Commodore Walter Marks · invitation to sail in Sham · rock IV in her quest for the America ' s Cup .
II
, r
"' -l ! .... N .... ~ on '"'" - "' c ..,..
&. Y . E : RUI
' l "~ A . oll . o ·~ - i ' IU ,
" t .. '/ N "' t .. t .... . tU . .... ~ .. - t .. h ... t- . J ..,
- ' .. • t .. ~ J - ,._.. U u : ... , •. J l- .. a <;..... a •... iw .~
:. .. 1 ...... -..; a ~ .. 1 ." 4-t- ' -- 4U r .. ..,,~ " 4 ""'"\ l ;""" t . k « ...... s- +: < CA .. Go ..~ 1 .. tlt ., _.._.,. ....
......... ._ r ··· · - · ~""", ........ ""'• ..._ .. ...., ....
t . · 1 •'! -1 •· 1 · :" 4 ...: J . •\'"'•• A · - ' -1W • o . ' - (" • .,, o >; Ofl
"' vt • - •..,. ll- .. - "", -1 ,_.. .. , ~ i .. ••• u .. i- . . .. u .., ..• ~ t • ... ,.. ... ,._.., . ..... _ .. ~' - :... ,_ ~ ,._.
t .. l •, r ~ .. ! - . ~ illi ......... 4 i : --f .+ -i :..,..,.._~. ·~ . . .. - ~ · l n .... tv .! N ..
,._ ,..,.,.~ j ~ 4z =. -- ..
At this same meeting ii was also resolved that the 8 metre class of one . design yachtS be considered by the club .
It was al this point that the club entered into the war years . AL the Annual General Meeting of 27 August 1914 it was decided the club would make itS first donation to the war effort and £ 105 was donsled out of club funds . The members pr ~ sent donated £ 192 16s Od on top of this amounL In October 1914 it was resolved that U1e Secretary enquire if there were any members of the club who were not naturalised British subjects . Some were unable to produce proof and were expelled . On 3 December I 9 l4 entrance fees were suspended for the duration .
An interesting incident occurred on 6 December 1914 but only for the unusual control of the meeting . There was no Flag Officer or Committee member in attendance . S . W . Bacon . an ordinary member , took the ch . air . It was unprecedented that an ordinary member \ Vould chair a club meeti . ng and there is no record of it having ever occurred again . At that time
members were required co be over 21 years of age and either natural-born Australians or British subject ~. The reason for the non-attendance of Rag
Officers or Committee was fairly simple . They were either on active service or engaged in war duties .
At a subsequent meeting on 10 December 1914 the Commodore announced that an unfonunate accident had occurred at the Annual General Meeting . The scrutineers bad erroneously announced the result ! J . S . Palmer should have been declared elected . Fortunately the scrutineers were satisfied that the ballot papers were exactly as first dealt with by them , but T . W . Hodgson . who had been wrongfully elec1ed , resigned his seat . Subsequently J . S . PalmerandT . W . Hodgson were nominated 10 fill the vacancy . Prom this date all ballot papers are initialled . The first resolution in this regard was that they be initialled by the Commodore !
From hereon there were only very short meetings . Sometimes 1be meetings simply consisted of reading letters from the front . There was an effon to keep tl1e club going with touman1en1s and club evenings , but the Empire was at war and such frivolous things as the building of new racing yachts were shelved for the more important task at h . and . lo 1915 an Honour Board was purchased . Members going on active service were placed on the Absen1eeList and were to beexemp1 from subscriptions .
The club ' s property and accumulated funds had risen from £ 295 in 1900 . to £ 2090 in 1915 . This was a considerable rise when it is considered that the club did not have facilities for profit4 01ak . i . ng , in such things as refreshments . as it bas 1oday . During the same period the membership had risen from 159 to 290 but with the early days of World War I it drifted back 10 233 · members . lo 1900 there had been 18 yachts on theclub · sregister , butby 1915 this number had risen to 37 power and sailing craft plus 27 smaller vessels .
In the early part of the twemieth century the two senior clubs , t11e Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Prince Alfred Yacht Club , had adopted the British Yacht Racing Association · s Linear Rating Rule atld this had resulted in the creation of a fine fleet of healthy cruiser-type racing yachrs . Although the yachts mentioned below are of somewhat slightly different dimensions . they were all known as the 30-ft raters referred to earlier . It is interesting co no1e the different designers and builders amongst them :
Magic Fleetwi11g Meteor
J . O . Fairfax S . Hordem Dr J . Elli on
Ao ma C . T . Brockhoff .. ..
Heather DrG . Craig .. ..
Petrel S . M . Dempster .. .. Cu / wu // a W . M . Marks .. "
Summer & Payne . England W . Fife , Farrlie , Scotland Logan Bros , Auckland
Su11bea111
A . W . Crane
Cooya A . W . Crane Bailey Jnr , Auckland
Janet 1 . Muston
..
"
Kukuburra A . E . Cutler A . E . Cutler . Sydney
64