Albert Strange

Albert Strange (1855–1917) was an artist and yacht designer. He was the headmaster of the Scarborough School of Art. With George Holmes, he was a mainstay of the Humber Yawl Club which developed the use of sailing canoes with a yawl rig.

He was born in 1855, growing up in Gravesend where he learnt to sail with a fisherman who helped him convert a peter boat for cruising around the Thames Estuary. He studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Leicester College of Arts and Crafts, completing his education in 1878. He then taught art in Liverpool for three years, where he married.

Finally, circa 1882, Strange took a job as the headmaster of the new Scarborough School of Art — a position which he held for 35 years until his death. He took lessons from Paul Marny. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, from 1882 to 1897.

Strange was Captain of the Humber Yawl Club (formed in 1883, shortly after his arrival in Scarborough about 50 miles to the north) for some years. He produced many designs for boats suited to the club's locale, both for himself and other members. They were light craft which would cope well with being beached on the mud flats of the Humber Estuary or being shipped abroad as deck cargo, but they had cabins which enabled them to be used for long voyages of a month or so.

Plans for the Otter, designed in 1898 for a member of the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club to sail on the lower Saint Lawrence.

Sailing rig for the Otter

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