Sapphire

The Duchess of Bedford was born in Hants in 1865, and educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. In 1897 she chartered the yacht Roxana, and then chartered the Catania and the Sapphire, afterwards purchasing the Sapphire from Mr. Barbour. 

Although the Duke of Bedford was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron and of the Royal Western of England, the Sapphire was almost exclusively used by the Duchess, and as she spends most of her time pursuing her hobby of ornithology, the Sapphire was generally to be found in Northern seas, and visited the Orkney and Shetland Isles, the West Coast of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, Norway and Spitsbergen, etc.