The steam yacht Erin on a cruise in the Mediterranean off Naples

Originally called Aegusa but renamed Erin when bought by Sir Thomas Lipton, the tea magnate, in 1898, she was built by Scott's at Greenock in 1896. Rigged as a screw schooner, she was registered at 451½ tons net and measured 264½ feet in length with a 31½ foot beam. Powered by a triple expansion engine fired from two Scotch boilers, she was both fast and elegant and, having once passed into Lipton's ownership, soon became one of the most well-known steam yachts on each side of the Atlantic. Lipton's passion was to win the America's Cup and Erin served as his floating base for the unsuccessful challenges of 1899, 1901 and 1903. She was en route to the United States for a fourth challenge when war was declared in 1914 but promptly returned home after being fitted out as a hospital ship. Presented to the Admiralty who restored her original name as there was already an Erin in the fleet, she served as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean until torpedoed and sunk in June 1915.