3-017-045 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Schooner match of the Royal Thames Yacht Club on June 16: rounding the Water Lily off Shoebury, 1864. 'Among the spectators of the schooner-race, from Tilbury to the Nore and back again, were the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and Prince Louis of Hesse, on board the Water Lily, the yacht of Lord Alfred Paget, Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club...The Water Lily was towed by the steamer Eagle, which anchored on arriving at the Nore, so that the yachts competing in the race passed round the stem of the Water Lily, in the manner shown by our Illustration, as they turned to come up the river...The wind was southerly, and very light; the yachts, therefore, could not do their best, yet, as they rounded at the Nore, they presented a beautiful sight...The race finished with the success of the Albertine, which got home nine seconds before the Madcap and three minutes and a half before the Intrepid; the Iolanthe being six minutes later than the Intrepid at the last. The Water Lily was then brought alongside the steamer, and the Prince of Wales, having expressed his gratification at the race, presented the prizes to Lord Londesborough and Mr. Dunbar'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.