In 1844 the Royal Yacht Squadron began to climb down gradually from their haughty position of serene isolation, for in that year they showed some slight recognition of the steam yacht by resolving that “no steamer of less than 100 horse-power should be qualified for admission into, or entitled to the privileges of the Squadron,” and in 1853 the last objection to the steam yacht was withdrawn by the rescinding of all rules which prohibited her use. Thereupon a number of the Royal Squadron members had auxiliary engines fitted to their sailing craft, but by 1856 there were not more than a score of steam-engined yachts as against seven or eight hundred sailing ones. In 1868 a unique race, which excited some derision at the time, was run between Lord Vane’s steam yacht _Cornelia_ and Mr. Talbot’s _Eothen_. During the early ’eighties many of the non-racing yachts flying the Squadron’s colours, and used solely for cruising, were either purely steam or auxiliary steam yachts. By 1883, out of 2,000 yachts no fewer than 700 were steam, which had cost originally two and a half millions sterling. To such an extent had this new development of the sport gone ahead that it was even seriously suggested by the _Field_ that ordinary cruising would be extinguished by the steam yacht. During the ’eighties the number of English steam yachts multiplied in all parts of the Kingdom owing to several causes. The improvements which had been going on, as well in the making of marine engines as in yacht building and designing, were assisted by the more economical consumption of coal which was now possible. But the sport of steam-yachting is entirely, by reason of its nature and its costliness, confined to the rich man. Apart altogether from the advantages which steam gives in that it renders the yacht independent of calms and tides, yet it carries with it especially a social feature. The influence of Cowes week, the dispensing of hospitality, and the privilege of enjoying a floating home anything but bereft of the highest comfort, must be reckoned as among the potent factors of an extent equal to, if not greater than, the sheer delight of voyaging from one port to another. Many steam yachts spend their time within the comparatively sheltered waters of the south coast of England, or the west coast of Scotland, perhaps running out to the Riviera in December or January. But a few, such as Lord Brassey’s celebrated _Sunbeam_, go round the world, penetrate to the Arctic circle, cross the Atlantic, and go east through the Suez Canal. [Illustration: TYPICAL STEAM YACHT OF ABOUT 1890. _By permission of “The Yachting Monthly.”_]