Royal Welsh Yacht Club

The Royal Welsh Yacht Club was founded in 1847 under the following circumstances : Previous to this year there had been several regattas held at Carnarvon, which had been got up through the efforts of the late Sir Llewelyn Turner, who was the first Rear-Commodore of the club, and who, later on, succeeded to the office of Commodore. These were well patronized by the gentry of the neighbourhood, who subscribed liberally to the funds, enabling the committee to offer substantial prizes, which resulted in keen com­petition by some of the crack vessels of the day from Dublin, Cork, the North of Ireland, Liverpool, and many other parts.

When, on a visit to the Harwich Regatta in 1846, Mr. Knight, the Rear-Commodore of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, who had attended some of these regattas at Carnarvon, suggested to Sir Llewelyn the desirability of the establishment at Carnarvon of a club to be called the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, the idea was at once taken up, and on his return Sir Llewelyn immediately set to work to put the project in motion. With the co-operation of the late Mr. Griffith, of Llanfair Hall, near Carnarvon, Mr. Pennant Lloyd (then Captain Iremonger) and others, the proposal soon became a reality. The club was formed, and on May 5, 1847, it received the warrant of the Lords of the Admiralty authorizing the fleet to wear the blue ensign of Her Majesty’s fleet, and three days later Queen Adelaide, the Queen-Dowager, bestowed her patronage upon the new club.

The Marquis of Anglesey was for some years Commodore, and the late Mr. Assheton Smith, of fox-hunting fame, the owner of Titania, was Vice-Commodore. The latter owner raced Titania against the famous America on August 29, 1851. Titania was, a year later, almost destroyed by fire at Cowes.

The rendezvous of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club was, and still is, Carnarvon, on the Menai Straits. The distinguishing flag of the club is a blue burgee and ensign, with the Prince of Wales’s plume as a device.