Neptune presided over the stern, while the figurehead represented her Majesty. It will be seen at once how similar in colouring and decoration she was to the type of ships prevalent in Charles II.’s time. She was said to have been very fast and beautifully decorated, as well inside as out. She was 96 feet 1 inch long on deck with a breadth of 25 feet 7 inches. Her tonnage was 280-18/94. She was ship-rigged and carried royals and stuns’ls, judging from a print of 1821. In the external decoration of this yacht we can see the influence which is still manifested in the royal steam yachts of this country to-day. The lavish display of gold leaf, the heavy stern and general clumsiness—all vile inheritances from the days of Charles II. when naval architects knew no better—were all reproduced in the old _Victoria and Albert_ and have been perpetuated even in the newest royal yacht the _Alexandria_. It is only with the nineteenth century that yachting really begins, but it was not till after the Crimean War that the sport began in earnest. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the cutters were built on the lines of the revenue cutters, which as we saw just now, owed much to Dutch influence. The reader who wishes to see what clumsy creatures they were has only to look at Turner’s pictures (see, for example, the cutter in Fig. 71). In such a painting as Charles Brooking’s _The Calm_, numbered 1475 in the National Gallery, we readily see the square topsails above the fore-and-aft mainsail and headsails. Brooking lived from 1723 to 1759, but fifty years later the cutter had remained much the same. The spars these yachts carried were enormous, and they were built of such strength that they were up to the Government standard. Although the cutters were of large dimensions, sometimes having a tonnage of 150, yet they were very tubby, round creatures, their proportions being three beams in length and heavily ballasted after the mediæval manner with gravel, yet sometimes also with iron ore. But as match sailing became commoner, naturally a means was sought for making the cumbersome craft less heavy. The heavy ballast remained, but both timbers and planking were of less thickness. Hitherto of clinker build, this gradually gave way to carvel-work. One of the most famous yachts of the first quarter of the century was the _Arrow_, built clinker fashion in 1822 and still in existence. [Illustration: FIG. 111. THE YACHT “KESTREL,” 202 TONS. OWNED BY THE EARL OF YARBOROUGH, COMMODORE OF THE R.Y.S.] [Illustration: FIG. 112. THE YACHT “XARIFA.” OWNED BY THE EARL OF WILTON.]