HMY Britannia (Royal Cutter Yacht)
Britannia in the 1890s
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| History | |
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| Name: | Britannia |
| Owner: |
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| Ordered: | 1892 |
| Builder: | D&W Henderson Shipyard Ltd |
| Yard number: | 366 |
| Launched: | 20 April 1893 |
| Fate: | scuttled (10 July 1936) at St Catherine's Deep near the Isle of Wight |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | British Big Class gaff-rigged cutter |
| Displacement: | 221 tons |
| Length: | 121.5 ft (37.0 m) |
| Beam: | 23.66 ft (7.21 m) |
| Height: | 164 ft (50 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Sail plan: | 10,328 sq ft (959.5 m2) (1893) |
His Majesty's Yacht Britannia was a gaff-rigged cutter built in 1893 for Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. She served both himself and his son King George V, with a long racing career.
Britannia was ordered by Edward, Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII, and she was designed by George Lennox Watson as his design number 270. She was a near sister ship to the Watson-designed Valkyrie II which challenged for the America’s Cup in 1893. Details of the commission were arranged on the Prince’s behalf by William Jamieson who represented him and liaised closely with Watson. The build cost was £8,300 and like Valkyrie II, Britannia was built at the D&W Henderson shipyard in Patrick on the River Clyde. With two such highly important commissions underway in the same yard, Watson delegated his protégé James Rennie Barnett to oversee both yachts.
Britannia was launched on 20 April 1893, a week ahead of Valkyrie II and joined a fleet of first class cutters that was growing fast as others followed the royal lead. In a highly competitive fleet, Britannia soon set about achieving the race results which would eventually establish her as the most successful racing yacht of all time.
By the end of her first year's racing, Britannia had scored thirty-three wins from forty-three starts. In her second season, she won all seven races for the first class yachts on the French Riviera, and then beat the 1893 America's Cup defender Vigilant in home waters. In the Mount's Bay Regatta of 28 July 1894 the Vigilant owned by Jay Gould, director of the American Cable Company was piloted by Benjamin Nicholls of Penzance and the Prince of Wales's yacht Britannia, was piloted by Ben's brother Philip Nicholls. The Britannia won by just over 7 minutes. People came by train from all over the south west to watch this race. Both brothers were Trinity House pilots of Penzance.
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Wikipedia