NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ARCHIVE – QUEEN OF SCOTS

G.L. Watson & Co. is delighted to have acquired a collection of archive material relating to one of the firm’s designs, Queen of Scots.

In 1904 William A. Coats commissioned G.L. Watson & Co. to design him an enlarged and improved version of his previous yacht, Queen o’ the May. Built by Fairfields shipyard, it joined the 11 other yachts in commission by the Coates family. In 1926, the yacht was passed onto Thomas Coats and in 1929 was acquired by Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jnr., a wealthy American socialite and diplomat.

The material offers a fascinating glimpse into a cruise made by Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jr. and his family; when they traveled aboard Queen of Scots from Bayonne to North Africa, the Canary Isles, Cape Verde, Barbados, the Panama Canal and the Galapagos. The material documents the family’s hunting and fishing adventures in addition to some remarkable images of the Talamanca Indians in their native village. Interestingly, the collection includes a scroll from the British Museum of Natural History thanking Drexel for donating specimens of the Galapagos species which he collected during the trip.

The material will be conserved and added to the company’s extensive archive. To learn more about G.L. Watson’s history and archive collections including designs available for replica please follow the links to the right.