BEKEN OF COWES
However, the Prince soon discovered that spectating was not entirely risk-free, as Mr Ratsey later recorded: “His Royal Highness was sitting just abaft the companionway in a deck-chair reading the morning papers, Britannia manoeuvring about for the start. I could not take my eyes away from the Prince, as owing to the heeling of the yacht from side to side his chair was constantly on the balance, and he looked as if he might roll over the side, chair and all, at any moment. At last the Britannia heeled over still more, to a decidedly dangerous extent, indeed. Fortunately His Royal Highness realised the danger, grasped the companion, and stood up just as the chair and all the papers rolled over the side into the river; and in a very few seconds were a considerable distance astern.
“The Prince was asked if the chair etc should be picked up, to which he replied, ‘Yes, pick up the papers.’ Britannia was gybed over, the dinghy launched, chair and papers retrieved, and the latter sent down into the fo’c’s’le to be dried.” In her maiden season, Britannia achieved considerable success, winning 24 of her 43 races. Her second season began early with a voyage to the Mediterranean for the increasingly popular series of races hosted by Cannes, Monaco, Mentone and Nice. The Prince of Wales lived on board until the end of the series when the racing sails were stowed for the homeward passage under trysail in time for the start of the British season. Britannia’s success quickly captured the public’s imagination and started to draw crowds wherever she competed. However, the subsequent dominance of the Kaiser’s Meteor II and the increasingly antagonistic attitude of her owner towards the Prince led to Britannia’s withdrawal from the regatta circuit in 1897.
Ironically, she won the German Emperor’s Shield outright in her final race. Shortly afterwards, she was towed up the Medina River and put up for sale, having won 122 of her 219 races since her debut in 1893. None of her next three owners used her, and she remained in Cowes until the Prince of Wales bought her back in May 1899 to act as a trial horse against Shamrock I. He soon sold her again, in October 1900 to Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, who actually used her – as a cruising yacht with a rig reduced accordingly. In 1901 her original owner, by then King Edward VII, asked to charter Britannia for his first Cowes Week as King, and within a year he had purchased her for the third time. The King continued to use her as a cruising yacht until his death in 1910, when she was inherited by his son King George V. King Edward’s feelings towards Britannia were described by his former equerry-in- waiting, Captain The Hon Sir Seymour Fortescue, who wrote, “He loved his yacht, not only because she could win races, but because she was his home for the time being and because he delighted in the freedom of the sea, the salt breeze, and the beauty of the scene around him.”
GEORGE V AND WHITE ROSE George V knew Britannia extremely well, having sailed with his father whenever possible since her launch in 1893. As a former serving naval officer, the new king liked to take a more hands-on role in the sailing of his boats than his father. In 1895 he had invited Charles Sibbick to design and build the One-Rater White Rose. The only catch for Sibbick when he received this prestigious commission was that it had to be ready within a week, instead of the usual six weeks that it took to build a one-rater, so that her royal owner could enjoy
CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2012 59
Above: Hildegarde, the Prince’s first racing yacht, 1876
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