As reported in CS, the monumental task of converting the 94 volumes of Lloyd’s Register of Yachts has been completed and compiled on a memory stick by the Association of Yachting Historians. And now (just in time for Christmas) the sticks are available to buy from the association’s website.
Cost is £95 – or £85 for members (membership is just £10pa). See the link to buy below.
104,000 pages have been scanned making it possible to research boat details quicker and more easily than ever before. We have been testing the USB stick and it’s very fast and straightforward. This is not a data-base; the scanned pages are organised in searchable pdf files – this approach enables the user to view a facsimile of the page while searching a hidden text layer and users can leaf through the pages just as if they were viewing the actual book.
So searching is done through individual registers – so you cannot, for instance, type in Mylne and get all the details on him from all relevant files over those decades – but that kind of cross referencing seems to work well for each year. Importantly all 158 supplements are included as are the 18 series of classed yachts from 1980 on.
Also all pages showing yacht flags have been scanned in colour.
In the past it has been almost impossible to find a perfect sequence of the registers and the set has been compiled by taking registers from various collections. This was a long process which took several years to achieve. Although most had to be spare – since their spines were cut off to be put through an automatic scanning process, naval architect and historian Theo Rye, one of the main researchers said the registers had been restored after scanning without any defect.
The register began in 1878 and ran until 1980.
Relevant details of each yacht are as follows:
| Name Official number Year built Dimensions Tonnage Rig & number of decks and masts Engine details and builder Builder and place of build Material (wood unless otherwise stated) Sail maker Name and address of Owner Home port Lloyd’s classification |
Visit the historians’ website and Buy it here
Coloured pages of yachts’ house flags are in separate volumes.
Yachting Historian Hal Sisk shows us an early sample of the precious USB at the Southampton Boat Show.