Meteor IV racing in the Solent

One of the five exceptional racing yachts successively owned and named Meteor by the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, Meteor (IV) was designed by Max Oertz of Hamburg and built in the Germania-Werft yards at Kiel in 1909. A magnificent steel schooner, she was registered at 400 tons (Thames) and measured 129 feet in length with a 29 foot beam. Although marginally smaller than her predecessor Meteor (III), which had been built in New York in 1902 and was far from obsolete only seven years later, the fourth Meteor had the twin novelties of newness and innovation, both essential qualities if she was to hold the Kaiser's interest and gave him some good sport. Despite being a very successful boat however, the Kaiser tired of her even quicker than her forebears and replaced her with the fifth and final Meteor early in 1914. Meteor (IV) was promptly sold to the [German] Duke of Arenberg who renamed her Aar but she disappears from record during the Great War, presumably a casualty of hostilities.