Page:The history of yachting.djvu/172

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60
THE HISTORY OF YACHTING

King do tire all his people that are about him with early rising since he came."

The Dutch pleasure-boat was the yacht Mary, which, as we have seen, was presented to King Charles upon his departure from Holland. Pepys records the fact as follows: "In the year '60 the Dutch gave his Majesty a yacht called the Mary, from whence came the improvements of our present yachts; for until that time we had not heard of such a name in England" (Naval Minutes, p. 267). Evelyn also writes in his diary under date of October 1, 1661: "I sailed this morning with his Majesty in one of his yachts or pleasure-boats, vessels not known among us till the Dutch East India Company presented that curious piece to the King."

The dimensions of the Mary were: Length of keel, 52 feet; breadth, 19 feet; depth, 7 feet 7 inches; draught, 10 feet; and 100 tons burden. The length of keel, or "as she treads the ground," is given in all the measurements of yachts at that period, to which should be added from ten to fifteen per cent, for the length over all. The Mary carried 8 guns and a crew of 30 men. The portrait here reproduced—from an unfinished drawing in India ink by Jan Beerstraten—is of a yacht with the royal arms of England on her stern. The artist died in 1666 at Amsterdam, where, as we have seen, the Mary was built. It seems probable, therefore, that this is her portrait before she left Holland. If so, it is the only one extant.

Judging from the people about her deck, the