The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-16
QUEENS NEW YACHT.
Peril That Led to Its COnstruc-
ton.
London Chronicle.

London Chronicle
The new royal yacht which the Prince
q W aleS Inspected at Portsmouth OH
Monday last has been described and com
pared with other royal yachts al aau-
seam. Her speed, her tonnage, her coal
capacity, all these things have been re.l
lated But there are other things IGsS
known, if they are known at all, which,
now that the yacht is completed, may be
of interest.
TO begin with, the reason why the new
yacht was ordered is known to very few
people. Every one, of course, has a
vague idea what the present Victoria and
ALBERT is by way of being the veteran
snip of the navy list-she dates from the
Crimean War-but mere antiquity was not
the reason why the new yacht was re-
CURED The old "V. and A" is still in
very good condition, and able to steam
as fast or faster than the escorting cruis-
ers that usually accompany her; while
as thing of beauty she leaves little to
! De desired. Indeed, SO far as looks 20,
she Is Tar and away superior to the new
yacht. The real trouble is that dating
from the days when people were less par
Gcular or else less. skilful at keeping
! ships afleat than now, she has practf.
| cally nothing in the way of watertigft
compartments. And this was dramati-
! cally realized not long before the new
yacht was laid down.
1t came to be realized in this fashion:
During one of the queens voyages the
/ victoria and Albert was steaming through
fishing fleet, when suddenly there, 13n
scended sea fog, blotting out every
thing At once The yacht was slowed
down, and the steam siren set a-hooting.
Inc peril was imminent and serious. for
at any moment heavy fishing boat might
collide with the fragile Yacht, and if
that had happened the Victoria and AL
bert would almost inevitably have been
possibility Were made
Presently the queen-alF innocent of
her danSer-Was annoyed by the below
of the siren, and sent an order about the
horrible noise" 1t was. necessary to ex
plain something Of the situa ton to hcr.
ana at once The officer IN command
! or the yacht proceeded to do So telling
| the queen that they were in a fog, fisGine
boats all around, and d collision at least
! possible.
'.Oh, the poor fishermen! said tba
queen Keep the siren going-it would
pc awful IT We ran any of them down"
so the siren hooted during the three
hours log, the queen all the time in a
slate OF great perturbation, never ,iream-
ing That she was in much greater neriI
tiian the fishermen. Fortunately ne IiSh-
! lag boat came near, but it was al d ala5-
crew were helpless. The queen FUN of
sol1cItude for the purely mythical danzrtsc
me rad conjured up as looming over the
fishing boats, was the. only psrscn on
board the yacht not in an agony of an
IrenenSlon Tor the ''V and A. The IN
cloehf was, OF course, reported. 1t was
equS'l I, OF course, kept quiet; but the
| new yacht was decided on very soon as
terWard, and laid down as soon as ever
building slip was available
a .d4W lie new yacht mt with an acct-
! cent IN dock, the criticisms heaped- upo1
| Her, Cne ofhclal acknowledgment OF an
! error in her design-aII these things ev5 r.
| one one knows. She was to have been a
! thing of beauty; but Portsmouth do k
| yard has removed all trace of that Tn,
! lofty masts and tunnels have all hal to
i pc shortened, fine raised forecastle has
| peen all removed, save in the extfera
/ bow, where to do so would have entaiIed
! the destruction OF a s.ngularly goTgeou
! ilgurehead. The once shapeIy yacht has
/ III consequence of these changes grow
! squat-she has gone through a metam Or
| pRoSls suggestive of the change from
/ the shght. graceful girl OF twenty to tn9
COMFORTABLE matron, Of twenty wears lat
| ef, she IS mateonly looking craft now,
| out she Is steady and solid, where before
! owing to that error in design. she was
! rar toO lively to be SatfSfac tory
| Among the many internal changes in
| The yacht the removal Of many two feet
| thick sound proof saloon walls and non
1nflammable wood partitions is worthy of
! notice, II only because of the unitarian
| end Of some of these latter For the non
! inflammable wood was chopped up, fash
| Toned INTO dummy sailors, and put on
! Grad was pounded by the Majestic; and
beneath the hail of lyddite all but one Of
these dummies were reduced to fragmentg
| in the battery of the Bellesle
! 1t is taken for granted at Portsmouth
i mat when the Duke of York takes his
I long postponed trip to Australia he vii
| go IN the new yacht. Last summer. as
was stated in the Daily Chronicle at the
time, it was practically settled that he
would commission the cruiser Ar.adna:
! but this arrangement would seem to have
/ fallen through. Possibly the prince pre-
fers the yacht. His naval fancies grow
| strongest in the direction of a smart
show ship, and, of course. a royal
yacht lends itself better to this than a
warship, while a higher degree of COM
fort is obtainable. To Australia the com
plment of a royal yacht may also b.
greater; so presumably the yacht viii go,
although her coal supply Is very small
| for such service