beam. Her draught is
to be eighteen feet and her displacement
is 10 be 1850 tons. This will be by far the
biggest yacht ever built. William K Van
derbilt's yacht Valiant, which has passed
muster for a pretty good sized yacht, is
small by comparison with Queen Victoria's
new pleasure craft. The Valiant is only
332 feet long, SO feet beam and 16 feet
draught. Her gross tonnage is 1923. How
ard Gould's Niagara is still smaller, be
ing 272 feet in length, 80 feet beam and
16 feet draught
The new royal yacht is as large as the
cruiser Baltimore, larger than the New
Orleans and much larger than the Ger
man Emperors yacht Hohenzollern. The
Hohenzollern is nothing more than pro
tected cruiser, armament protective deck
and all, with quarters fitted up for the
Emperor. The British royal yacht, on the
other hand, will have none of the qualities
of a cruiser, but will be yacht pure and
simple.
The hull is to be of steel, sheathed with
wood, and covered with copper. She will
be provided with double bottoms. She will
have three tunnels and two masts.
Speed is to be an important considera-
ton. The admiralty has designed to in
form British taxpayers that the yacht IS
to have two sets of triple-eXpansion, four
cylinder engines driving twin-screws and
having an indicated horsepower of 1l,OOO
The high pressure cylinder of each engine
is to be 1872 inches in diameter, the inter
mediate cylinder Az inches in diameter
and the two low pressure cylinders 50
inches in diameter, all having a stroke OF
80 inches. Steam will be supplied by eigh-
teen Belleville boilers, working at pres
sure Of 800 pounds, which will be reduced
at the engines to $50 pounds. The CRATE
area under the boilers will be $40 feet
and the heating surface will be 26VW
square feet. This machinery is expected
10 drive the vessel through the water at
speed of twenty knots an hour with the
engines making 40 revolutions a minute.
Recently progress on the yacht was de-
layed by strikes, but men are now work
ing overtime to make up for it. Only the
best artisans TO be found in the United
Kingdom are employed.
The vessel wall have orlop lower, main,
upper and forecastle decks.
Il is estimated that by the time the
royal yacht is in the water she will nave
cost 1897 533.
Although no information concerning the
arrangement. fitting and furnishing of the
interior has been given out, il may reason
ably be surmised that her majesty Will
be fairly comfortable on board, since 1t IS
estimated that the finished yacht will cost
100000 or, in round numbers, H,5Q0OV0.