Clark Arthur H. The History of Yachting. 1600-1815

New York, NY-London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1904. — 248 p.At first sight it seems singular that no history of the origin and early development of yachts and yachting has ever been written. A little reflection, however, will convince one of the amount of labor necessarily involved in such an undertaking. And had I been able to foresee the difficulties before me, it is doubtful whether this task would have been begun. But once undertaken, it became most interesting; and as the libraries, museums, and old print-shops of Holland, Great Britain, and the United States, little by little, yielded their treasures, forming links here and there — with many fathoms of space between — it became a matter of unbounded pleasure to discover these old links — rusty though they were — and forge them into a chain as complete as historical chains usually are.
The researches, of which this book is a portion of the harvest, were begun many years ago, before any indication of the present popular interest in yachting had been felt. My labors, I may add, have been two-fold: first, to collect all data relating to the subject; also, so far as possible, the contemporary portraits of the yachts to which the data refer. Material has frequently been found in unexpected places; while, on the other hand fields rich in promise, have often proved barren and unproductive.
It would require too large an amount of space even to mention the names of all the persons to whom I feel indebted during the long period that this work has been in progress. I can only say here that I am extremely grateful for their valuable assistance and kind encouragement.
This book is largely a narrative of facts, which, I venture to believe, are not generally known to yachtsmen. At all events, Authors not specified, so far as I am aware, has ever recorded them. It has been my desire, then, to state each fact in a clear and closely related manner, and, so far as practicable, to give the original authorities from which these facts are derived, without notes or appendix. This I conceive to be the most acceptable form in which to present the book.
Whatever merit the result of my labors may possess will probably be found in the desire of the reader to know something more of the origin and development of a noble sport, and not so much perhaps in what I have succeeded in doing, as in what I have tried to do.