3-021-670 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Royal Thames Yacht Club match: finish of the race, 1869. View of '...the first cutter match this year...from Erith,...round the Nore Light and back to Gravesend...Seven yachts started:...Mr. Stutfield's Menai, Mr. Chamberlayne's Rosebud, Mr. Maudslay's Volante, Major Ewing's Condor, Mr. Bridson's Muriel, Mr. Boutcher's Fiona, and Mr. Earle's Sphinx...at one o'clock the tide turned, and the wind grew stronger as they came nearer Southend...They stood on without change of canvas through the Lower Hope to Gravesend, the wind dying out a little as they neared the goal...the Condor was first, being two or three minutes before the Fiona, which was six minutes before the Volante, which was nearly three minutes before the Sphinx; the other two came in five or six minutes later...the Sphinx...won the first prize, and the Muriel took the second. The Sphinx was built in 1866, by Mr. H. C. Maudslay, from a design of D. Hatcher...She was not very successful the first year she appeared, and Mr. Maudslay parted with her, preferring to keep the Volante. Since she has been in Mr. Earle's hands she has won numerous prizes, and must be considered as a dangerous antagonist in any weather. This season she has started in three matches, and won each time'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.