Near St. Catherine's lies the remains of the Royal Cutter Britannia, the most famous yacht to be sunk off the Island's waters.

Design Of The Britannia
The Britannia was commissioned by the Prince of Wales, later to become, H.M. Edward VII, and was designed by G.L. Watson, one of the finest yacht designers of his time, at a cost of £10,000. The yacht was launched from the Partick yard on the Clyde in April 1893.

Britannia was the epitome of perfection in yacht design, having a long out-curving stem, high rig and great sail area, a vast improvement of the clipper bowed yachts of the time. Her career started as it continued, easily winning her first off-shore race against Valkyrie II, Calluna and Iverna. By the end of her first year's racing Britannia had scored thirty-three wins from forty-three starts. In her second season she won all seven races for the big class yachts on the French Riviera, and then beat the 1893 America's Cup winner Vigilant in home waters.

Success Of The Britannia
Her later career involved her being used as a practice yacht for Sir Thomas Lipton's first America's Cup challenger Shamrock I, and after Edward VIII's coronation to be used as the royal cruising yacht.

After the death of H.M. Edward VII, the Britannia was inherited by H.M. George V, a keen yachtsman who had been Patron and Commodore of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club. In 1913 she was back on the racing scene, although during the Great War she rested unattended in a mud berth, until the King brought her out for racing again in 1920.

Britannia's return to the sport was spectacular. Despite having what was considered to be an out-dated rig she met the challenge from the fastest modern yachts, including cutters Nyria and White Heather II, and the American schooner Westward.

The Britannia was so succesful that she underwent a refit to prepare her for the 1922 racing season. In 1923 she won twenty-three flags out of twenty-six starts, a spectacular achievement for a thirty year old yacht.

The End Of The Britannia
By 1934, though, her age began to show as she was outclassed by the new J-class yachts being built. Her last race was sailed at Cowes in 1935.

H.M. George V died on the 20th January 1935, and it was decided that his beloved yacht would follow him to the grave. With all her spars, gear and refinements stripped away, her bare hull was towed from Cowes at midnight on July 9th, 1936, past the Needles Lighthouse and St. Catherine's Point to a position south of the Isle of Wight. There Britannia was scuttled and sent to rest beneath the waves, with a simple garland of flowers placed on her stem-head.

In the four decades of her racing career she had won 231 races and came second and third in 129.