ABSTRACT
Th e accounts connected with the Duck cover the period 1690-1707, and from them and also from two other documents we can learn a fair amount about her. There is an agreement
between Thomas Bowrey and John Freame, both described as of Wapping, dated 14 July 1690, by which the latter is to build the hull of a vessel for the former for £65, but in reality it cost £90. Then, on 6 February 1690/1, the two entered into another agreement by which Freame sold the hull of ‘ ‘ The Duck of London ’ ’ to Bowrey for the sum above mentioned. The yacht was 29 ft. by the keel and 9 ft. broad, and was “ of the burthen of about Fourteen Tonns.” Consequently, according to the tonnage formula then employed (tonnage = the product of length by the keel, breadth and depth, divided by 94), her depth from deck to bottom planking must have been about 5 ft.
