Cygne

Designed by Duperron – Built by de Coninck, 1907

Design and Construction

Cygne* was designed by Duperron and built by de Coninck at Le Havre, France, in 1907 for G. Lacroix of Meulan and Le Havre. Constructed of teak and pitch-pine planking over oak frames, she was launched in September 1907, only six months after her keel was laid in March. Although conceived as an auxiliary cruising yawl, she fully conformed to the newly adopted International First Rule for the 12 Metre class, making her one of the earliest yachts built to that standard.

Her hull was double-planked and finely built, with a Mietz & Weiss 10 HP two-cylinder petrol engine fitted on launch. Le Yacht described her as “an auxiliary yacht of fifteen metres, designed for cruising but built according to the scantling rules of the new Rule.” The interiors were exceptionally comfortable for her size, arranged in teak and pitch-pine with crew quarters forward, engine room to port, galley to starboard, a saloon with berths amidships, passageway aft leading to the owner’s cabin, wardrobe and toilet.

Ownership and Later History

1907 – 1910 – G. Lacroix, Meulan / Le Havre, France – Cygne, auxiliary yawl.
1911 – 1921 – A. Chabrier, Le Havre – retained the same name and configuration.
1922 – A. Menchacha, Bilbao, Spain – renamed Ella.
1923 – 1925 – F. Sanchez & Incha’ustegui, Bilbao – renamed Maria.
1926 – 1932 / 1935 – 1937 – Vicente Galiana Puchol, Barcelona – home port Barcelona; last listed in Lloyd’s Register 1937. After that year, she disappears from known records.

Significance

Cygne represents an important transitional design at the dawn of the International Metre Rule, when naval architects first applied mathematical rating formulas to both racing and cruising yachts. Her combination of refined construction, auxiliary power and comfortable interior typifies the earliest generation of French-built metre yachts.

Her later career—renamed and re-registered in Spain through the 1920s and 1930s—illustrates the wide influence of the 12 Metre Rule and the migration of early French yachts across the European yachting centres of the interwar years. Disappearing from registry by 1937, Cygne remains a significant example of the First Rule period: a yacht bridging the line between elegant cruising comfort and the emerging science of international racing measurement.