The steam yacht Jeannette in the Bay of Naples

A classic clipper-bowed steam yacht, Jeannette was designed by G.L. Watson & Co. and built at Clydebank by John Brown for Mr. [later Sir] Harry Livesey, the prominent civil engineer in 1911. Registered at 921 tons gross (1,023 Thames), she measured 230 feet in length with a 31 foot beam and was handsomely fitted out as befitting a yacht of her size. Powered by twin screws driven by a pair of triple expansion engines manufactured by her builders, Jeannette was fast, elegant and the epitome of the Edwardian era from which she sprang. When the Great War began in 1914, she was hired by the Admiralty as an auxiliary patrol vessel and armed with 2-12pdr. guns. Released from her wartime duties in February 1919, she was returned to Sir Harry Livesey who kept her until his death in 1932 when she was sold by his executors to Mr. William Lancaster of Blackpool. Resold to Col. the Rt. Hon. John Gretton, M.P. in 1938, she was once again hired for war service in 1939 when she served on anti-submarine patrols under the name of St. Modwen. Purchased by the Admiralty in 1941, she was sold out of British ownership in 1945 and ended her days in Panama.