Lot 163: Timothy Franklin Ross Thompson (British, born 1951) King Charles II's yacht Mary off Dover

King Charles II's yacht Mary off Dover
signed 'T.F.Thompson' (lower right)
oil on canvas
55.9 x 76.2cm (22 x 30in).

Provenance :
Private collection, U.K.

Literature :
Ranulf Rayner and Tim Thompson,The Story of Yachting, (Newton Abbot and London, 1988), page 17 and back cover, illustrated.

In the spring of 1660, the diplomatic moves which were to result in the restoration of King Charles II to the English throne began to gather momentum. After the proclamation of the King's historic Declaration of Breda on 1st May [1660], Charles decided to leave that city and travel to the Hague, a journey he undertook on an admiralty jaght schip, a relatively small but fast craft, the name of which translates literally as 'a ship for chasing'. Charles, a man who loved to be waterbourne, so enjoyed the short voyage that he decided to order a jaght for himself, with the result that the Dutch authorities presented him with an exact copy of the one in which he had sailed.

The new jaght (very quickly anglicised to yacht), as yet unnamed, was measured at 100 tons burden, was 52 feet in length at the keel and had a 19 foot beam. Armed with 8-3pdr. cannon, she was sailed by a crew of 20 and, it is said, was paid for by the Dutch East India Company. Charles II himself returned to England on 25th May but the yacht did not follow him until 12th August whereupon, when she arrived in the Thames, the new King rose early to inspect her and, at the same time, named her Mary in honour of his young sister. Others were equally impressed by the King's new plaything and, on 8th November 1660, Samuel Pepys wrote "On board the yacht, which is indeed the finest thing I saw for neatness and room in so small a vessel."

Within months of the Mary's arrival in England, orders were placed for several other yachts with the result that Mary herself was soon handed over to the Navy for non-royal duties which she carried out successfully for fifteen years until she was wrecked off Holyhead on 4th April 1675 whilst on passage to Ireland carrying 46 passengers including the Earls of Ardglass and Meath as well as the latter's son Lord Ardee.