The Times wrote a leading article; Lord Curzon followed with a brilliant letter, and other letters appeared, with a result that a committee was formed, the sum of between £5,000 and £6,000 was subscribed, and we shall shortly have memorials of the great soldier-statesman both in London and in India.
CHAPTER XIX. RECREATIONS.
It is a good thing to have a "hobby." Perhaps in these days we have too many, and pursue them with too much intensity, to the neglect of more important matters. To this I must, to some extent, plead guilty. I have devoted much time and thought to boating and to gardening.
My boating days commenced in the 'sixties, when I frequently sailed with my uncle, Alfred Bower, who owned some of the crack yachts belonging to the Birkenhead Model Yacht Club—the "Presto," "Challenge," "Enigma," etc. They were large beamy boats, of about eight to ten tons, with centre boards. Our racing was mostly in the upper reaches of the Mersey, lying between Eastham and the Aigburth shore.
In 1866 I made my first venture, buying the American centre-board yacht "Truant," which had greatly distinguished herself for speed, and taking her up to Windermere. She was not, however, of much use on that expansive but treacherous sheet of water. The heavy squalls were too much for her huge sail plan. I also owned and sailed on the Mersey the "Glance," eight tons; "Satanella," fifteen tons; "Saraband," fourteen tons; and "Leander," twenty tons.
I then for a time gave up yachting on the Mersey, and in 1868 bought a racing boat on Lake Windermere, the "Spray." She was most successful, winning in 1870 every race we sailed.
In 1871 I was induced to build a twenty-ton racing cutter for the sea, and called her the "Playmate." She was built by Ratsey, at Cowes, and was the first boat to carry all her lead ballast on her keel, and in consequence her advent was watched with considerable interest. I sailed her for two years in the various regattas round the coast, on the Solent and on the Clyde, but she was only fairly successful. The competition in the class was very keen, and the boats built by Dan Hatcher carried away most of the prizes.
This was the time when yachting, I think, reached its highest point of interest, and the matches of the forty, twenty, and ten ton classes were watched with great keenness throughout the country. In the forty-ton class we had the "Norman," "Muriel," "Bloodhound," "Glance," etc.; and in the twenty-ton class the "Vanessa," "Quickstep," "Sunshine," etc. We had also some very fine sixty-tonners, and an excellent class in schooners. Our regattas were conducted with much keenness, and created great enthusiasm. Locally we had many active yachting men, Mr. David MacIver, M.P., who sailed the "Sunshine," the "Shadow," and the "Gleam"; Mr. Gibson Sinclair, Mr. Astley Gardner, Mr. Coddington, Mr. Andrew Anderson, Mr. St. Clair Byrne, and others.