THE ROYAL ESCAPE by Willem van de Velde
The Royal Yacht Royal Escape, in the foreground, was originally a coasting collier known as the Surprise, in which King Charles II escaped to France after his defeat by Cromwell at Worcester in September 1651. Upon the restoration in 1660 the King bought the ship, commissioned her as a Royal Yacht and renamed her. Charles kept her in the Thames, moored opposite the Palace of Whitehall “as a reminder to himself and his subjects”. The artist was younger son of Willem van de Velde the Elder. He worked in his father’s studio and developed the skill of carefully drawing ships in tranquil settings. However, when he came with his father to England in 1672-73, there was more focus on Royal Yachts, men- of-war and storm scenes. Painting sea battles for Charles II and his brother (and Lord High Admiral) James, Duke of York, and other patrons, became a priority.
Above, opposite: King Charles II – known as ‘the father of yachting’ in Britain Right: Elizabeth I, who according to a long-established legend on the Isle of Wight may have begun the Royal yachting tradition
final preparations for the Prince’s first voyage continued over the following days, including the loading of ordnance and powder from the Tower. The 10-year-old prince, who was obsessed with ships and the sea, finally sailed his new craft on 22 March, as Pett’s autobiography explains: “We presently weighed and fell down as far as Paul’s Wharf under both our topsails and foresail and there came to anchor; and then his Grace, according to the manner in such cases used, with a great bowl of wine christened the ship and called her by the name of the Disdain.” Four years later, King James I nominally presented his son with the 64-gun ship Prince Royal, which led to the commissioning of a seagoing pinnace for Prince Henry’s use, as Pett’s memoir reveals. “About the middle of June (1612), by command of Prince Henry, I began to make ready a frame for a small new ship, who was to be as a pinnace to the great ship, the Prince, in which the Prince’s Highness did purpose to solace himself sometimes into the Narrow Seas; and therefore she was
CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2012 41
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH, INGRAM COLLECTION
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