Four yachts were acquired by King Carlos I of Portugal and renamed after the monarch’s wife, Queen D. Amélia of Orléans, whose initials appear on the glass of one of these vessels, now part of the Nautical Collection of the Museum of Angra do Heroismo. These yachts were primarily intended for oceanographic research, an area in which King Carlos I was deeply involved, gaining international renown as a scientist and oceanographer. They were equipped with instruments for the collection, preparation, and preservation of specimens, as well as accommodation for researchers.
In the summer of 1901, when the monarchs undertook a royal visit to the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, the yacht Amélia III, built in Scotland in 1898 and acquired by King Carlos a year later, accompanied the squadron composed of the cruisers D. Carlos, D. Amélia, and São Gabriel.
In November 1901, Amélia III was replaced by the much larger Amélia IV, aboard which, following the military coup that established the Republic in Portugal, King Manuel II and his family went into exile, being transported to Gibraltar.
Interestingly, Amélia III was acquired by the United States Navy in 1917, renamed Yacona, and in 1921 transferred to the Insular Government of the Philippines. Designated to serve as the official yacht of the Governor-General and renamed Apo, it was used for inspection trips by Leonard Wood, Henry Stimson, Dwight Davis, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. In 1932, it was returned to the United States federal government.
The glass panels highlighted here are on display in the fourth section of the exhibition From Sea and Land… a History in the Atlantic, entitled The Formation of the Contemporary.
