Jim,
Here's a good deal more than you asked for...however, it is rather interesting.
DEFINING THE YACHT
Captain O’Brien in his book “Early Solent Steamers” – a very good read – commented that “Yacht racing began at Cowes in the late eighteenth century, the races taking place principally during the summer months and mainly under the supervision of the local sub-commissioners of pilotage of Trinity House.” I had some difficulty with his comment because it is generally thought that prior to 1800 there were few vessels on the Solent described as ‘yachts’. And it made me think.
Let me offer a definition of yachting from a mid-nineteenth century dictionary:
Yachting is the sport of racing in yachts and boats with sails for money or plate, and also the pastime of cruising for pleasure in sailing or steam vessels.
Robert Brindley in his 1832 Compendium of Naval Architecture refers to a yacht as “a pleasure vessel”, but also describes the “Yacht, Royal - a vessel expressly for His Majesty’s use.”
The reader may find full agreement with the above, but let me offer a further definition by David Lyon in his publication “The Sailing Navy List” (1993):
Yacht – The word came from the Dutch, who presented the first English example to the restored King Charles II in 1660, originally meaning a scouting craft. By the time the first British examples had appeared in the 1660s, they were used as despatch vessels, for carrying important people, and for racing. Most British examples were used as Royal Yachts, though lesser one were used by the Commissioners of the Navy and of Dockyards, the Viceroy of Ireland and the Governor of the Isle of Wight.
To add to the examples offered by David Lyon would be the yachts used by the Commissioners of the Customs and the Excise, and indeed the revenue fleet, and Trinity House.
The Dutch connection mentioned by David Lyon needs to be explored further. The jaght or yacht was used for a multiplicity of purposes. It was used as a small and fast warship particularly suited for inland and sheltered waters, and as a despatch and passenger carrying vessel. For the wealthy Dutch burghers the jaght was used for pleasure sailing that included racing.
Delving deep into the past we find that in the Anglo-Saxon period Athelstan had presented to him by the King of Norway a magnificent royal vessel, ‘the sails of which were purple and the head and deck wrought with gold’, apparently a kind of state barge. This gift as a sailing vessel for carrying important people could be thus deemed a yacht. Other royal personages apparently had ‘state vessels’, frequently described as barges and not carrying sail. I rather like the description given by one writer who described the barge of Cleopatra as a ‘leisure boat’.
Moving on Elizabeth I had a royal yacht as has every monarch since. As far as we know King Charles II was the only monarch to indulge in racing the royal yacht and for that reason most authorities have attributed to him the introduction into England of yachting, or the ‘sport of racing in yachts and boats with sails for money or plate’. Just how many ‘yachts’ were privately built by individuals wishing perhaps to maintain favour in the court of Charles II is not known, but according to Dermot Burns –
www.royalcork.com/club.htm – private sailing started to become popular in Cork Harbour in the 1660s. From this interest was established ‘The Water Club of the Harbour of Cork’, reputedly the oldest yacht club in the world.
From all of this it could be suggested that any vessel undertaking one or all of the following functions could be described as a yacht:
* Carrying important people;
* Cruising or sailing for pleasure;
* Racing;
* Minor naval duties where speed of passage is required.
If we accept the proposition that yachting is the sport of racing in yachts and boats with sails, then as an activity it has probably dates from that point in history when man first put a sail on a vessel. Our history tells us of fishing boats ‘racing’ with their catch back to market, and of boat ‘racing’ as part of an annual regatta. And how often have you heard something like “the last one back to the clubhouse gets them in!” When it comes to boats I doubt human nature has changed. Having said that I see no reason why cruising or simply pottering about in yachts should not be termed yachting.
