214 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mabch 31, 1887. 



VANDUARA. 



JUST a t this time when the yachting world is all agog over the 

 dimensions of the new Thistle, we should like to treat our 

 readers to the designs of the great unknown. This, of course, is 

 impossible, in view of the extraordinary precautions that have 

 been taken to insure secrecy; but through, the courtesy of the 

 Thistle's designer, we are able to give the accompanying plans ot 

 a sister vessel that in her day created no less of a sensation than 

 Thistle promises to. While differing in size from the Thistle, the 

 Vanduara possesses some features which Just now make her ot 

 special interest, one being that she was one of Mr. V\ atson s most 

 notable boats, the other that she is a fine example of the same 

 steel construction that is employed in the Thistle, and that thus 

 far is little known to American yachtsmen. The year 1880 is a 

 notable one in the evolution of the British racing yacht, asm it 

 was witnessed a decided jump in The matter of ballasting, after a 

 number of short steps toward heavy lead keels. The small craft 

 had alreadv demonstrated the value and practicability ot carrying 

 nearlv all ballast on the keel, and the tens and fives were all doing 

 it suc'cessfullv; but in the large craft, as the result of a dozen or 

 more years of trial. Arrow was carrying only 14 tons out ot 40 on 

 her keel: Formosa had but the same amount, less than 2o percent, 

 of the total; Yol-au-Vent and Kriemhildahad each 15 tons out of 

 54. This rear, however, saw two new craft afloat, one, the Samce- 

 na, designed bv Mr. Richardson and built of wood by Inman & 

 Son, the other,' Vanduara. designed by Mr. Watson, and built of 

 steel by the Hendersons, at Partick. Both of these boats were 

 narrower and rather deeper than their predecessors, but further 

 rhev carried practically all the ballast on the keel; in fact, A an- 

 duara's keel was simply a huge steel trough in which the molten 

 metal was poured. The result was just what might have been ex- 

 pected, the two swept the coast and threw out of the racing all 

 the old fleet from Arrow down, opening the way for still more 

 radical experiments in narrow beam and low ballast that have 

 culminated in a Galatea of six beams and with nearly 80 tons in 

 her steel keel. Vanduara was built for Mr. John Clark, of Paisley, 

 one of the leaders of Scotch yachting, and under his ownership 

 and the handling of Captain Mackie. she made a wonderful record 

 in her first season, winning 14 firsts and 5 other prizes to 31 starts 

 and a total value of £1,000. If she had only the old boats to deal 

 with her great superiority would have been more apparent; but 

 many of her races were sailed against Samcena, and the prizes 

 were" shared with her. The history of her first season was lately 

 given in the Field, as follows: 



"Vanduara, it can at once be said, made a sensation such as no 

 yacht has created before or since. We recollect being at Graves- 

 end with Mr. John Harvey when she arrived from the north. 

 'She's a slv-looking bit o' goods, isn't she?' remarked that well 

 known yacht designer, and her first exploit was to defeat Formosa 

 and Cuckoo in a fine reaching breeze out and home in the match 

 of the New Thames Y. (J. Thus Vanduara's first achievement was 

 to establish a character for speed, although she only beat Formosa 

 bv four and a half minutes. But then Formosa had a great repu- 

 tation for fast reaching, and, to beat her at all was thus a very 

 considerable performance. On the following day the same two 

 met under the flag of the Royal London Y. C, in a still stronger 

 beam wind, which gave another reach out and borne. On this 

 occasion Formosa just managed to keep ahead of Vanduara, but 

 she woidd not have won the prize had not the new vessel been over 

 the line at the start, aud. not having returned, been thus disquali- 

 fied. On the day following. June 5, the wind shifted to N.W.. and 

 the Royal Thames match showed us Vanduara in anew light, that 

 of tackling Formosa to windward. There was a fine breeze, and 

 Formosa led down to the Mouse Lightship, but directly sheets 

 were flattened in for a long thrash home, Vanduara began to 

 march out to windward in a very wonderful manner; she did not 

 make a steady gain all through, however, although there was no 

 doubt about her quality, and she arrived home first by five 

 minutes. Vanduara had now done quite enough to make it plain 

 that none of the old cutters had a chance against her, and the 

 public were so impressed with her prowess, and she was so much 

 the talk of the West-end, both for her good looks and grand 

 achievements, that newspapers told off 'special correspondents' 

 to chronicle her deeds for the rest of the summer. 



"The Vanduara's next performances were in a light wind down 

 Swin to Harwich, and in the Royal Harwich Y. C. regatta. She 

 was successful on both days, thereby completing her trial and 

 gaining the reputation of a sound all-round performer. The trial 

 was not yet complete, either, as there had been no down-wind 

 trial in a strong wind and sea. However, this they had in the re- 

 turn match from Harwich to Southend. Vanduara, however, was 

 kept in the boiling wake of some big schooners, and as a conse- 

 quence ran rather wild; she was thus unable to make the speed 

 Formosa did. and even Cuckoo finished in front of her. However, 

 all this was forgotten after her splendid achievements at Dover, 

 in strong winds and head seas and again at Ostend. Her grandest 

 performance was most likely in the match from Ostend to Dover 

 on Julv 2, when the competitors had a heavy head sea and head 

 wind a'll through. The chief competitors were the Latona (yawl), 

 Fiona (schooner), and Australia (schooner). It was a dreadfully 

 punishing match for vessel, gear and crew, and Vanduara was not 

 spared— indeed she was sailed with remarkable boldness, and in 

 spite of some mishaps to her headgear, she at the end of the long 

 and trying thrash was nearly three-quarters of an hour ahead of 

 Latona. She eclipsed this performance in the match from Dover 

 to Cowes, sailed against Latona and Egeria, and here finished up 

 the first part of her season's work, having won eleven prizes for 

 thirteen starts. The Vanduara now made her way round to the 

 Clyde, where she encountered Samcena, who already had made a 

 great name for speed. 



"The encouuters on the Clyde, in Belfast Lough, and in Dublin 

 Bay (and subsequently inside the Isle of Wight) were not of the 

 stirring character they had been in the Straits of Dover and 

 across the German Ocean, and scarcely a single test match was 

 sailed. As we said at the time, there is little doubt that Van- 

 duara had been tried very much higher than Samcena; and. had 

 Vanduara not sailed and won the Ostend match, the matches 

 from Ostend to Dover, and from Dover to Cowes, her reputation 

 would have been an ordinary one. It was these matches— all 

 sailed in quick succession in hard winds— that appealed so to the 

 imagination of the delighted sailor men; and in these Samcena 

 took no part ; but Samoena, like Vanduara, is wonderfully steady 

 in a head sea, and would no doubt have given a good account of 

 herself. 



"It should here be said that when Vanduara came south the 

 second time with Samcena they met the old Arrow, and the result 

 of the encounters at the end of the season was summed up pretty 

 much like this : Vanduara could beat anything afloat to wind- 

 ward in any strength of wind and in any amount of sea ; she, 

 however, proved inferior to Samcena and Arrow in point of speed; 

 aud for ordinary weather, over a course of two-thirds reaching 

 or running. Samcena was the most certain prize winner. Samcena, 

 it is true, seemed scarcely so weatherly as Arrow, but generally 

 proved a little faster off the wind ; and she suffered, by compari- 

 son, a little in weatherliness because she had not quite the stiff- 

 ness of Vanduara and Arrow. Vanduara, in fact, showed extra- 

 ordinary stiffness, and in this respect she was most likely superior 

 to anything hitherto launched. Formosa sailed several matches, 

 in which were Vanduara, Samcena and Arrow, but she did not 

 compare favorably with either ; still, there is not much doubt 

 that she could have been brought very near any of her rivals if 

 her weights had been dealt with in the fashionable way." 



Vanduara enjoys one curious distinction— she has been written 

 about in more glowing colors than any other yacht, not excepting 

 the two new Boston boats, and pet names without end were 

 coined for her. A very good specimen of this class of writing 

 that tells at the same time of some of her victories, we copy from 

 the London Daily Telegraph of July 20, 1880: 



"This year attention has been centered upon two i emarkable 

 vessels— the Vanduara, built by a Glasgow shipwright, and the 

 Samcena, a Solent-born ship, each of them of the same burden— 

 90 tons— and each cutter-rigged. Built of steel plates and steel 

 frames, she is an experiment in construction which seems, how- 

 ever, already triumphantly justified. The economy of space 

 effected by her materials permits the ballast to be carried very 

 low down and close. Her lines are marvellously fine, her beam 

 small without being too much sacrificed, and her appearance 

 splendid and high bred. The peculiarity of the Vanduara seerns 

 to be in the cutting away of her forefoot, all the dead stuff of 

 which is removed, so that she comes round in stays like a thing 

 alive, after the quick and sure fashion of the Jullanar, and eats 

 to windward upon a breeze till her fleetest and most renowned 

 antagonists fall hopelessly to leeward of her. It is true that her 

 want of hold upon the water forward, due to shallow draft under 

 the stem, appears to make her yaw somewhat wildly before the 

 wind, and there is no doubt that she is then oftimes difficult to 

 steer. But, beating or reaching, on or off the wind, this steel- 

 sided waterwitch has proved herself a most extraordinary vessel. 

 She has hoisted her fighting flag on something like sixteen occa- 

 sions, and twelve or thirteen times has she beaten off all com- 

 petitors. Blow high, blow low, in soft airs on piping gales; with 

 a heavy sea running or the ocean sleeping like a lake, the won- 

 derful craft of Mr. John Clark has romped awav from her rivals, 

 or stolen out of their reach as if hidden sea nymphs towed her 

 through the sleeping seas. Even the beautiful Formosa, of which 



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VANDUARA MIDSHIP SECTION. 



the Prince of Wales is the owner, a famous and formidable vic- 

 tress in many a tough contest; even the splendid Latona, queen 

 of the yawls, and the crack schooners, all of them in turn have 

 been compelled to strike their colors to this steel ship. She is out 

 aud o ut, at present, the most distinguished of the "ladies of the 

 sea," and since her magni ticent rac e down the Channel to the Solent, 

 where she ran clear out of sight of her opponents, there existed 

 nothing of the new season's debutantes which could be spoken of 

 along with her except the Samoena. the pride and champion of the 

 Solent. ***** 



"If we glance back at the last few weeks of yachting, while the 

 pleasure fleets are preparing for the excitement of the 'Wight 

 week,' it will be seen how the records of the season show one long 

 To triumphe! for the matchless Vanduara. In the Royal Harwich 

 Y. C. race the cutter showed herself a perfect witch in light 

 winds, stealing away over glassy seas and before dreamy airs 

 from the lovely Formosa, and even when the laggards came up 

 with the easterly breeze, catching it before they could close, and, 

 with many a fluke and flap of becalmed canvas, gliding into har- 

 bor first of such renowned cutters as Formosa, Cuckoo and the 

 good 'forties' Norman, Bloodhound and Coryphee. Going back 

 to Southend the steel-breasted beauty ran wild before the wind, 

 yawing and burying her bows, and finally bursting her weather 

 runner and springing her main boom. The witch was out of 

 temper that day, and never passed the markboat at all. Rut 

 three days before, down the Swin, she had stretched thro'ttgh the 

 lee of the Opal, Cuckoo and Norman in free channel, shown her 

 smooth stern to the Latona. Miranda and Formosa, and sailed 

 past the Bell buoy a quarter of an hour before the best of her 

 competitors. A week later the Vanduara entered for the Nore to 

 Dover course, along the back of the Goodwills, wedging her way 

 on this occasion, in marvelous style, bet ween t' 

 and the wind, and planting herself on Mi-. H 

 bow. There again the steel witch came home 

 and long ahead even of the Fiona and th 

 schooners. The Samcena at the same date w 

 maiden races at Kingstown. Once again, on 

 ara and the famous aud beautiful Forn 

 Ports match. The sea was heavy and the 



renowned Cuckoo 

 lms-Kerr's weather 

 s first of the cutters, 

 e Egeria among the 

 r as winning both her 

 June 26, the Vandu- 

 i met in the Cinque 

 nd fresh, and stand- 

 ing out to the Varne, the 'witch' ate to windward right across 

 the stern of the Prince's vessel, rounding the lightship twenty 

 minutes ahead of her, and beating into Dover twelve minutes in 

 advance. On the 28th ultimo the steel boat sailed again from 

 Dover to Boulogne and back in the finest of yachting company, 

 with a steep sea to climb aud a tearing southwesterly wind; yet 

 under this ordeal the Vanduara did, as always, superbly, beating 

 the powerful Formosa anew in all the points which a sea boat 

 should make. The yachts that day showed as good a time across 

 the Channel as the mail boats themselves, but the matc h was sad- 

 dened by the loss of a good hand overboard from the Gwendoline. 



"At the end of June the Vanduara set off once wore with the re- 

 nowned Florinda yawl upon the list of starters, for Ostend, meet- 

 ing her old antagonist Formosa. These two perfect cutters sailed 

 a neck-and-neck race across the Flemish Banks to the West Hin- 

 der for upward of 40 miles in a hot sun and a gentle swell; the 

 Scotch craft drawing clear at last after this wonderful struggle 

 by 10 seconds, when thev luffed at the lightship. The 'witc h' 

 won by time at last, taking the cutter prize; aud with the same 

 goodly company, minus the Florinda, she next sailed the long 

 course round the Wielingen Lightship, with a ground swell dan- 

 cing the sea-darlings about so constantly that she showed her 

 rounded foot at every roller, like a lady at a damp crossing, dip- 

 ping her bows under and faking the Dutch green seas two fathoms 

 high upon her jibstay. Again she won the cutter prize, victress 

 in all sorts of weather which the ocean can show, and then fol- 

 lowed the return match to Dover. The Latona, the Hypatia, Lie 

 Australia and the Fiona came home along with her, .two 

 schooners and two yawls, and all had reefed bowsprits, save the 

 Vanduara. She put the Latona under her lee at the West Hinder 

 and flew through the green hollow seas made by the. weather- 

 going tide as a hare goes through long grass. Between the East 

 Goodwin and the North Sand Head the steel ship had almost as 

 bad a swell as the North Sea could send her, plunging bows under 

 in the brine, until at last from sheer weight of water she parted 

 her bobstay and washed off her lee bulwark. Yet she repaired 

 damages while still under way, weathered the big Latona, which 



had come quietly through the Gulls, escaping the heavy water, 

 and, turning about like a 10-tonner. reached Dover eight and 

 three-quarter minutes before the Latona, the rest being nowhere. 



"On July 8 the Scotch wonder sailed against the Egeria and the 

 Latona, schooner and yawl, each being nearly twice her size, the 

 course being from Dover to Cowes. Once more she soaked to wind- 

 ward in the'old magical way, being two miles ahead of the Latona 

 at Dungeness. Eye-witnesses of that splendid run say that the 

 Scotch cutter off Fairlight was seen going to windward in the 

 grandest style possible, cleaving the sea as clean as a knife, drop- 

 ping her beautiful fine bows upon the face of the billows like a 

 sea-bird's breast, and with no more drag under her lee counter 

 than is left by a mackerel's tail. What racing there was the big 

 schooner and yawl had to themselves, for the lassie of steel" ran 

 fairly awav from both, tripping along all night under Beachy 

 Head, by Eastbourne, Brighton, and the Owers lightship, till on 

 the Sundav morning she tore down for the Cowes mark, with 

 the showers of spray glinting from her lee bow, some eighty min- 

 utes ahead of the Egeria andnearly one hundred of the Latona, a 

 magnificent performance, scoring the eleventh victory out of 

 thirteen starts. At Cowes the iron witch refitted, and laid her 

 course for the North to meet her unbeaten rival, the Samoena. at 

 Largs. One or two unsatisfactory matches ensued, in which the 

 Samcena seemed to promise equality with the marvelous Glasgow 

 craft, but this race of Saturday has settled the question, and the 

 Vanduara has to-day no equal among the yachts of the year. 



"Such have been the chief sensations and subjects of yachting 

 yarns thus far. Cowes and the Royal Cup may bring new revela- 

 tions, but hardly anything can reverse the verdict which all these 

 victories and all those various spells of weather pronounce, to the 

 effect that the Vanduara is really a miracle of speed and weather- 

 liness, and that her builder and skipper have proved that, steel is 

 good stuff for prize-gaining and pleasure-cruising as well as for 

 our merchant and fighting fleets. It is difficult to understand 

 s'-eh unbroken triumphs, tor the advantage of a steel surface is 

 not great. A wooden yacht, well-coppered, presents as fine and 

 bright a side, to the element as metallic plates, however well-lit ted 

 and well-paid with composition, nor are the lines of the Vanduara 

 and her best rivals so verv different as to account for all these 

 defeats. The shallow forefoot, in beating, aud the extra lowering 

 of the weights afforded bv the strong aud compact material used 

 in building, seem best to explain the advantages of Mr. Clark's fly- 

 ing cutter, which has wrested from the graceful Formosa and her 

 princely owner the honors of the year, and is to-day Queen of the 

 Summer Seas." 



In her second year she was sold to Mr. Stewart Clark, brother of 

 Air. John Clark," and in his hands she did some famous racing, but 

 not so much as in her first season. It was under his ownership 

 that she sailed the famous race on the Mersey on July 7, 1881, in 

 which all others turned back and Vanduara alone went over the 

 bar. 



In regard to the name. Vanduara, it is the old Roman name of a 

 settlement, on the site where Paisley now stands; and Wendur, the 

 vawl which Mr. Watson designed for Mr. John Clark in 1883, takes 

 her name from the river that flows by the town, now the Cart, but 

 in Caasar'sday the Wendur. Like all of Mr. Watson's boats, Van- 

 duara is noted not merely for speed and seaworthiness, but she is 

 fitted in every way for a comfortable floating home, her accommo- 

 dations being of the finest. The general arrangement is well 

 shown in the accompanying plans, while the details of construction 

 are fully given. The leading dimensions of Vanduara are: 



Length L. W. L 81ft. 3in. 



Beam, extreme 16ft. 2in. 



Draft 12ft. 4in. 



Displacement, tons 130 



Midship section abaft center L. W. L 3.75ft. 



C. B. abaft L. W. L 1.98ft. 



Meta center above C. B 2.99ft. 



Area of immersed surface 1892 sq. ft. 



Total area lower sail 4500 sq. ft. 



Mast, deck to hounds 48ft. 6in. 



Boom 68ft. 3in. 



Gaff 43ft. 3in. 



Bowsprit outboard 31ft. 



Center of mast from fore side of stem 31.9 



