Meteor III and Ingomar heading out for the start, Cowes week, 1904

Meteor (III) was built for the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II by the Townsend-Downey Ship Building Company of New York in 1902. A steel-hulled schooner of 412 tons, she measured 130 feet in length with a 27 foot beam, and was designed by Carey Smith & Barbey, also of New York. Raced by the Kaiser for most of the Edwardian era, Meteor (III) was a highly successful boat which won him many prizes at Cowes and elsewhere.