The steam yacht Grace Darling at sea

Rigged as a screw schooner, the steam yacht Grace Darling was designed by Mr. J. Darling for William C. Williamson of Berkeley Terrace, Glasgow. Built by Fleming & Ferguson at Paisley in 1887, she was registered at 169 tons gross (106½ net) and measured 143 feet in length with a 19½ foot beam. Powered by her builder's own compound 4-cylinder engine developing 70hp., she was rated 100A1 by Lloyd's surveyors even though this prestigious rating lapsed later in her life. Sold when only a year old, this sale proved one of several and, by 1914, she was owned by a Belgian, Baron de Fabribeckers, who had renamed her Anemone and who kept her at Antwerp. Shortly afterwards she disappears from record completely, probably a war casualty of the fierce fighting that resulted in the capture of Antwerp by the German army in the opening months of the Great War.