Page:The history of yachting.djvu/179

Rh matter. Christopher Pett, sorely vexed, on March 28, 1661, writes to the Commissioners that he wishes "the workmen-carvers Thomas Eaton and Richard Swain severely punished for contempt; they know the great necessity there is for them, and that the vessel cannot be finished at the time prefixed." However, on April 12th, the Duke of York orders the yacht launched, "though the joiners and carvers are not completed." The King's yacht also was launched about the same time.

On May 12, 1661, Christopher Pett makes the following requisition upon the Navy Commissioners: "Six tons of old shot from the Tower for ballast for the Duke of York's yacht, and hurry the lead for ballast."

The italics are mine, but the shot and lead ballast were Christopher Pett's nearly two centuries and a half ago. When, therefore, we reflect that well into the last century, crack racing-yachts in England and America were ballasted with pig iron and iron ore, and in 1851 the America had iron ballast moulded to fit her floors and frames—at that time an extravagant novelty—and that only of late years lead ballast has come into general use as a modern improvement, we may well be cautious in accepting anything as new. It is interesting also to note Christopher Pett's anxiety with regard to the quality of canvas for the sails of the new yacht; also that he knew just what kind of canvas the rival yacht was to have. Indeed, all of his communications to the Naval Commissioners read