Details
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Provenance
Won by Joseph Weld's "Alarm" at Cowes, 1838, and thence by descent.
In 1838, the first Queen's trophy was sailed for on the 17th of August, the Duchess of Kent's birthday. Queen Victoria knew many of the yachtsmen of the Solent and often visited Norris Castle, near Cowes, with her mother, the Duchess of Kent. The Royal Yacht Squadron had a quiet year in 1838, during which there had been some development and experimentation. The Squadron had been discouraging the predominance of one class of yacht in the racing, resulting in the chief events being 'open' at one time or another. The race for the Queen's trophy had also been made the occasion of an experiment in handicapping by time allowance, being three minutes for every ten tons of difference as calculated at the start. The weather being calm the inherent problems of this arrangement were not so apparent as on subsequent occasions. Joseph Weld's 192 ton cutter "Alarm" won after a relatively uneventful drifting race.
The view of the yachts chased in low relief on the shield is based on a painting, by Huggins, which hung in the Royal Yacht Squadron Castle. It depicts Lord Yarborough's armed 351 ton full-rigged ship "Falcon", accompanied by yachts of the Squadron, including "Alarm", "Pearl" and "Waterwitch". Lord Yarborough was the first commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
In 1838, the first Queen's trophy was sailed for on the 17th of August, the Duchess of Kent's birthday. Queen Victoria knew many of the yachtsmen of the Solent and often visited Norris Castle, near Cowes, with her mother, the Duchess of Kent. The Royal Yacht Squadron had a quiet year in 1838, during which there had been some development and experimentation. The Squadron had been discouraging the predominance of one class of yacht in the racing, resulting in the chief events being 'open' at one time or another. The race for the Queen's trophy had also been made the occasion of an experiment in handicapping by time allowance, being three minutes for every ten tons of difference as calculated at the start. The weather being calm the inherent problems of this arrangement were not so apparent as on subsequent occasions. Joseph Weld's 192 ton cutter "Alarm" won after a relatively uneventful drifting race.
The view of the yachts chased in low relief on the shield is based on a painting, by Huggins, which hung in the Royal Yacht Squadron Castle. It depicts Lord Yarborough's armed 351 ton full-rigged ship "Falcon", accompanied by yachts of the Squadron, including "Alarm", "Pearl" and "Waterwitch". Lord Yarborough was the first commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Literature
Bolton and Guest : Memorials of the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1902