CHAPTER XI
EARLIEST YACHT CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN
The Vauxhall annual cup races—The Prince of Wales, Nancy, Cumberland, Mermaid, Vixen, and other winning yachts—Bristol Sailing Society cup race of 1796; won by the Antelope—State Lottery cup, 1807; won by the Mercury—The Bellissima—The last Vauxhall cup, 1810—Cumberland Subscription cups, 1812—The Mercury champion of the Thames—Cruising in the Lower Thames—The yacht Royal Sovereign—Effort to revive the Water Club of Cork—William Fife, Clyde yacht builder—The yacht Leopard built by Lynn Ratsey, of Cowes—Thomas White, of Cowes—Earl Warwick, king of Wight—First meeting of the Yacht Club, 1815—Cowes Castle—Its priceless archives—Conclusion.
WE are indebted to the Sporting Magazine, and London newspapers of the time, for nearly all the data relating to early yacht racing on the Thames. It was at this period that public attention was first directed to yachting in England—not so much by yachtsmen, as through the exertions of those whose business it was to provide fashionable entertainments on the beautiful banks of the Thames, in the days when the Vauxhall Gardens were the gay midsummer resort of beauty and fashion. This famous pleasure ground passed away long ago, and now is but a faded memory of the past.
In the year 1786 Mr. Jonathon Tyars became the proprietor of the Vauxhall Gardens. To celebrate
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