Page:The history of yachting.djvu/484

232 way in the cool, radiant dawn; the clear, silvery river flowing peacefully among green fields and meadows, the repose and fullness of the sweet English landscape, and the stately domes and spires of London bathed in the limpid atmosphere. The yachts would perhaps anchor in some picturesque bend of the river, or drift home in the lingering summer twilight, or a freshening breeze and hastening tide would urge them onward. And while we have no record of these cruises, it is certain that the river, in those days, possessed a charm all its own,—departed long ago,—a charm never to be known again.

About the year 1800, Mr. Weld,—father of Mr. Joseph Weld, owner of the celebrated cutters Arrow, Lulworth, and Alarm,—owned the cutter yacht Lulworth Castle. Little is known of this yacht beyond the fact that she used to take her station at Weymouth whenever King George III and the royal family visited that watering place on board one of the royal yachts.

In 1804 the yacht Royal Sovereign was built at Deptford, and the following account of her launch appeared in the Naval Chronicle: "After a quarter before three o'clock on Saturday, May the 12th, a new Yacht, built on purpose for his Majesty, was launched from the King's dock yard at Deptford. She is a very neat but small ship. In her present trim she draws about nine feet forward and ten abaft. She is completely copper bottomed, has above that a streak of yellow and then another of blue, ornamented with medallions, representing the