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- - The MARY - - |
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Type | Royal Yacht | Sunk | 25th March 1675 |
Gross Tonnage | 92 Tons |
The MARY was the first
Royal Yacht to be owned by the British Monarchy and was given to King
Charles II by the Burgomaster of Amsterdam.
The dimensions of the MARY are subject to dispute. Some say she was fifty two feet long, others sixty seven feet. She had a beam of eighteen and a half feet and drew only three feet, although a more likely report is that she had a draught of eight feet. She was fitted with lee boards and looked similar to a Thames Barge. Her figurehead was a Unicorn and the Royal Arms were emblazoned on her stern. Her high coach roof and the side windows of the stern cabins were decorated and gilded. Some of the best artists of the time were engaged to produce beautiful paintings and sculptures to furnish her and she had eight ornamental cannon projecting from her gun ports, decorated with gilded wreaths. By the time she was wrecked on Thursday the 25th of March 1675, the MARY had been sold to the Royal Navy, becoming a V.I.P. transport for Royalty and Government officials sailing mainly between Ireland and Britain. She was on a passage from Dublin to Chester, on the River Dee, when, at two o'clock in the morning, she ran onto a rock to the North West of the Skerries, an outcrop off the North West corner of Anglesey.
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