BRITISH YACHTING.
BY C. J. C. McALISTER.
Immediately succeeding the prosaic
and practical period of the Commonwealth, amongst the numerous sports and
pastimes which Charles II. introduced to
amuse his subjects, long tired of the restraints of the Puritan rule, was the sailing
of pleasure-boats in trials of speed, on the
Thames near Lambeth. The Merrie Monarch himself apparently evinced considerable interest in these aquatic contests,
which were amongst the most manly and
healthful amusements of an essentially
effeminate period of English history ; but
he seems to have utterly failed to succeed
in inducing the lords and ladies of his
luxurious court to appreciate a pastime attended frequently with so many minor in-
conveniencies as must have resulted from
the climatic conditions under which boat-
sailing was and is practised during the
short and uncertain season of an English
summer. Towards the close of his reign
these regattas, inaugurated with the Restoration, which furnish the first record of
English yachting, were discontinued altogether. The pastime, as now indulged in,
is an institution of comparatively recent
date. The first club was formed in 1720,
at Queenstown, Ireland, under the title of
the Cork Harbour Water Club, which is
now known as the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
It was not till 1812 that the sister island
followed the example through some forty
gentlemen establishing a similar association at the Isle of Wight, known as " The
Yacht Club," which continued steadily to
increase in membership and importance
until 1820, when it attracted the attention
of William IV., then Duke of Clarence,
who ordered that it should henceforth be
styled "The Royal Yacht Club," and a
few years after his accession to the throne
S6
141
BRITISH YACHTING.
BY C. J. C. McALISTER.
Immediately succeeding the prosaic
and practical period of the Commonwealth, amongst the numerous sports and
pastimes which Charles II. introduced to
amuse his subjects, long tired of the restraints of the Puritan rule, was the sailing
of pleasure-boats in trials of speed, on the
Thames near Lambeth. The Merrie Monarch himself apparently evinced considerable interest in these aquatic contests,
which were amongst the most manly and
healthful amusements of an essentially
effeminate period of English history ; but
he seems to have utterly failed to succeed
in inducing the lords and ladies of his
luxurious court to appreciate a pastime attended frequently with so many minor in-
conveniencies as must have resulted from
the climatic conditions under which boat-
sailing was and is practised during the
short and uncertain season of an English
summer. Towards the close of his reign
these regattas, inaugurated with the Restoration, which furnish the first record of
English yachting, were discontinued altogether. The pastime, as now indulged in,
is an institution of comparatively recent
date. The first club was formed in 1720,
at Queenstown, Ireland, under the title of
the Cork Harbour Water Club, which is
now known as the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
It was not till 1812 that the sister island
followed the example through some forty
gentlemen establishing a similar association at the Isle of Wight, known as " The
Yacht Club," which continued steadily to
increase in membership and importance
until 1820, when it attracted the attention
of William IV., then Duke of Clarence,
who ordered that it should henceforth be
styled "The Royal Yacht Club," and a
few years after his accession to the throne
S6
141
