Lyra

Lyra
Rig Class.Schooner (converted to Screw Schooner in 1887)
Year built:1876
General characteristics
Ton:380 tons (later 534 tons)
LOA:169 feet (later 36 feet longer)
Beam:25.6 feet
Draught:14.1 feet
Designed and built by Camper & Nicholson in 1876, the photo opposite is a very old photograph, taken at Gosport in 1882.
The crew can be seen aloft in order to hang their weight onto the main halyards (throat and peak) to get the mainsail hoisted.
Five years after that photo was taken, Lyra was lengthened by 36 feet, an engine room was installed and she was converted to be a steam yacht, as shown in the photo below.
The engine was an interesting piece of ironmongery.  It was built by W B Thomson & Co and was an inverted 3 cylinder - one 13" diameter, one 19" and one 33".  The stroke was 24" and the whole thing operated at a boiler pressure of 150 psi.

Owners

Namefromto
Sir William Brown 2nd Bart 1877 1905

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