Steam Yacht Sapphire
Built by John Brown and Co for the Duke of Bedford.
Description from 'The Engineer' of 7th November 1913 [1]
The Sapphire, as will be seen from our Supplement, is of the conventional type, though both the bow and counter appear to have somewhat less over-hang than is to be seen in many modern yachts by the same designer. Of course, the clipper bow is generally fitted to yachts as a matter of looks, as a curved stem is undoubtedly more graceful than a straight one. It has, however, other advantages; for instance, more room can be obtained on deck for a given water-line length, while in the event of a collision less serious results are likely to occur to the rammed boat.
Besides this, a clipper bow provides a beautiful flare to the forward sections, thus making a better and drier sea boat; generally speaking, in fact, it may be said that a yacht is probably a better sea boat than a commercial type of ship of the same size. From a yacht point of view the clipper bow has a further advantage, in that, by reason of the above-mentioned flared sections, the anchor can be housed in the hawse pipe without damaging the owner's precious paint as it comes up. It should, however, not be forgotten that for the same water-line length the clipper bow is, of course, more expensive and heavier.
The Sapphire was built for the Duke of Bedford, by John Brown and Co., Limited, of Clydebank. She is 251.4ft. in length, 35.15ft. in beam, and 18.15ft. deep, and has a Thames measurement of 142 tons, and is of what is known as the shade deck type with topgallant fo'c'stle with single funnel, and has generally a standard yacht appearance. She has been very strongly built, greatly in excess of Lloyd's requirements, in fact, and every possible provision has been made for safety; a double bottom extends for a good part of her length, and a number of watertight bulkheads and flats are fitted.
She has, of course, a Marconi apparatus and a big supply of boats; two lifeboats, one of which, shown in Fig. 3 on page 486, is of special design and as nearly unsinkable as possible; a lifeboat cutter, two dinghies, a 30ft. steam launch, a 30ft. motor launch, and two life rafts, while there is also a 22ft. motor launch which is chiefly used for the carriage of luggage.
All the launches have been designed by G. L. Watson and Co and built by Saunders and Co., Limited, of Cowes, on their well-known double-skin planking system, and have been specially designed for use in heavy seas, speed being a secondary consideration.
The engines and boilers for the steam launch were built by Simpson, Strickland and Co., Limited, while the motor for the 30ft. launch was supplied by the Wolseley Company, that for the 22ft. launch being by Tylors. All the boats are arranged to be hoisted by steam power by means of neat little capstans fitted on the casings driven by horizontal engines underneath the shade deck and supplied by Messrs. Reid.
In addition to this a very interesting electric winch by Chambers, Scott and Co is fitted for hoisting luggage on board from the 22ft. motor launch, and as this work has often to be done, in heavy seas, the greatest nicety of control is necessary. It has two independent barrels, each capable of being run in the same or opposite directions, that on the left being for lifting or lowering the load and that on the right for luffing the derrick, each being provided with self-sustaining brakes which come into action directly the control handles are placed in the "off" position.
The winch is very neat, being, in fact, specially designed for yacht use, and the cover makes it look just like a large skylight, with outlets for the wire ropes at the after end which lead to the necessary blocks. When using the winch the motor runs continuously, a special starting switch being arranged for applying the powers to the ropes. The winch is capable of dealing with loads up to 12 cwt. at 50ft. per minute, the grooved drums being of sufficient size to take on the full length of the hoisting or lulling ropes without overlapping, so that there is no chance of fooling.
The motors are of the Laurence, Scott and Co. Admiralty standard pattern and drive the drums through machine-cut gearing; by this means it is found that the weights to be hoisted are under absolute control and the luggage can be loaded or unloaded in quite a heavy sea. All the other deck machinery is steam driven, and among it is to be found a steam windlass and, of course, a steam steering gear, while there is also a big steam capstan for warping.
The electric lighting plant is in duplicate, and is of the compound enclosed type by W. H. Allen, Sons and Co, of Bedford, while powerful storage batteries are provided for the purpose of lighting the ship at night and when in port, with no steam oil. Hot water radiators are fitted for heating the yacht throughout, and large refrigerating chambers are part of the outfit; this machinery is of the CO2 type, built by J. and E. Hall.
With regard to the accommotion, there is a range of deck-houses on the main deck under the shade deck, which are built of steel and then panelled over in teak; the ordinary ship-owner would, of course, be content with the steel deck-house painted to look like teak. The owner's private sitting-room, with lavatory attached, is right forward on this deck; then comes the dining-room and the main vestibule or companion way.
Immediately adjoining the dining-room come the pantry and galley with a separate alley-way connecting them. Communication between the dining-room and the owner's bedroom and dressing-room aft is obtained by a corridor running fore and aft inside the deck-house on the starboard side.
The machinery of a yacht always provides a spectacle of some interest to the guests, and what might be termed an inspection platform is formed above the machinery for the purpose of allowing it to be viewed. It always seems to us a matter of interest to watch a good set of reciprocating machinery at work, and for this reason we cannot help feeling sorry for the adoption of turbine machinery, which provides absolutely nothing in the way of a spectacle.
On the shade deck is to be found the drawing-room right forward, with large windows commanding a view ahead and on each beam; then comes the captain's room and chart-room with a fine smoking-room aft of the funnel with the Marconi room attached. On the lower deck is a range of state-rooms forward and aft of the machinery space, access to which is obtained by a companion way from the main vestibule and another from a vestibule towards the after end of the shade deck.
Accommodation can be found here for six guests, each state-room having its own bathroom, etc., attached. Forward on the same deck are the officers' quarters, the firemen's and seamen's quarters being in the eyes of the boat, reached, of course, by their own ladders. It should be noted that the firemen are entirely separated from the ordinary seamen, while a special passage is provided below this deck to enable them to reach the stokehold without coming on deck — in Atlantic liner fashion.
Special accommodation is also provided on the cabin deck at the aft end for the private servants, with separate entrance from the main deck. The style of decorations in the cabins will be seen from the engravings; all this decorative work has been carried out under the personal supervision of Mr. F. Bennett-Goldney, F.S.A., who was also responsible for the design of the salon fittings, china, &c.
We have already mentioned the importance of the elimination of vibration yachts, and this matter has been very carefully studied in the case of the Sapphire. In order to ascertain diagrammatically how far the difficulty had been overcome, a Pallograph was fitted on the occasion of the trials. On the first test the Pallograph was fitted about amidships and resulted in diagram A. Fig. 3, from which it was such that the absence of vibration was so remarkable that doubts were expressed as to the accuracy of the machine and a further trial was made by special experts. The result obtained, however, was the same and the machine was then taken right aft to the taffrail when the record B was obtained. Here naturally the vibrations were very much greater, but, even so, they are very trifling. The curious irregularity of the line indicating the horizontal vibrations is, we are informed, probably due to steering.
It is, of course, the machinery that will prove of the greatest interest to our readers. It consists of a pair of four-crank triple-expansion engines driving twin propellers running outwards. The high-pressure and medium-pressure cylinders are 18in. and 29in. diameter respectively, and the two low-pressure cylinders are each 32in. diameter, all having 27in. stroke. The engines are so arranged that, according to the specification, one man can handle both engines. We rather suspect, however, that this would not be practicable in the event of the ship being manoeuvred in narrow waters.
Steam is supplied at a pressure of 180 lb. by two main three-furnace single-ended Scotch type boilers and one smaller boiler, which, though it is called an auxiliary boiler, is nevertheless arranged to work under forced draught, and has connections to enable it to assist the other boilers in supplying steam to work the main engines. The forced draught is on the closed ashpit principle. Running at 169 revolutions per minute the engines develop a combined horse-power of about 3,400, which gives the yacht a maximum speed of just over 15.5 knots with forced draught. The cruising speed of 13 knots is obtained under natural draught. The four cranks are balanced on the Yarrow-Schlick-Tweedy system, as being, next to turbines, the best method of overcoming the vibration diftictilty.
As will be seen from the drawings and engravings, the condenser is combined in part of the cast iron back columns, the front of the engines being supported on polished steel columns; the guides on the back columns are, following the usual practice, water cooled. Piston valves are fitted on the high-pressure and medium-pressure cylinders and flat valves on the two low-pressure cylinders, the slide valves being fitted with Lamont balance cylinders. Stephenson link gear with ordinary double bar links is provided, and generally the engine partakes of the ordinary marine type, the bright parts being, of course, specially highly finished to meet the yachtman's requirements.
We need not be surprised to find that United States packing is fitted on all piston and slide valve rods, nor that other details in the engine-room are more or less on the elaborate side, such as the air pump, circulating pump with "extra finish," feed heaters, filters, evaporators, &c. &c.
Another point which must be specially valuable from the yachtsman's point of view is the diaphragm ash arrester placed in the funnel; "stokers" are a nuisance on any ship, but absolutely intolerable on a yacht. As a further safeguard the donkey boiler funnel, which is separate from, but inside the main funnel, is fitted with its own ash arrester.
The whistle is fitted with an automatic draining arrangement so as to be always ready for immediate action without the preliminary "wheeze" which is oven now so often heard; it also has an automatic electric actuating device which can be switched on to give the regular blasts in case of fog. It appears to us that the inventor’s mind might well be turned to some device for confining the noise from the whistle used as it fog horn to the outside air and sparing the ears of the yachtsman and his party from what is, to say the least of it, a very great inconvenience at sea.
On the trial trip progressive speed trials were run in order to obtain the revolutions at all speeds, and on the twenty-four hours' continuous rim at 13 knots the coal consumption was very carefully tested under ordinary cruising conditions — that is, with all auxiliaries, including the refrigerating and electric lighting engines at work, just as would be the case in ordinary running at sea. The consumption under these conditions and with coal specified not to be hand picked or washed left the builders a nice margin in hand below their guarantee.
On the full-speed trial a speed of 15.62 knots was obtained, the boilers making plenty of steam. A very interesting trial was also made with the auxiliary boiler alone under steam and with a good breeze and a slight sea a speed of 6.5 knots was obtained under these conditions, the ship being well under command and steering easily. The importance of this trial lies in the fact that the yacht can thus be moved from berth to berth without raising steam in the main boilers and without the necessity for employing a tug.
The Sapphire is the latest big steam yacht built in this country, and is one of the many steam yachts designed by Messrs. G. L. Watson and Co. The first steam yacht designed by this firm was, by the way, the little 32-ton yacht Bessie, built in 1878, of which we give an illustration. This boat was only 60ft. long by 11ft. beam, and forms an interesting contrast with the magnificent yachts now turned out by the firm. The present Sapphire replaces the first boat of the same name and by the same designer, built about eighteen years ago, a single-screw yacht of just over 1,000 tons.
The steam yacht Sapphire served in the Great War as an armed auxiliary patrol yacht and upon her release by the Admiralty she was purchased by Lord Furness who sold her after the 1923 season to Urban H. Broughton, later Lord Fairhaven. With Lord & Lady Fairhaven the Sapphire made many cruises and travelled to all parts of the globe.
At the beginning of World War II Sapphire was employed as a convoy leader, re-named H.M.Y. Breda in 1940 and used as a submarine tender in Campbeltown Loch.
On 18 February 1944, she was sunk following a collision with a submarine but was not deemed worth raising. [2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer of 7th November 1913
- ↑ http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4378850