Page:The history of yachting.djvu/189

 Rh the river; but they were not built frigate-like, and the Mary at that time was not new. The Duke of York had only one yacht, the Anne; so it is difficult to understand how the Jamie could have sailed a match in 1661. She was not even launched, as we shall presently see, until 1662; hence, there can be no question that this first yacht race was sailed between the Katherine and the Anne.

"The King lost in going, the wind being contrary, but saved stakes in returning." This is rather vague, and leaves us in doubt as to who really won the match. If the King won, it would have been natural for Evelyn to say that he "gained" or "won" stakes in returning. How he could have "saved" stakes is hard to imagine, unless the match was arranged to be sailed first from Greenwich to Gravesend, and then to make a fresh start from Gravesend to Greenwich, in which case the match may have been called off at Gravesend. The King, satisfied that the Anne was the faster yacht, may, in this way have "saved" stakes. How he could have done so otherwise, it is difficult to understand.

And there is one significant fact in connection with this match. Pepys nowhere makes mention of it. Accordingly, the only reasonable supposition of his silence seems to be that the yacht of his friend the Commissioner, who had built her "for the honour of his country," and from which Pepys,—after the dinner,—had expected so much, had suffered a humiliating defeat, Pepys therefore