The 18-Footer Britannia
100 Years of a Sydney Icon
By Ian Hugh Smith. The centenary history of the original Britannia, Wee Georgie Robinson's 18-footer, from her first race in 1919 to the museum.
The book
A new 18-footer joined the Sydney Harbour fleet on 8 November 1919. Britannia raced for 23 seasons, became a motor launch and, for more than twenty years, the Squadron's starter's boat, and was restored for display at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Ian Smith published her story in 2020, a few months after her centenary.
It is the story of her builder and skipper, Wee Georgie Robinson, a shipwright and a legend of both sailing and rugby league, of his family and the Balmain community around the boat, and of the revival that led to Smith's own replica in 2002. The pictures come from glass-plate negatives, the newspapers of the day and private collections, the Robinson family's among them, and the appendices list most of the boats Wee Georgie and his brother John built and the crews of the day. Afloat's review, quoting the book's introduction, puts her record at about 650 races and 40 wins, 14 of them championships.
The author
Ian Smith built the replica Britannia and raced her with the club's fleet for 21 seasons. His first book, The Open Boat (2017), is the history of the class and of how its boats were built.
The record
- Title
- The 18-Footer Britannia: 100 Years of a Sydney Icon
- Author
- Ian Hugh Smith
- Publisher
- Sydney Wooden Boat School, Sydney
- Published
- 2020
- Pages
- 102
- Format
- Paperback, 26 cm, illustrated, chiefly in colour
- ISBN
- 978-0-6481386-3-1
Finding a copy
The publisher sells it direct, and Boat Books in St Leonards stocks it.
- Sydney Wooden Boat School (the publisher), paperback: A$39 plus A$15 postage. Not posted to the EU
- Boat Books, St Leonards, paperback: A$39.95
- Booktopia, paperback: A$37.75
Libraries that hold it: National Library of Australia, State Library of NSW.
Written about it
- Book Review: Britannia 100 years of a Sydney Icon, Afloat, 15 September 2020. Calls it carefully researched and beautifully illustrated, and retells the restoration.
- Centenary of Britannia 1919-2019, The Open Boat. The author's own summary of the book.
- Centenary of 18-Footer Britannia 1919-2019, Smithy's Boatshed on YouTube, 9 November 2019. Ian Smith's film for the centenary, first shown at the club's centenary dinner.
On this site
Britannia
The replica, and the original she recreates.
The big boat era, 1900 to 1935
The years of her rivalry with Chris Webb and HC Press.
The Raw Meat Trophy
Made from an old bumpkin off the original Britannia.
Sources
- National Library of Australia, catalogue record 8535518
- State Library of NSW, Mitchell Library H 2020/2474
- Sydney Wooden Boat School, the book's page
- Sydney Wooden Boat School, the book's page, February 2021 (Wayback Machine)
- The Open Boat, Books
- The Open Boat, About
- The Open Boat, Centenary of Britannia 1919-2019
- Afloat, 15 September 2020
- Australian Historical Sailing Skiff Association, About