The “Large Yacht” of 1678

During the 16th and 17th centuries, relatively small sailing ships that were used for a great variety of tasks were oftentimes called a yacht. This short paper discusses the “Large Yacht” built in 1678/79 for the court of the Elector (Kurfürst) of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, Fredrick William. It appears that this vessel was used for inspection and courier trips and similar purposes yet also equipped with some significant armament.

The paper is mostly based on three detailed drawings that are reviewed and analyzed by the author. On that basis, a written description of the “Large Yacht” is provided and some of its design aspects are being contemplated. The author has also constructed a simple 1:200 scale model of the “Large Yacht” to obtain a better geometric sense of the vessel and a photograph of that model is included in the paper as well.