Looking Back

by Sir Seymour John Fortescue

Photo: Kirk, Cowes]

“BRITANNIA” RACING AT COWES

Whilst on the subject of Yacht Racing, for those who are interested in that sport, it may as well be stated here that the Britannia was probably the most successful large racing cutter ever put into the water. Built on the Clyde by Messrs. Henderson, designed by Watson, and in the charge, as she was during her racing career, of a very strong combination of talent in the person of Mr. Willy Jameson and the late John Carter her skipper, she competed (and on the whole had the best of it), against one older crack racer the Iverna; five boats of her own year, namely the Valkyrie, Satanita, Calluna, Vigilant and Navahoe; (these two last were American boats, the Vigilant having been the successful defender of the America Cup); and two later English boats, the Aurora and Ailsa. It was not until the German Emperor’s large cutter, Meteor, appeared on the scene, four years later, that she had to give up her pride of place, and could be said to have been definitely outbuilt, and after all Meteor was also of Watson design, and was in fact a merely enlarged Britannia.

I was in waiting again in August when the Prince and Princess of Wales were in residence on board the Royal Yacht, Osborne, at Cowes. There were some six or seven days’ hard racing under the auspices of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Royal London Club at Cowes, and the Royal Victoria Club at Ryde. The Prince, at this holiday season, could race to his heart’s content, and all the best-known habitués of Cowes, female and male, were in turn invited on board the yacht; and as, in addition, the whole Royal party of the Osborne were almost invariably sailing in the Britannia, it can be easily supposed that she carried more passengers than did most racing yachts; but this fact certainly did not interfere with her sailing qualities, for she was wonderfully successful.

At the end of the Ryde week the Prince left Cowes for his usual cure at Homburg, and I was left in charge of the Britannia while she was completing the round of the Regattas on the Western Ports. This arrangement took place for two or three years running, and, as far as I was personally concerned, nothing could have been more delightful. The Prince, with that extraordinary consideration that he always displayed towards the members of his Staff, used to allow me to take a companion with me. One year it was the late Lord Hardwicke, then Lord Royston, who was my shipmate. On another occasion it was my friend, Hugh Tyrrwhitt. It was immense fun. As soon as the Solent Regatta came to an end the whole fleet of racing yachts, big and small, used to start under cruising canvas to the westward, for the Regattas held successively at Weymouth, Torquay and Dartmouth, to finish the season at Plymouth. At each place the town and neighbourhood was en fête for their Regatta week, which was for them the greatest week of the year. Various cruising yachts used to accompany the fleet. Lord Ormonde (who, sad to relate, has died since these lines were written), then Vice-Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, used generally to come round with his family and a few friends. The Iverna, Mr. John Jameson’s yacht, usually carried not only Mr. Willy Jameson, Britannia’s head jockey, but also his charming wife, Mrs. Jameson, the sister of Field-Marshal Earl Haig.

The result of all this was that at the end of a long day’s racing, one could have the cheeriest of dinners on board the various yachts, and in fact there were few pleasanter ways of spending the month of August. The Regattas usually came to an end early in September just in time to enable one to go to Yorkshire for the Doncaster Races.

Doncaster Races for some years running meant, as far as I was concerned, being one of a very pleasant party that used to assemble yearly at Escrick, the late Lord Wenlock’s place not far from York, as the guests of the late Mr. Jack Menzies and his wife, who, a few years ago, married, for her second husband, one of my colleagues, Colonel Sir George Holford.

Naturally, the composition of the party varied slightly from year to year, but there was always a certain number of the same people, especially as regards the men, for the really keen racing men never missed the St. Leger. It is too sad a task to give their names, for so many of them, like our host, are no longer with us; but pleasanter racing parties there never were, for the women and men that filled the house were all really keen. It was a long day for the ladies. We had to leave Escrick soon after eleven to catch the special train that conveyed us to Doncaster, and it used to be nearly seven o’clock by the time we got back. Those were days of high betting, and when, as occasionally happened at Doncaster, things were going badly for backers, the Escrick lot was one of those that contributed pretty largely to the coffers of the Ring; but whether it was a winning or losing week, nothing ever marred the cheeriness of the party.

Amongst other hospitable houses from which I have “done” Doncaster Races were Rufford Abbey, Lord Savile’s beautiful home; Tranby Croft, the late Mr. Arthur Wilson’s place, not far from Hull; and Wiseton, belonging to that fine soldier, General Sir J. Laycock.

Another month that I was very apt to be on duty was October, and I think that perhaps on the whole it was the pleasantest “wait” of the whole year, entailing, as it did, a couple of weeks at Newmarket. I really loved the life there. The Prince of Wales had his own little apartment in the Jockey Club Rooms, so there was no place where he could be more absolutely free. He generally managed to get a good deal of his correspondence done before his early morning ride, and after breakfast in the Jockey Club Room, he had another couple of hours at his disposal before Racing. The Newmarket breakfast was a very pleasant meal in that big, quiet room looking on to a well-kept lawn, and consumed with the perfectly miraculous appetite that is given by a canter over the Heath. There were generally two or three other members of the Jockey Club at breakfast, who had been similarly engaged, and one of them was almost invariably the late Lord Suffolk. He was always primed with the latest racing information, which he had succeeded in gleaning during his morning walk, and, moreover, he was a wonderfully good causeur (I really do not know the exact equivalent in English, for “talker” does not convey quite the same idea). I always considered him to be one of the most agreeable men I ever met, and those who have read some of his short stories, mostly on the subject of Racing, will remember that his writings were distinguished by a remarkably pleasant style and a great charm of expression. There happen to be two admirable specimens in the Badminton Book on Racing.