Profile of 'Valkyrie.' Designed by G. L. Watson.
Profile of 'Vigilant.' Designed by N. Herreshoff.
One of the happiest combinations of lightness of structure with taste and comfort is in the Prince of Wales's 'Britannia.' The fittings throughout are of polished yellow pine and mahogany, with tapestries and cretonnes above the polished wood dado, the effect being extremely bright, cosy, and unostentatious.
SALOON OF 'THISTLE' (NOW 'METEOR').
To return to the story of the evolution of the modern racing yacht, no striking change in form was made for some little time after 'America's' advent, beyond, of course, the steady lengthening and deepening of the model. Dan Hatcher, with the 'Glance' in 1855, entered on the wonderful series of successes which culminated perhaps in 'Norman,' 1872. These were all reasonably long boats with nice bows, fine after ends, and of big mid-area and displacement, but beautifully fair and easy all over, and showing a slight but not inordinate hollow forward. In 1866 Mr. Fife, of Fairlie, built the 'Fiona,' and though Clyde builders had already turned out successful yachts, it was 'Fiona' that put the fame of Scotch builders on a solid footing. This beautiful vessel was a cutter of 80 tons, of great length in proportion to beam (73 ft. 6 in. × 15 ft. 9 in.) and of large displacement for those days (108 tons); but she had singularly long, fair and easy lines, and, sailed in a masterly manner by John Houston, of Largs, more than held her own with the Solent-built craft. However, beyond being exceptionally fair and easy, 'Fiona' presented no striking novelty in form, nor did the big cutters 'Kriemhilda,' 'Vol-au-Vent,' or 'Formosa,' built by M. Ratsey, of Cowes, in 1872, 1875, and 1878 respectively, and it is an outsider and amateur yacht-builder that we have to thank for the daring departure in form that was made in 'Jullanar.'