29th Oct, 2014 12:00

Maritime and Scientific Models, Instruments & Art (Wizard)

 
  Lot 108
 

108

[M] SIR THOMAS LIPTON'S FAMOUS STEAM YACHT ERIN<br/>a...

SIR THOMAS LIPTON'S FAMOUS STEAM YACHT ERIN
a Royal Doulton white dinner plate, with scalloped edge decorated in gold and the rim bearing the crossed coloured flags of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Lipton's celebrated yacht(s) Shamrock above S.Y. Erin on a scroll -- 10in. (25.5cm.) diameter

The steam yacht Erin was purchased in 1898 by Sir Thomas Lipton, one of the early twentieth century's most determined yachtsmen and the dominant personality in the tea industry, two years after she was launched under her original name of Aegusa. Rigged as a screw schooner, she was registered at 451½ tons net and measured 264½ feet in length with a 31½ foot beam. Powered by a triple-expansion engine fired from two Scotch boilers, she was both fast and elegant and, having once passed into Lipton's ownership, soon became one of the most well-known steam yachts on both sides of the Atlantic. Lipton's great passion was to win the America's Cup and Erin served as his floating base for his unsuccessful challenges in 1899, 1901 and 1903. En route to the United States for a fourth challenge when war was declared in 1914, she returned home after first being fitted out as a hospital ship. Presented to the Admiralty, who restored her original name as there was an existing Erin in the fleet, she served as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean until torpedoed and sunk in June 1915.

Sold for £298
Estimated at £100 - £150

(inc. buyer's premium of 24%)


 
SIR THOMAS LIPTON'S FAMOUS STEAM YACHT ERIN
a Royal Doulton white dinner plate, with scalloped edge decorated in gold and the rim bearing the crossed coloured flags of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Lipton's celebrated yacht(s) Shamrock above S.Y. Erin on a scroll -- 10in. (25.5cm.) diameter

The steam yacht Erin was purchased in 1898 by Sir Thomas Lipton, one of the early twentieth century's most determined yachtsmen and the dominant personality in the tea industry, two years after she was launched under her original name of Aegusa. Rigged as a screw schooner, she was registered at 451½ tons net and measured 264½ feet in length with a 31½ foot beam. Powered by a triple-expansion engine fired from two Scotch boilers, she was both fast and elegant and, having once passed into Lipton's ownership, soon became one of the most well-known steam yachts on both sides of the Atlantic. Lipton's great passion was to win the America's Cup and Erin served as his floating base for his unsuccessful challenges in 1899, 1901 and 1903. En route to the United States for a fourth challenge when war was declared in 1914, she returned home after first being fitted out as a hospital ship. Presented to the Admiralty, who restored her original name as there was an existing Erin in the fleet, she served as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean until torpedoed and sunk in June 1915.
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