Britannia was launched on 20 April 1893, a week ahead of
Valkyrie II and joined a fleet of first class cutters that was growing fast as others followed the royal lead. In a highly competitive fleet,
Britannia soon set about achieving the race results which would eventually establish her as the most successful racing yacht of all time. 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 first class yachts on the
French Riviera, and then beat the 1893 America's Cup defender in home waters. In the Mount's Bay Regatta of 28 July 1894 the
Vigilant owned by Jay Gould, director of the American Cable Company, was piloted by Benjamin Nicholls of Penzance, and the Prince of Wales's yacht
Britannia was piloted by Ben's brother Philip Nicholls.
Britannia won by just over seven minutes. People came by train from all over the south west to watch this race. Both brothers were Trinity House pilots of Penzance. Despite a lull in big yacht racing after 1897,
Britannia served as a trial horse for
Sir Thomas Lipton's first America's Cup challenger , and later passed on to several owners in a cruising trim with raised bulwarks. In 1920,
King George V triggered the revival of the "Big class" by announcing that he would refit
Britannia for racing. Although
Britannia was the oldest yacht in the circuit, regular updates to her rig kept her a most successful racer throughout the 1920s. In 1931, she was converted to the with a
bermuda rig, but despite the modifications, her performance to
windward declined dramatically. Her last race was at
Cowes in 1935. During her racing career she had won 231 races and took another 129 flags. King George V's dying wish was for his beloved yacht to follow him to the grave. On 10 July 1936, after
Britannia had been stripped of her
spars and fittings, her hull was towed out to
St Catherine's Deep near the
Isle of Wight, and she was sunk by , commanded by Captain
W.N.T. Beckett RN. Five known examples of
Britannias racing flags are preserved, one presented by
Philip Hunloke to the
Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, in whose regattas
Britannia was often a competitor between 1894 and 1935, the second at the
Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club at Rhu and the third at the
Royal St. George Yacht Club, which held two regattas in
Kingstown for the first season of the RYA linear rating rule in 1896.
Britannias skipper William G. Jameson had lost both races to the new
Meteor II and
Ailsa. The fourth known flag is held in the vexillology collection in the
National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The fifth example is now on display at the K1 Britannia base in
Cowes on
The Isle of Wight, on loan from the family of a former member of the crew who served as Yeoman Signaller on Britannia during the 1931–1933 racing seasons inclusive.
Britannias long gaff, the king's chair, tiller, some mast hoops, blocks and rigging, anchor chain and clock are preserved in the Sir Max Aitken Museum in Cowes High Street and the remains of her spinnaker boom are at
Carisbrooke Castle, also on the Isle of Wight. The spinnaker boom was given for use as a flag pole on the keep (where it twice suffered lightning damage), and the present flagpole is a fibreglass replica. In an episode of
Antiques Roadshow from Pembroke Castle, broadcast in April 2017, a relative of a crew member brought photographs, and a damask tablecloth and some cutlery from the yacht, to be appraised. ==Replica==