CHAPTER VI
WILLIAM AND MARY
Landing of King William at Torbay—The yacht Princess Mary—Her remarkable longevity—The William and Mary—The Medina—Jacobite plots—Caermarthen's yacht—Peter the Great, in Holland and England—The Little Grandsire—Generous action of Louis XIV.
KING CHARLES was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York, who became King James II. of England. He reigned but four years, abdicating December 11, 1688. No record has been found that any yachts were built during these years. But with the accession of the Prince of Orange,—King of William III. of England—was introduced one of the most remarkable yachts of that period,—the Princess Mary.
It is not known exactly when or where this yacht was built. Some writers suppose that she appeared in the early part of the seventeenth century in England, and that her original name was the Brill. This, however, seems extremely improbable, as no yachts are known to have been built in England prior to 1661. It is hardly possible, too, that any one would have imported a yacht from England into Holland—at that time the home of yacht building; whose shipwrights also excelled in shipbuilding. It is probable, rather, that the Princess Mary was built in Holland about 1677, during the
116
