The steam yacht Liberty off Naples; and At sea

The twin-screw yacht Liberty was designed by G.L. Watson & Co. for the immensely wealthy American newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer and built by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith in 1908. Registered at 1,607 tons gross (886 net), she measured 268½ feet in length with a 37½ foot beam and was constructed with particular attention to sound-proofing in order to alleviate the acute hearing of her almost blind owner. Powered by two triple-expansion 3-cylinder engines manufactured by her builders, she could cruise at 15¾ knot and was rigged as a two-masted schooner. After her first owner's death in 1911, Liberty was sold to Mr James Ross who only kept her for a year during which she was renamed Glencairn. Subsequently purchased by Lord Tredegar, who promptly restored her original name, she was hired for war duties in September 1915, briefly as an auxiliary patrol yacht but then as a hospital ship, from the end of 1915 until January 1919. After the War Liberty was brought by Sir Robert Houston, the ship owner, whose notably eccentric wife Dame Fanny was so enthusiastic in her patriotism that she provided large funds for numerous British 'good causes' including the winning of the celebrated Schneider Trophy. Although Lady Houston kept the yacht after her husband's death in 1926, it was eventually scrapped in 1937 when no buyer could be found following Lady Houston's death in 1936.