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Lot Essay
After five years of intense and not altogether friendly rivalry, Lord Belfast and Mr. Joseph Weld, both colourful personalities in the first decade of British competitive yacht racing, decided to settle the question of who owned the fastest boat by staging a long-distance race in September 1831. The course was a gruelling one, starting from Spithead at 6 o'clock in the morning, but late in the day Weld's cutter Alarm conceded defeat and Belfast's cutter Louisa crossed the finish-line to be hailed as outright winner. Instead of being satisfied, Lord Belfast proudly declared 'I have proved to the world that I possess the fastest cutter afloat, I will now see what I can do with a square-rigger'. Thus were laid the foundations of his flirtation with two square-rigged yachts, the first of which was an outstanding beauty and the second so impressive a sailer that she was coveted by no less an institution than the Royal Navy at the very zenith of its power and prestige.
The first of Lord Belfast's two square-riggers was his little brigantine Emily. In fact, he had acquired her in 1930 and only kept her for two years until his own more personal creation Waterwitch was ready for sea. Emily was however a beautiful craft and Belfast's experience with her was to have a great influence on her successor Waterwitch. With a hybrid rig more similar to that of a topsail schooner than a true brigantine, these terms, along with the even more enigmatic brig-schooner, were more or less synonymous in the early nineteenth century and Emily was certainly classed as a brigantine in the Royal Yacht Squadron's own records. Since Lord Belfast neither commissioned her nor kept her for long, very little is known about Emily except that she was subsequently sold to Captain Pechell, M.P., another Royal Yacht Squadron member, who kept her until at least 1837.
The first of Lord Belfast's two square-riggers was his little brigantine Emily. In fact, he had acquired her in 1930 and only kept her for two years until his own more personal creation Waterwitch was ready for sea. Emily was however a beautiful craft and Belfast's experience with her was to have a great influence on her successor Waterwitch. With a hybrid rig more similar to that of a topsail schooner than a true brigantine, these terms, along with the even more enigmatic brig-schooner, were more or less synonymous in the early nineteenth century and Emily was certainly classed as a brigantine in the Royal Yacht Squadron's own records. Since Lord Belfast neither commissioned her nor kept her for long, very little is known about Emily except that she was subsequently sold to Captain Pechell, M.P., another Royal Yacht Squadron member, who kept her until at least 1837.