by John Leather

Few classes of larger racing yachts have had such instant success or so short a class existence as the 19-Metre cutters of the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) rule. In 1906 the union of British and many European nations racing interests had agreed rules and regulations for yachts of 5- , 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-, 12-, 15- and 23-Metre rating with extension to rate the larger A-Class racing schooners and yawls. Only three yachts were then built to the 23-Metre Class, Shamrock, White Heather II and later Brynhild II, which were closely matched, but the unfortunate loss of the Brynhild II by mast and rigging failure at Harwich Regatta in 1910 returned their sport to duels.

The 23-Metres were expensive to man with a captain, mate and 20 hands, and the much smaller 15-Metre Class, which also then formed an important part of British yacht racing, were far less costly but also made the annual round with the racing fleet of the series of regattas on the south-east, south and west coasts of England, the east coast of Ireland and to the Clyde. This sporting class needed a captain, mate and six or seven hands. They were also (just) capable of sailing to regattas on the west coast of Europe and to the Baltic, extending their potential sport. However, they suffered in rough weather on passage and in having limited stowage for the many sails necessary for racing success in a variety of weather conditions.

During 1910 some owners in the 15-Metre Class, led by AK Stothert and William (later Sir William) Burton, became convinced a class midway between the 23- and 15-Metre yachts would offer improved seaworthiness for passagemaking, improved accommodation for owners and guests and provide the feeling of ‘big yacht racing’ without too great increase in expense from the 15-Metres. A yacht of about 95ft overall length was desirable and after discussions a 19-Metre rating class was agreed, under the IYRU rules, for the summer of 1911. By Christmas 1910 orders for four yachts were placed, three by experienced racing owners.

William Burton, a Suffolk owner, had sailed and raced yachts for 20 years, starting in small boats but at the turn of the century had entered the competitive 52ft Linear Rating Class with Penitent, Gauntlet, Lucida and Britomart, then into the 15-Metre Class with Ostara and now his 19-Metre to be named Octavia, his third racer designed by Alfred Mylne.

AK Stothert had owned two cruising yachts, built for him in the 1890s, then the fast Shepherd cruiser Nebula in the handicap class followed by the fast cutter Rosamond by Fife in 1905 for four seasons of keen handicap racing. He then ordered the 15-Metre Mariska from Fife. He was the first owner to order a 19-Metre, he would name Mariquita, also built by William Fife & Son at Fairlie. Shortly after, the firm received the order for another ‘19’ from co-owners Richard Hennessy and Almeric Paget. Hennessy was a keen and practical yachtsman with a good grounding in seamanship, small yacht sailing and motor boats, racing and cruising in a variety of craft. His partner, Almeric Paget, came of a family well connected at court who for several generations were enthusiastic owners of yachts large and smaller, sail and steam, with a tradition of yacht racing stretching back to the late 18th century. Their 19 was to be named Corona, as she would be launched during that coronation year of King George V.

The fourth yacht of the class was designed and built for Frederick Milburn who was new to larger yacht racing but had enthusiasm and wealth. He approached Camper & Nicholson to design and build his 19-Metre to be named Norada. When confirming the order he stated he would regard the new yacht as no more than a fast cruiser and had arranged for the captain and some of the crew from his large Nicholson-built cruising schooner Norlanda to man her. Charles Nicholson, who led the design, had other ideas and the firm’s drawing office put much thought and ingenuity into her, incorporating many features they had devised for the unlucky 23-Metre Brynhild II two years before. She had 6 inches more beam than the other 19s, the smallest girth measurement and smallest rating, yet her sail plan of 8,000sqft was just under 2,000sqft greater than her rivals and was the tallest. She had the greatest initial stability of the four yachts, so maintaining a maximum draught in all conditions to aid weatherliness. Norada was, potentially, a difficult yacht to beat, a latent ability at first denied by the inexperience of her captain and crew, only one of whom had previously been a hand in a racing yacht.

The Fife-designed Corona and Mariquita were inevitably very similar and Octavia had Mylne’s distinctive characteristics of the time. But Norada was the most interesting and continued Nicholson’s evolution of hull form and rig from the Brynhild II, which would be further developed in the 15-Metre Istria the following year. William Burton had owned two successful racers designed by Alfred Mylne and continued having confidence in his work. Octavia would be built on the Clyde by R McAlister & Son at Dumbarton. She would be typical of the class in being 95ft 3in overall length. 62ft 3in waterline length. 17ft 1in beam. 11ft 11in draught. 72.5 tons displacement and setting a basic 6,216sqft in a gaff cutter rig, augmented by various sizes of spinnakers and types and sizes of topsails and jibs. From abreast the mast to the stem the long, tapering fo’c’s’le had the usual locker top seats around each side with the folding canvas cots of the hands stowed along the sides above. A small cabin for the captain to starboard and the galley to port were abreast the mast. Aft of that was owner and guest accommodation, a spacious saloon where their meals were served and conversation and drinks could be savoured. Aft again were two single berth cabins, a two berth owner’s cabin, a toilet and a ladderway to the raised companion hatch with two seats so two or three guests could watch the racing in shelter and safety, for the deck of a racer was no place for idlers. Steering was by a pedestal wheel in a small cockpit close by the rudder stock. Mast and spars were of carefully calculated scantlings and the dimension from bowsprit end to boom end was 127ft and from the deck to the head of the topsail yard 116ft 6in.

Experienced design and careful construction and outfitting are but two components of a racing yachts success, the other, at least equally important, is her tuning and handling by a skilful helmsman and a well-trained crew. These 19-Metres, though smaller, were temporarily for the 1911 season, the British ‘big class’ and so owners were able to engage the best helmsmen. For Mariquita Sir Thomas Lipton had loaned AK Stothert his captain, Edward Sycamore from Brightlingsea, Essex, with an experienced crew picked from his previous command, the 23-Metre Shamrock, which was laid up that summer. Paget and Hennessy’s Corona had Captain Stephen Barbrook, another Essex racing man from Tollesbury with a picked crew from the Blackwater and Colne villages. William Burton sailed his own yacht almost all the time but had his able captain, Albert Turner from Wivenhoe, Essex, with an experienced crew from the Colne to back his considerable amateur flair. Odd one out was Fred Milburn’s Norada, most promising of the four but with a captain and crew without experience of yacht racing, except for one hand. Her prospects looked bleak against the skilful and well-trained opposition.

At about £6,000 a 19-Metre cost little more than a contemporary 15-Metre racer and slightly more than half the cost of a 23-Metre, compared with which their crew wage bill was £13 less each week, then a sum well worth saving. So the 19-Metres were reckoned good value and craft, which from the outset of the IYRU, should have formed the largest racing class, being described at their launch as “big, handsome, powerful, roomy and well-finished craft”.

The average course length of a race sailed in British coastal regattas was then about 40-50 miles. The money prizes offered for the 19-Metre Class races varied but £30-40 first prize and £15-20 second prize were usual amounts, the first sometimes replaced or supplemented by a silver cup or other trophy. Money prizes could only slightly assist an owner’s expenses for the season. In 1911 the total cost of owning a 19-Metre during a season from mid April to mid September was approximately £ 1,800-£2,000 and none but wealthy men could afford to own a racer of this size.

Included in the yacht’s expenses were £150 for the captain’s wages, mate, cook and steward £35-4 shillings each per week and each seaman received £1-6 shillings per week of the usual 22-week season. The hands doing duty as mastheadsman and bowspritendsman would also each receive from 2 shillings and sixpence to 3 shillings additionally per week. Each of the professional crew received prize money in accordance with the number and type of prize won by the yacht. A captain might receive from £2 to £5 for a win, the men £1 for a win and 5 shillings for each race lost, as the same effort and enthusiasm were needed. Prize money was paid at the end of the season, by the owner. The captain and crew paid for and provided their food. One man was agreed as ‘caterer’ and when in port obtained the necessary provisions which were prepared by the cook who, with the hand who acted as steward had also to be a capable sailor when the yacht was racing, where their station on deck was particularly tending the jib topsail sheets and other foredeck work. All hands received ‘grub money’ of 2 shillings and 6 pence each day of racing when it was impossible to prepare a hot meal during the day.

Corona was the first of the class to be launched, and was among the larger yachts built at Fairlie, having to be gradually moved some distance from the building berth over the shallow foreshore on ways, watched by many onlookers. Then, because of her draught, the yacht continued into the builders floating launching dock. At high water this was towed out to deeper water, was submerged and the yacht floated out to be towed away to her fitting out berth at Gourock. She was soon after followed down the ways by AK Stothert’s Mariquita.

Norada was the last of the quartet to be ordered and she was not ready for hull planking to start until the 11 March 1911 and could not be launched until mid May. But her completion was rushed forward for the end of the month, to join the racing fleet as soon as possible. Such was the haste that her mast was stepped only nine minutes after she entered the water.

Class distinguishing letters and numbers were allotted to the various IYRU classes under the rules and the 19-Metres carried class letter ‘C’ with number on their mainsails, greatly aiding spectators, especially as Mariquita and Corona were very much alike and Octavia similar at a distance. Only Norada had distinctive appearance.

During May Mariquita and Corona sailed from the Clyde bound for the Thames mouth and the opening matches of the season, where Octavia joined them in the uneasy anchorage off Southend Pier. It would be tedious to recount every race of their three-month season, from the end of May to the end of August, but an impression can be gained from the variety of waters sailed and number of races contested so keenly in that time, besides the considerable mileage sailed on passage between regattas, during which the owners and their ‘company’ were often not on board. There was no racing on Sundays, a rest day for captains and crews but on which often rigging adjustments and some varnishing might be done at the orders of the watchful mate, ever mindful of the condition of his charge.

The class first raced on Saturday 27 May 1911 in the Royal Thames Yacht Club race from Southend ‘down Swin’ to Harwich. Octavia, Mariquita and Corona manoeuvred for the start off the pier end. Norada had not yet joined the class. It was an appropriate opening scene, the three large cutters with their Essex captains and crews, beating into a true easterly breeze along the Essex coast; home waters too for amateur helmsman William Burton in Octavia. They made a stirring picture and a good race, Mariquita won, taking 5 hours, 37 minutes 12 seconds with Corona 4 minutes 10 seconds astern and Octavia 1 minute later. A finish presaging the close racing the 19s would enjoy.

The Royal Harwich Yacht Club regatta followed on 29 and 30 May, where Mariquita won on both days. At the Orwell Corinthian Yacht Club regatta on 5 June Corona won from Octavia and Mariquita retired. Two days later they were again starting in the Lower Hope in the Royal Thames river matches, with Norada making her debut and Charles Nicholson at her wheel to provide racing experience and uphold the reputation of his firm. Unfortunately, the Corona’s steering gear failed before the start and would trouble her throughout the season. Norada did well but finished at Gravesend, last to Mariquita and Octavia. But Nicholson was confident of her ultimate speed when tuned. The next day in the Essex Yacht Club racing, she was lying second to Octavia at the end of the first round but finished last in a race with much spinnaker work, reflecting her captain and crew’s inevitable racing inexperience.

On June 10 the Royal Thames Nore to Dover race included the 19-Metres in a fine tussle with Norada leading at the Princes Channel and retaining it to win. Mariquita was last. Nicholson had done well against very able competition, for it took some courage as well as skill to race a large yacht in close company.

The four 19s sailed from Dover down Channel and into the Irish Sea to race at major regattas at Cork Harbour on June 16 and 19, where Octavia and then Mariquita won. At the Royal Irish Yacht Club 50 mile course 21 and 22 June, Octavia won a King’s Cup. Two days later at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club regatta the Corona was absent with steering gear defects and Norada did not have a full crew pending the decision to appoint a racing captain. Mariquita was fouled aloft by Octavia, which retired. On 27 June it was another duel between these rivals and Octavia was fouled at the stern by Mariquita, which gave up, emphasising the very close quarters racing characterising this class. With Norada still lagging for lack of proper sailing Charles Nicholson, deeply conscious of the yacht’s potential and unable to be present to sail her too far from Gosport, advised Frederick Milburn to appoint Captain Alfred Diaper from Itchen to sail her and bring with him an experienced crew in to replace those on board. He arrived just before the Clyde Fortnight and set about evaluating and tuning Norada.

The class raced at the various Clyde regattas and their speed was illustrated by Corona’s performance at the Royal Northern Yacht Club regatta, where she won a King’s Cup over a 30-mile ‘square’ course, including one long beat and a good proportion of close-hauled sailing in 3 hours 19 minutes 20 seconds.

Two days later Norada won by a substantial margin from Octavia and Mariquita and at the Royal Western Yacht Club regatta Mariquita won and at the Clyde Corinthian Octavia only took the race from Norada by a fluke calm patch.

As the 19-Metres prepared to sail south to continue their season they had raced 22 times and Octavia was top boat, with Mariquita second. By then they were regarded by yachting pundits, public and their captains and crews as the best type of larger racing yacht produced to that time. With 700 miles of sailing between the Clyde and the east Kent coast, the 19-Metres could not hope to appear at Ramsgate regatta but, breaking passage, on 15 July they raced at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club regatta off Falmouth where Mariquita won over a 30-mile course. Six days later they were on the line for the Royal Cinque Ports race from Dover, round the NE Varne and South Goodwin light vessel, back to Dover then to the South Goodwin and return. Corona did not start, Norada took the lead and eventually won. The next day’s race was from Dover to Boulogne and back, won by the Corona from Norada in variable calms.

On 25 July the four 19s raced at Harve two-day International regatta and Octavia won, chased closely by Norada, Mariquita was last.

Usually by the latter part of the season the performance of yachts in a class allowed prediction of the most successful but after Captain Diaper took charge of Norada in July it became impossible to predict, so well handled were all four 19-Metres, now all manned by first class racing crews. So they sailed for the Solent regattas in good trim.

The summer of 1911 brought to the Solent and Spithead the greatest gatherings of warships and yachts to mark the Coronation of King George and Queen Mary. The long grey lines of warships of the British Navy and many others visiting, were matched in majesty by the large numbers of yachts of all sizes and types assembling off Cowes for racing from 31 July under the Royal London Yacht Club bargee, the Royal Yacht Squadron regatta from 1-4 August, the Royal Southern Yacht Club on 5 and then on the 7 and 8 the great International Regatta at Spithead. The first ‘European Festival of International Yacht Racing’ as it was promoted. Yachts from Britain, Germany, Norway, Spain, France and elsewhere competed in the many classes, including the four 19-Metres, which for the event were the second class. The A-Class comprised the German racing schooners Meteor IV, Germania and Susanne, the new British Waterwitch, which was such a failure, and the British ketch Cariad II and yawl White Heather I. But the 19s provided the closest racing and Norada won the two most prestigious trophies of the regatta, the German Emperor’s Cup and the Irish Cup, to the delight of her owner at his yacht’s transformation.

Corona won on the first day at Cowes and on 2 August Norada was leading when her topmast collapsed allowing Mariquita to win. On 4th Norada won and Octavia on the 5th and again at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club regatta four days later. Norada won on both days of the International Regatta, 7 and 8 August, centred on Ryde and Spithead with the 19-Metres course beyond the NAB light vessel and to a mark off Sandown Bay but Mariquita regained form at the Royal Albert Yacht Club regatta, winning on the 10th and 11th in close racing.

At the Royal Albert Yacht Club regatta at Southsea on 11 August their first round racing was typical. The start was close and at the lee end of the line Norada was first across, leading Corona which was on her weather, by the length of her bowsprit. Mariquita was on Octavia’s weather bow. They went away with free sheets on the port tack and jib topsails were broken out. All had jackyard topsails set. Their order around the Warner was Mariquita, Corona, Norada and Octavia, about 30 seconds separating first and last. They went westward on a starboard reach with lee rail just awash. Passing Ryde pier Mariquita led Corona by 20 seconds with Norada 40 seconds later and Octavia 13 seconds astern. They reached right through to the West Middle, and came back with sheets flattened. Norada drew up on Mariquita off Gilkicker but found a calm patch which the others skirted. At the end of the first round Mariquita led Corona by about 2 minutes with Octavia 50 seconds later and Norada about 1 minute astern of her. Mariquita won from Corona by 2 minutes 10 seconds. Corona won at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club a day later.

After the Solent racing, the 19- and 15-Metre Classes moved westwards, long a part of the British racing calendar. The Royal Dorset Yacht Club arranged a 47-mile passage race for the two classes from Cowes to Weymouth on 14 August. There, next day, the 19s raced over a course off the town and Octavia won. Mariquita gave up. On the 18th the class raced at the Royal Dart Yacht Club regatta, Octavia winning, Mariquita again giving up. At the following day Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta, Corona won with Mariquita second. The Torbay Royal Regatta followed on 21 and Corona won from Norada and Mariquita, Octavia giving up. Next day Octavia won from Corona and Mariquita, which won the following day at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club regatta.

The Royal South Western Yacht Club regatta on 26 saw Octavia win by just over 3 minutes. On 29th at the Royal Western (of England) Yacht Club Norada won the class race by 20 seconds from Mariquita.

An insight into the close racing in the class was graphically given by an observer on the tug acting as the committee boat at that regatta. He watched their start. “The four 19s, fresh as paint, with never a suggestion of a long and arduous season’s racing, are wandering around in apparently aimless fashion, but the C flag breaking out at our stumpy little masthead calls them to order; and I can almost hear their sigh of relief as the graceful bows sway gently round in our direction and the 5-minute gun finds them at close quarters by the line. The last half minute will never cease to me to be a source of inexplicable wonder – the perfection of manoeuvring these towering spires of canvas in their intricate dance, rushing now to certain destruction only to bear away daintily and waltz round one another. The seconds are speeding fast – Norada is snugly up to windward, but Captain Sycamore lays Mariquita nicely on her lee bow, gathering way as they ease off for the West Winter buoy; up comes Corona with a rare rattle and judging her distance to a nicety, casts round and has her wind clear with the flash of the gun. Mr Burton (Octavia) on the taffrail of the leaders. The wind is hardening as with booms in amidships, jackyarders and baby jib-topsails, they battle out to the western mark. A burst of sunlight plays on the sweep of the broad decks, great spurts of foam as from a repeating gun flash from under the long bows as the tall canvas salaams deferentially to the puffs that race out over the darkened Cawsand waters.”

And what of that race’s finish? The tug hand again; “My glass picks up, far out on the darkened channel waters, four ghost-like shadows speeding down on the outside trail for the Mewstone. C4 is in the cloths of the leading mainsail (Norada); only a lead of a few lengths, and yet of what avail is all Sycamore’s cunning! That maddening patch of white cloth, like a will of the wisp, for four hours haunts his bowsprit end, and so they cover nearly 50 miles before the winning gun finds Norada on the line, with Mariquita fairly on top of her counter. Truly a marvellous finish to a hard sailed race.” The 19-Metres became very evenly matched and keen rivals as the season advanced.

William Wadley of Rowhedge, then mate of Mariquita recalled that Mariquita luffed Octavia ashore on the Ryde sands, where she dried out and laid over at an alarming angle, but managed to pick up on the next tide. William received much ribbing over this incident from his brother Charlie, who had become mate of Octavia. There was later a similar incident near the No Man fort, in Spithead, when Mariquita forced Octavia in, and she touched the outworks of the fort with her keel, bounding up and on, without stopping. She made no water and when slipped her keel was only dented, but that winter, when Charlie was painting through her bilges to earn his winter retainer, his paintbrush made a keelbolt nut revolve. He found it turned easily by hand and, to his astonishment, lifted up the 2-inch diameter bolt out of the keel, where it had been fractured with the shock of impact.

At the end of a splendid summer Octavia, sailed when racing by her owner amateur William Burton, was top of the class with 31 prizes in 46 starts, 15 firsts and 16 seconds. A remarkable achievement against her rivals, sailed by three of the world’s leading professional racing captains. With Mariquita, Captain Sycamore won 12 first and 7 second prizes in 45 starts. Captain Barbrook in Corona won 10 first and 10 second prizes in 44 starts and Norada had 9 first and 11 second prizes in 38 starts, mostly gained after Captain Diaper joined her.

The class attracted considerable interest throughout British yachting and the opinion of several members of their crews, who I knew in the 1940s, were that these were the best racing yachts they had ever sailed in and that Octavia was the best of the four, something on which William Burton and Captain Sycamore wholeheartedly agreed. That season she had won a King’s Cup, the German Emperor’s prize and an International trophy. As Charlie Wadley, her mate, who ended his working life as a painter in the shipyard of my apprenticeship told me, “That Octavia just wanted to go. She was lovely.” In his front room was her photo, at anchor with the captain and crew ranged along the foredeck and her season’s prize flags fluttering from the topmast head down to the long boom’s end and below.

By mid September the 19-Metre yachts had been hauled-up at their captain’s preferred yards at Brightlingsea, Gosport and Southampton, the crews paid off and the captain and perhaps also the mate on a ‘winter retainer’, the rest of the crews shipping in the many Essex fishing smacks or in merchant steamships for the winter, while many of the Solent hands worked as painters or riggers in local yards.

Things changed in the class for the season of 1912. Captain Sycamore returned to the Shamrock 23-Metre, which was fitted out to do battle with her old adversary White Heather II, sailed so boldly by Captain Charles Bevis of Bursledon, Hampshire. In Sycamore’s place was another notable racing skipper from Brightlingsea, Captain Robert Wringe, who had raced many yachts including the America Cup challengers Shamrock (I) of 1899 and Shamrock (III) of 1903. He too brought a crack Colne crew with him and also his iron nerve and a determination to win, rivalling that of Captains Sycamore and Bevis.

Captain Diaper had moved on to sail the very advanced new Nicholsondesigned 15-Metre Istria to fame and glory and Norada was to be sailed during 1912 by amateur helmsman Charles MacIver. Captain Barbrook remained with the Corona and William Burton continued with his Octavia, so the amateur and professional helmsmen were balanced in the class. As the 19-Metre Class 1912 season of the coastal regattas evolved, the rivalry between professional Wringe in Mariquita and amateur Burton in Octavia sharpened. There were many close shaves in the racing and, though every politeness was observed, the rules were at times tested to the limit as was Burton’s racing skill. His description of part of one race that season illustrates the rivalry and how thoroughly he had mastered the finesse of yacht racing helmsmanship.

“It was a duel between Mariquita and Octavia. The latter just had the start, and with luck, or good sailing, soon got a couple of minutes ahead. Bar accidents, it looked as if she had the thing fairly well set. However, a sudden shift in the wind brought Mariquita close up, and then, after rounding the middle buoy with spinnakers up, we had a rare set-to. First, she threatened one side, then the other, and it took all the knowledge I am supposed to possess to keep her behind. With a strong fair tide, however, it was a quick passage to the Solent Banks buoy. When just upon there, it looked as if Octavia were safe to round first, and sheets were got in for the gybe and close haul to follow; but Wringe sails a hard race, and takes every inch out of the rules; certainly more than any amateur would do in similar circumstances. Mind you, I make no complaint. He is well known for his iron nerves, and if anything is wrong it is the wording of the rules. Be that as it may, he wiped across my stern and secured an overlap, certainly before I had the buoy abreast of me, but with that tide I do not think 5 seconds elapsed, and what would have happened if I had been unable to bear away I hardly care to contemplate. Suffice it to say, I just did, and gave him room; he got round neatly, while I shot a hundred yards past before I could complete my gybe.

“Then commenced the windward work against the awful tide. Wringe on my weather had me fast, and evidently intended to keep me so; but I had intentions, too, and I could call the tune. So, without a moment’s hesitation, I broke tack, only to be followed like a shot by Mariquita. Break tack again was the order, and so we did again, and again and again. I think it is no exaggeration to say we made a hundred tacks in as many minutes. Each tack Octavia gained an inch, until at last Wringe was a trifle slow, and Octavia just had her wind clear, or nearly so. Then Mariquita was sailed along, till once again Octavia was smothered, and this time it did look as if it were all up. But we were nothing daunted, and my crew, still confident and obedient to my smallest whim, heard me whisper:

‘ Ease off jib and staysail.’

This done Octavia dropped back.

‘All clear, Sir,’ cried the mate – he knew the game.

‘Lee oh!’ and Octavia was round like a top; Mariquita too, but not quick enough. We had our wind clear this time.

‘Now sail her by the wind’, my skipper said, ‘and she should draw through’. ‘Sail her full and cover him!’ One could almost read the thoughts in Wringe’s set face – and he did – yes, he did!

‘She’s fouled us,’ shouted Mariquita’s crew.

‘Has she?’ said the owner. ‘Where?’

‘Why, his crosstrees caught our yankee sheet’.

Then came out the good sportsman. ‘Give up,’ he ordered, for Mr Stothert knows the rules. ‘It was our duty to keep clear,’ he owned.

And thus Octavia won what I think was the best, the hardest race I ever sailed in my life.”

The four 19-Metres sailed to Kiel to race as a class in the 10 days of international racing during June 1912, an impressive gathering of many yachts from the large A-Class schooners and yawls down to 8-Metres and below, over courses varying from 20 to 76 miles. Octavia especially did well and the class impressed German and Scandinavian yachtsmen, but their absence from British racing for several weeks caused disappointment to many of the coastal regattas, especially the Clyde and Irish events while Ramsgate regatta was without its prime event.

The 19-Metres sailed from Kiel for Scotland as they had arrived, snugged down to their breezy passagemaking rig of trysail set over the stowed mainsail and smaller, stouter staysail and jib with a jib headed topsail and a small spinnaker ready for suitable weather, which they had for several days until the wind came and rapidly freshened to a gale. Hatches were battened down and the long bow and counter pounded at the seas sweeping the canted deck, until the watch below were living in a drum. On deck the rig screamed in a flame of wind as the four racers turned 100 miles to windward through the gale, before bearing away for Aberdeen where, after a long passage, three of them entered the breaker-dashed piers abreast of each other. They had received a mauling by the North Sea and despite their moderate scantlings and rulemakers predictions of adequate seaworthiness the little fleet had faced wind and wave too arduous for their long overhangs and modest freeboard. The four sailed up to Inverness and the Caledonian Canal bringing astonishment to the Scots people at the sight of four towering masts of the big racers towing through the quiet canal which had, hitherto, seen nothing large than a herring drifter or puffer. They took a ‘pilot’ from Banavie to the Clyde but he later confessed he had last been there 20 years previously! So they piloted themselves and arrived at the Clyde regattas.

There things started to go badly for the class. The Corona and Norada lost their (solid) masts in one race, causing not only damage but considerable expense and disruption to their season. Norada, again without Alfred Diaper at the wheel and a first class racing crew, had won only three first and six other prizes, well below her potential in 17 starts. In early August she retired from racing. The Corona’s owners also lost heart. She had started in 16 races, winning only two and three other prizes, to the great disappointment of all and between the Clyde racing and Cowes Week she was withdrawn. In contrast, William Burton’s Octavia started 34 times that season, winning 15 firsts and five other prizes, but was second boat to Captain Wringe in Mariquita with 36 starts, 18 first and three other prizes.

Break-up of the class was sealed when Octavia was sold at the end of the 1912 season to German Count von Tiele-Winckler of the Imperial German Yacht Club, who renamed her Wendula. She raced in regattas at Kiel and southern Norway in 1913-14 but had no class opponents. Mariquita and Norada continued racing during the 1913 season with little between their performance. Each raced 33 times with Mariquita winning 17 and Norada 16 races, but did not race in 1914.

During the First World War many British racing yachts of size were sold to owners in the neutral Scandinavian countries, which temporarily enjoyed increased prosperity. Mariquita was sold to Norwegian Finn Bugge and was renamed Maud IV. After the war she returned to British ownership and resumed the name Mariquita. But the class had collapsed after 1913 and never regenerated, though in 1936 the Yacht Racing Association used it as a basis of discussion for a proposed adoption of the American ‘L’ Class as a more affordable larger racing yacht type than the existing ‘J’ Class.

The ex-German Wendula also returned to British ownership as Octavia, but the class had collapsed after 1913 and their future was uncertain. Octavia was eventually converted to yawl rig as a cruiser.

In 1924 Mariquita was bought by Sir Edward Iliffe and Alan Messer. Her sail area was reduced, making her a ‘fast cruiser’, and she raced in the large handicap class in the coastal regattas against yachts such as Hugh Pauls’ yawl Sumurun, her near sister, William Burton’s Rendezvous and others including her old rival Norada, then owned by Sir Howard Frank and re-rigged as a bermudian cutter. Eventually Edward Iliffe moved on to more luxurious yachts and Alan Messer became sole owner of Mariquita with a mainly East Coast crew. He made several fast and comfortable cruises, from the Baltic to the west coast of Scotland, and elsewhere in British waters.

With the approach of the Second World War, owning such a large old racer became too costly and impractical and Mariquita was sold to Arthur Hempstead whose firm at West Mersea, Essex, were increasing the number of houseboats they owned. She was sailed round from Southampton with a scratch crew, the largest yacht ever to lie in the Mersea anchorage, where she arrived three days before the outbreak of war. They wasted no time on unrigging Mariquita. The rigging screws were cast loose at the shrouds and headstays, the backstay purchases released and in high water sunshine the Oregon-pine mast was carefully sawn through just above the deck wedging. With a groan and shudder, 96ft 6in of mast fell overboard with little damage to the deck edge and was towed ashore for stripping. All her sails, blocks, running rigging and fittings, topsail yard, jackyard, spinnaker boom and loose gear had been removed and stored on Hempstead & Cos barge Victa. The hull of Mariquita was brought on to Mersea Hard on a big tide and the task of removing her 40-ton lead keel began. When it had been released, the keel-bolt holes securely plugged and bottom tarred, the hull was floated to a mud berth.

Mariquita eventually became a houseboat at Pin Mill, Suffolk, with a deckhouse fitted and was later moved to Woodbridge, on the river Deben, degenerating to sorry condition before her removal for restoration. A few relics of Mariquita remained locally for a time. Many of her sails were bought by Wivenhoe Shipyard Ltd to be used as covers on minesweepers and other vessels building and repairing there while her spinnaker boom became a light derrick at the fitting-out quay. William Wadley worked there during the war years and sometimes looked sorrowfully at the discoloured sails and battered derrick, which had once been so trim and smart when he was mate of the lovely Mariquita.

The reduced version of this article, with photographs and a foreword by CB’s editor, is published in CB196 (pp20-25)