This must have been the first English yacht that crossed the Atlantic, and we find no record of a second yacht visiting America until more than a century later.
In May, 1669, the yacht Mary was ordered by the King to take down "one hundred able water-men for the rigging and fetching-about of the Sandwich to Chatham." Yachts at this period, we see, were by no means mere toys and playthings, but were expected to do their share of work.
It is rather strange that there should be only one portrait of English yachts at this period, as King Charles engaged William Vandervelde—born at Leyden in 1610, who "Learned to paint ships by a previous turn to navigation"—to come to England; also his son, known as Vandervelde the younger, born at Amsterdam, 1633; and received them with marks of royal favor.
The elder Vandervelde once piloted the English fleet in Dutch waters, and was a good seaman, as well as a great artist, his works being well known and justly celebrated.
So far as can be traced, William Vandervelde painted only one picture of yachts in England; this picture, which is here reproduced, is owned by Mr. C. Newton Robinson, of London, and represents King Charles seated on the quarter-deck of the nearest yacht. It will be seen that these yachts closely resemble—in construction and rig—the Dutch yachts of that period.
Doubtless also there were other private yachts of which all trace has been lost, as one of the great
