Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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“Charles’ first racing yacht was called ‘Jamie’ after his illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, and his last was called ‘Fubbs’, his nickname for his mistress, Louise de Kéroualle. Fubbs is an old English word for chubby.”
From:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/10_october/23/charles_ii_mistresses.pdf(So it’s not at all unlikely that the ‘Jamie/Jemmy/Jenny’ was also called after his other mistress Jane Roberts.)
A yacht Katherine was sunk during the raid on the Medway in 1667, and a royal Yacht Katherine was used to transport the Princess Mary of Orange to Gravesend in 1689.
I don’t know if these are all the same, in case they are there is a picture here http://web.onetel.net.uk/~sunhouse/Published_Chapters/William_and_Ann_/Katherine/katherine.html -
The yacht that is built in 1661 by Pett is a bit of a mystery. It is not mentioned in this list:
http://www2.friend.ly.net/~dadadata/kemp/dictWXYZ.htmlIt is possible this first yacht was also called Katherine, was sunk at Chatham in 1667 and later rebuilt or repaired in 1674.
Notice that the Jamie/Jemmy/Jenny yacht is called “Jamaie” in the list above, is very small compared to the others and that Charles II himself gets credits as a designer.
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A ship named Catherine.
In his biography of Catherine the Portuguese writer, Casimiro, says that while Charles was in Portsmouth after his marriage (1662), he visited the shipyards and named a ship after his wife.
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Further study has revealed there were 2 “Katherines”:
Katherine(1) Deptford Peter Pett 1661 captured by Dutch 1673and
Katherine (2) Chatham Pett 1674
‘Tony Craig, from England, who was very interested by our comments on Charles II’s early yachts contacted me to call to my attention books by E Keble Chatterton who appeared to have also investigated the subject but in the early 1900s. Mr Keble Chatterton was a recognised author on many subjects, who seems to have been able to examine the sources of these matters thoroughly. In the text of his book called ‘Ancient and Modern’ published by Hurst & Blackett Ltd, London, in 1934 he indicated that it was the Katherine that on 21 May 1661 was delivered. Then she was being taken by the King for trials down the Thames. The book says her measurements were 49ft on her keel, so she was three feet shorter than the Mary. She was identical in beam at 19ft and drew only 7ft whereas Mary drew 10ft with leeboards down and 5ft with them up. It also indicates the Katherine was more typically English in design being ‘frigate’ - like, with a sharp and deep hull instead of the Netherlandish flat broad hull meant for shallow waters. Tony Craig’s interest in the Katherine arises because he has found an old model of a ship, which he has seen is very similar to that referred to as ‘Mrs Drogo Montagu’s’ yacht, Katherine, in the London National Maritime Museum. However, his model seems to have a provision which could enable the mast to be moved forward or aft to get most advantage of the wind. The book confirms Katherine had this special ability. It is being investigated further.’ -
The Catherine yacht.
1684 sailed from Rotterdam with the heavily guarded Sir Thomas Armstrong. On the 20th June 1684 he was executed.
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Willem van de Velde, the Younger
Portrait of the ‘Katherine’ yacht, an 8-gun yacht, built in 1661. (PAH3912) executed circa 1675
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=PAH3912