In August of 1827, the Northern Yacht Club offered at their regatta a twenty guinea cup, to be awarded to the swiftest steamboat, and so far as I am able to ascertain this was the first occasion when steam craft ever raced against each other under such conditions. Several steam vessel owners sent in their entries for the race, and after an exciting contest for three hours round a marked course, a paddle-ship, named the _Clarence_, won. This is especially interesting, inasmuch as that boat had been engined by the famous Robert Napier to whom we referred earlier in this book, and in more ways than one this success led to considerable success. The incident attracted the attention of Assheton Smith, who, although he was then fifty years old, was fired with enthusiasm over the possibilities of the new sport. He had already had five sailing yachts built for him, and after resigning from the Royal Yacht Squadron, wrote to Napier asking him to come south to his place near Andover. Neither had met before, and the upshot of the northerner’s visit was that he was commissioned to build a steam yacht, the cost of which came to £20,000, Napier being given a free hand in regard to her entire construction. A recent writer has seen fit to remark that “no account exists of the first steam yacht built by Mr. Smith,” so that it may be worth while to add that this vessel was named the _Menai_, that she was built in the year 1830 and delivered at Bristol. She measured 120 feet long and 20 feet wide, her tonnage being 230, and her nominal horse-power 110. She was, of course, a paddle-wheel craft and driven by Napier’s double side-lever engines, of which we have already explained the detailed working. Those who wish to see what this first historic steam yacht was like can examine a model of her in the Glasgow Art Galleries.