And with this we may bring our chapter to an end. We have now seen the rise, the gradual growth, and the specialisation of the steamship in many ways, and in many different localities whenever employed as a commercial money-earning concern. But the steamship, like the sailing ship, is not exclusively employed either for commerce or for war. With the latter kind of ships we have in the present volume no concern; but with regard to the development of the steam yacht we shall now have something to say. CHAPTER X THE STEAM YACHT That the steamship should become for the sportsman what for some time the sailing vessel had been was a natural prophecy. Even if steam were not to oust the simpler craft, at least both might sail the seas together without let or hindrance. But, of course, the old prejudice asserted itself again in yachting just as we have so frequently through the pages of this book seen that it did in the evolution of the purely commercial and experimental ships. The pioneer of the steam yacht was undoubtedly the late Mr. Assheton Smith, of Tedworth, near Andover. A man of substantial means, a keen sportsman, who was well-known among both hunting and yachting men, he was rather more far-sighted than his contemporaries, and considerably less prejudiced. He had owned a number of sailing yachts, was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and had it in mind to extend the encouragement of the sport also to vessels using steam. But to the select and conservative minds of the Royal Yacht Squadron this was by no means a happy suggestion, and they promptly showed their resentment by passing a resolution on May 5th, 1827, to the effect that since a material object of the club was to promote seamanship and improvements of sailing vessels to which the application of steam-engines was inimical, no vessel propelled by steam should be admitted into the club, and that any member applying a steam engine to his yacht should cease to be a member. As the late Mr. Montague Guest, in his history of the Royal Yacht Squadron, remarked, this prejudice was no doubt caused by the objectionable vomits of smoke which contemporary steamers in that locality were wont to emit, so that the fair shores of Southampton Water were polluted, and distant objects completely obscured. Smith was taunted with the remark that in wishing to introduce the steam yacht he was intending to make a connection between business and pleasure, and this insult stung him so severely that he eventually resigned his membership.