Calm days on the Clyde, 1897, off Hunter's Quay with Lord Dunraven's 20-rater Audrey

The fourth Earl of Dunraven was one of the most colourful personalities of the late nineteenth century yachting scene and the central figure in the greatest controversy in the history of the America's Cup when he accused the owners of the American yacht Defender of fraud during his 1895 challenge. Lord Dunraven's yacht Valkyrie III, his third of this name, found herself notorious as a result but his lordship also owned several other boats, most notably his cutter Audrey. Designed by Dunraven himself and built by Summers & Payne at Southampton in 1895, she was a plate-and-bulb keeler of extraordinary speed conceived at a time when other British designers were hardly contemplating such features for larger yachts. Further evidence of Dunraven's unconventional approach was revealed when it became known that instead of drafting Audrey's design out on paper, he first cut out her sections in millboard and then modelled her in clay, such was his enthusiasm. In her first season, she appeared the only yacht capable of beating Herreshoff's new bulb-fin 20-rater Niagara and the two proved worthy opponents on more than one occasion. The 1897 season was also a successful one for Audrey although Dunraven disposed of her soon afterwards.