THE MAIN BELL FROM THE S.Y. IOLANDA, DESIGNED BY COX & KING FOR MORTON PLANT N.Y.Y.C. AND BUILT BY RAMAGE & FERGUSON, LEITH, 1908

cast in brass with moulded shoulder and rim, inset name and date with decorative device between, painted red internally with iron clapper -- 15in x 14½in. (38 x 37cm.)

One of the most distinctive yachts of her time with a high superstructure and tall, graceful funnel, she was luxuriously appointed and, shortly after accepting her from her builders, her new owner took her on a 33,000 mile cruise to the Mediterranean and Far East. After World War I she was managed by Camper & Nicholson for chartering before being sold to the U.S. banker Moses Taylor. During World War II she served as a survey ship and renamed White Bear for the duration. Sold into commercial service in 1947 she disappears from Lloyd's Register by 1953. Morton Plant owned several shipping lines and Iolanda was one of four steam yachts and two large racing yachts he maintained. He seems to have had connections with the Italian Royal Family as one of his racing yachts was named Elena after the Queen, and Iolanda was the Italian Princess Royal.