Two centuries of shipbuilding by the Scotts at Greenock

The Royal Northern Yacht Club. 149
with the Clarence. On one occasion, however, the Hawk
unexpectedly defeated the Clarence in an important race at
Dublin, and the owners were anxious to have the cup in
Greenock as soon as possible for a special reason. Recognising
that the Clarence was really the faster boat, they handed
over the trophy to her crew to take to the Clyde port ; but
the luck which enabled the Hawk to win the cup stood by her
on the passage home, and she made the port a considerable
time before her rival.
The Clarence became a pilot boat, and was unfortunately
run down off Garroch Head, while the Hawk was transferred
to the fishing trade. In later years John Scott, C.B., had the
laudable desire to secure as a relic the vessel his grandfather
had owned, but the negotiations failed ; and the boat may still
be at work among the islands of Scotland.
The Royal Northern Club's fleet in the 'thirties numbered
about fifty, but there were no steam vessels on the list until
1855. Among the principal boats in the club were the Duke
of Portland's ketch, the Clown, of 156 tons ; the Duke
of Buccleuch's cutter, the Flower of Yarrow, of 145 tons ;
Mr. John Scott's cutter, the Lufra, of 81 tons ; Mr. Robert
Meiklem's schooner, Crusader, of 126 tons ; and Mr. Lewis
Upton's cutter, Briton, of 91 tons. The membership was
about one hundred and fifty, the aggregate tonnage of the
fleet about 2000 tons, and its cost, at a fairly generous estimate,
about £20,000.
What a contrast is suggested by a review of the fleet of
yachts owned on the outbreak of war by Clyde yachtsmen !
There are now eight clubs in the Firth recognised by the Yacht
Racing Association, and one of the largest of these — the Royal
Clyde — alone had over a thousand members, with a fleet of over
three hundred and seventy yachts, a collective tonnage of
26,000 tons, with a first cost of a million sterling. The club-
house at Hunter's Quay, which cost about £20,000, is repre-
sentative of the best of its kind. Many of the yachts — sailing