The Sailor King

King 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 and had invited Charles Sibbick to design and build the one-rater White Rose in 1895. 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 some racing before his next round of official engagements. To achieve this remarkable feat of boatbuilding, Sibbick appointed Edward Williams as the chief shipwright for White Rose. His men started on the Monday morning and worked in shifts round the clock until she was ready for launching on the Saturday morning. Two days later, White Rose won her maiden race, and according to local myth,h the sound of tapping could be heard coming from her forefoot,ot which turned out to be Edward Williams carrying out the final finishing touches! White Rose’s victory provided the perfect reward for the herculean efforts of Sibbick’s men and Lapthorn’s sailmakers during the preceding week. When compared to some of Sibbick’s other raters, she had a low-key racing career by winning 8 flags in 26 starts. Sadly, she was lost 4 years later along with several other yachts in a fire at Sibbick’s Albert yard in Cowes.

Although the new King did not fit out Britannia for the summer of 1910, he appointed Sir Philip Hunloke as her Sailing Master, and he oversaw the preparations for the 1911 season. To improve her suitability for family cruising, Britannia was fitted with a deck-house, higher bulwarks and a steering wheel which was subsequently fitted onboard her namesake HM Yacht Britannia. For two seasons, Britannia continued to be used as a family cruising yacht. The young Princes Edward, later King Edward VIII, and Albert George, later King George VI, would often join their parents on board Britannia for cruises along the Channel coast.

However, King George V succumbed to the temptation to bring Britannia out in the 1913 season as a handicap racer. Once more, the Royal Racing Yacht wore her original owner’s distinctive racing flag,g which consisted of The Prince of Wales’s feathers on a horizontal red and blue background. Describing the positive effect Britannia had on King George V, Sir Philip Hunloke later wrote, “The King was like a schoolboy home for the holidays. He loved the old yacht; he enjoyed winning, but he was a splendid loser. He never grumbled, and many a time in the course of a race, when we were hard pressed, I have had good advice from The King which I was glad to take.” Sailing on board Britannia provided the King with the chance to escape the burden of his office and the formalities of the court for a few precious hours. The King would take the view that he was merely a member of the crew, as Sir Philip Hunloke, subsequently recalled, “King George V never would be just an onlooker. If there was an emergency or a heavy bit of hauling to do, he felt that he had to join in. Of course, he knew exactly what to do.” In contrast, his wife, Queen Mary, was a poor sailor who disliked yachting and would only join the King for a sail on a calm day. One August, Her Majesty recorded in her diary, “Britannia has just passed us by, and I saw the King looking very wet and uncomfortable in oilskins. What a way to enjoy oneself.”

Britannia’s return to the regatta circuit was cut short on the eve of Cowes Week by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. As she returned to Cowes to be laid up for the duration, Britannia passed the old warships of the Reserve Fleet that were being mobilised for war. The sport of yachting was slow to recover in the wake of the First World War. As the disappointing 1919 season drew to a close, a delegation of yachtsmen sought an audience with King to persuade him to bring out his beloved Britannia and stimulate the revival of the regatta circuit. Even though she was the King’s personal property and funded by his private income, the timing of Britannia’s recommissioning had to be handled with care to avoid it becoming a political issue. Having carefully considered the situation, His Majesty decided that it could help to resuscitate the Big Class, thereby providing a much-needed boost to the nation’s yachting industry as a whole. As Sir Philip Hunloke prepared the Royal Racing Yacht for the 1920 season, several owners confirmed their intention to recommission their yachts while Mr R. H. Lee placed an order worth £24,000 for the construction of Terpsichore to specifically race against Britannia.

The King enjoyed the 27-year-old Britannia’s return to racing. As he summed up the 1920 Cowes Week in his diary, the King wrote, “Never saw the old ship sail better. Everything went right.” Britannia’s form encouraged the King to commission the first of her post-war modernisations by inviting Alfred Mylne to design an enlarged rig with a similar sail area to her original sail plan of 1893. The work was carried out over the winter of 1920/21. The rejuvenated yacht proved to be a match for the latest craft in a good breeze and occasionally left them behind in light airs. She underwent further extensive refits throughout the 1920s to ensure she could continue to compete on a credible basis.

Britannia’s most dramatic change in appearance was prompted by the Yacht Racing Association’s adoption of the American Universal Rule as the governing standard for first-class yachting in British waters from the 1931 season onwards. This led to the emergence of a pseudo J Class in British waters, which consisted of new purpose-built yachts racing alongside adapted older craft. To conform with these requirements, Britannia’s sail area had to be reduced by 20%, thereby resulting in the replacement of her gaff rig with a modern Bermudan rig. To implement the changes, the King turned to the era’s leading yacht designer, Charles Nicholson. The package of work carried out at his Gosport yard over the winter of 1930/31 included the fitting of a shorter bowsprit, a 175ft hollow silver spruce mast, and a shorter boom. Despite the age gap between Britannia and her younger competitors, the Royal Racing Yacht went on to win 13 flags from 20 starts in the 1931 season.

However, Britannia’s luck finally turned as the nation prepared to celebrate King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935, and she was prepared for what turned out to be her final season of competition. For the first time in Britannia’s long career,r she failed to win a single prize. Despite Britannia’s lack of success, the King still enjoyed sailing her and even declined the generous offer of a replacement yacht. His only concern that season related to the absence of any prize money for his crew, so at the end of the year he compensated them by topping up their wages from his own pocket. The death of her second royal owner on 20 January 1936 heralded the beginning of the end for Britannia.

Although King Edward VIII had joined his parents for family cruises on board Britannia before WWI, he never inherited his father’s passion for sailing. None of King George V’s other sons wanted to take on Britannia, so in May 1936, it was announced that in accordance with the late King’s wishes she would be stripped of all her equipment and scuttled. As the latest J Class yacht Endeavour II made her racing debut on 24 June 1936, Britannia’s gear was sold by auction to raise £1050 for King George’s Fund for Sailors.

With a bunch of wild flowers draped over her stem, Britannia was launched for the last time by Marvin’s yard in Cowes on 8 July 1936. For two days, the empty hulk laid at her buoy in Cowes Roads until she was collected just after midnight by the destroyers HMS Amazon and HMS Winchester. They took her out of a deserted, moonlit Solent and round to the south of the Isle ofWight, where charges were detonated in her bilges before she slowly slipped below the waters of the English Channel. Britannia’s scuttling temporarily concluded the Royal Family’s participation in the sport of yachting.