Lot 413: Westward and Lamorna racing at Cowes, 1910, with the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert (III) at anchor beyond and guardships in attendance

David Brackman (b.1932) Westward and Lamorna racing at Cowes, 1910, with the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert (III) at anchor beyond and guardships in attendance signed 'David Brackman' (lower left) oil on canvas 32 x 50 in. (81.3 x 127 cm.)

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Westward, 323 tons and built by the great Nat Herreshoff at Rhode Island in 1910, was one of the largest racing schooners whose career fell into two distinct phases. Like King George V's legendary Britannia, she too had royal connections having been originally purchased - at the Kaiser's instigation - by a syndicate of German businessmen who renamed her Hamburg. In a brilliant start she won all eleven races in her first season and then enjoyed many other successes in the years preceding the Great War. Sold out of German ownership after the Armistice, her new American owner Clarence Hatry restored her original name and his first season in 1920 almost equalled the triumphs of 1910. It was after her sale to T.B.F. Davis in 1924 however, that she finally came into her own when she became a regular challenger to Britannia. Over the years Davis and the King developed a spirited though friendly rivalry and Westward became such a prized possession of Davis that he, like King George before him, stipulated that his boat also was to be sunk after his death.

Lamorna - originally launched as Cicely - was designed by William Fife and built by J.G. Fay at Southampton for Mr. Cecil Quentin in 1902. Registered at 120 tons gross (108 net & 263 Thames), she measured 114 feet in length with a 23 foot beam and carried 9,762 square feet of canvas under full sail. Intended to be a "fast cruiser", she proved a remarkably successful vessel, particularly 'on the wind', and totally outclassed the German Kaiser's new Meteor (III) in their shared maiden season much to the Emperor's annoyance. After several highly successful seasons, Cicely was sold to G. Cecil Whitaker in 1908 who, having renamed her Lamorna and raced her for a couple of seasons, resold her to Sir James Pender in 1913 who installed an engine and used her thereafter for cruising.