The 'Wyvern' was not a yacht of large displacement; she inclined, indeed, rather the other way. Those who have seen the 'Naiad' or 'Pastime' hauled up out of water (two of Dickenson's old crack 10-tonners which now frequent the South Coast ports) will have a better idea than any words can give of the 'Wyvern's' style of model and midship section. Built for length on deck, there was no necessity for shortening up the water-line, and her sternpost had no very great rake. Her buttock lines were as easy and fair as could be, giving her a slightly hollowed entrance with a nice clean run aft. Her extreme draught was not much over 5 feet, and her keel ran almost straight from the heel of the sternpost to the foot of the stem--that is, with very little if any rocker (or rounding) to it. Dickenson had a very admirable method of finishing off the after end of his yachts, and their counters were all light, and neatly put on. The 'Wyvern's' counter was particularly so. She was flush-decked save a large cockpit, which opened into the cabin, and which was surrounded by a 5-inch combing. This was the only weak or vulnerable part about her; for if a really heavy lump of water had filled it, there was nothing to prevent the cabin being swamped. Her fittings below were of the simplest description, though very comfortable. The sofas on each side of the saloon formed lockers and berths, and beyond these a pantry and a fitting for a lavatory, which was forward on the starboard side, with the usual two square lockers at the after ends of the sofas, were all the furniture of any consequence she contained. She had wood floors, iron not having come into fashion at that time, and carried the greater part of her ballast inside to the tune of 3 tons of lead and 10 cwt. of iron. Her outside ballast consisted of a 14-cwt. lead keel, which was considered in those days a very heavy keel for so small a yacht. She was one of the first small yachts of 6 tons or under that was fitted with a flush deck and ordinary skylight, and in every way she looked the picture of smartness. When she was first built her principal antagonists about her own size were the 'Adèle,' a small 5-ton yacht also by Dickenson, the 'Pet,' 5 tons, built at Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1871, and a very fast 3-tonner, the 'Barracouta,' built by Bishop in 1860, for Mr. J. M. Hannay. She was altered in 1874 into a yawl in order to race in the 5-ton class, which was at that time just beginning to be popular.