Britannia (ship, 1893)
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The Britannia was the sailing yacht of the Prince of Wales and later King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Edward VII.
history
The yacht Britannia was commissioned by the then Prince of Wales Albert Eduard in 1892 from the renowned Scottish yacht designer George Lennox Watson after his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, presented him with the appearance of his newly acquired big-class yacht Meteor , the former Scottish yacht Thistle had impressed at Cowes Week . She was built at the same Thistle shipyard, D. & W. Henderson & Company (today: GL Watson) in Partick on the Clyde on the River Clyde in Scotland side by side with the British challenger in the America's Cup Valkyrie II built. The launch was on April 20, 1893, a week before Valkyrie II .
The Britannia was a very successful regatta yacht when it appeared. In her first race (off-shore race), the Thames Estuary, she beat the big yachts Valkyrie II , Calluna and Iverna . In her first summer of 1893 she won 33 of 34 races, and in the same year she beat the current (eighth) America's Cup winner , the US yacht Vigilant , in British waters. In her second season she won all seven regattas that were held for the yachts of the big class on the French Riviera . In the races as part of Cowes Week in the English Channel , the defeated Britannia under the command of King Edward VII. Confident the racing yacht Meteor his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II., Who then faster yacht ( Meteor II ) along the lines of Britannia in the shipyard D. & W. Henderson & Company ordered.
With the regatta season of 1897, the decline in the Big Class began, so that the racing flag on the Britannia was not set again for the next 15 years. During this time the yacht went through six different owners. The yacht was bought twice for the Prince of Wales on royal orders, once to serve as a sparring partner for the America's Cup challenger Shamrock I and finally after the coronation of the Prince of Wales as King Edward VII serving royal pleasure and travel yacht. With a raised bulwark and a reduced rig , it was used by the royal family for travel in the British coastal waters and for representative purposes. The cabins below deck allowed the royal couple to travel appropriately.
After the death of King Edward VII in 1910, his son King George V took over the Britannia as an enthusiastic sailor and commodore of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club . From 1913 he continued regatta sailing with the yacht in the remuneration class. During the First World War , the yacht was not used and launched. From 1920 Britannia again took part in sailing regattas with great success. With her huge rig she successfully faced the fast, modern, large yachts of her time, such as B. the British yachts Nyria and White Heather and the US yacht Westward under skipper Charlie Barr . King George V was so enthusiastic about the potential of the Britannia that he ordered a thorough overhaul (refit) and conversion into a competitive yacht for the 1922 sailing season. The Britannia fulfilled all expectations and won 23 out of 26 races.
Rigging on Bermuda rig
It was during these years that the first big-class yachts appeared with a Bermuda rig . The gaff of Britannia was changed in 1926 and 1927, but King George V allowed only in the year 1931 it was transformed into Bermuda rig. His stubborn insistence on the gaff rig seemed to be the right sentimental decision, because Britannia subsequently sailed worse with the new Bermudarigg, although she was brilliantly led by Sir Philip Hunloke. With the new rig she lost her good sailing characteristics in the wind . In 1934 she was barely competitive against the new modern yachts of the emerging J-class . She took part in regattas for the last time in 1935 at Cowes Week. During her time as a regatta yacht, she has won a total of 231 races and achieved 129 second and third places.
Sinking in the English Channel
King George V died on January 20, 1936, and it was his dying wish that his beloved yacht Britannia should follow him into death and not be scrapped or sold. On July 10, 1936, after all parts of the rigging had been removed , the yacht was close to a particularly deep point in the English Channel (St. Catherine's Deep, 50 ° 34 ′ 00 ″ N, 01 ° 12 ′ 00 ″ W) Towed the Isle of Wight and shot down by Captain ( Sea Captain ) WNT Beckett. commanded warship HMS Winchester sunk.
Replica
The Norwegian businessman Sigurd Coates had the Britannia made from Russian pine at the Russian Solombala shipyard in Arkhangelsk from 1993 to 2006 according to the original plans by Watson with the support of the Norwegian designer Christian Stephansen. Due to problems with the current owner of the shipyard ( Andrei Dubinski ), the completed and paid yacht could not be launched for several years and taken over by the owner Coates. It was not until the summer of 2009 that this succeeded after tough legal struggle. After a stopover by the Britannia in the sailing village of Son on the eastern bank of the Oslofjord , the hull was towed to Cowes in 8 days. She reached the Isle of Wight on February 4, 2012. A few days later she was set ashore with a crane, scaffolded and protected with a large tarpaulin. She is now being converted by SouthBoats, Venture Quays in East Cowes, her home port is Gibraltar .
See also
- Motor yacht Britannia
Web links
- The History of Britannia , Images of Britannia
- K1 Britannia
- Half model of the Britannia
- Ultimate Sail
- Website: National Maritime Museum
- Website builder: GL Watson & Co.
- Royal Family website
- Royal Harwich Yacht Club
Footnotes
- ↑ Richard Johnstone-Bryden: The Royal Sailing Yachts , PDF, (English), accessed on January 15, 2020
- ↑ GL Watson website: Legendary Britannia ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in English, accessed on September 21, 2016
- ↑ a b c d Royal Harwich Yacht Club: History of the Club with a section on the Britannia.Retrieved October 1, 2019
- ↑ A regatta consists of several races.
- ↑ Website: yachtemoceans.com Meteor - The German Royal Yachts , English, accessed on September 20, 2016
- ↑ Portrait: Yacht Britannia ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 18, 2009
- ↑ HMS Winchester (L55) was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy , launched in 1918, broken up in 1946
- ↑ K1-Britannia: Britannia arrives in Cowes, February 4, 2012 ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed September 22, 2016
- ↑ yacht-online: The return of the "Britannia" (video), May 8, 2015 , accessed on September 21, 2016
- ↑ K1-Britannia: A special thanks to South Boats !, 9.2.2012 ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed September 22, 2016
- ↑ charterworld.com: Reconstruction of His Royal Highness' Yacht Britannia, August 1, 2012 , in English, accessed on September 22, 2016
