The world famous Isle of Purbeck Yacht Club

In the latter half of the 19th century, yacht clubs proliferated along Britain’s coasts. The most famous was, and still is, the Royal Yacht Squadron. Less well known was the Isle of Purbeck Yacht Club in England’s south coast, founded in 1875 and defunct by the early 1890s, after a smattering of regattas and races during its 15 years’ existence. Unknown to the club, thousands of miles away in the USA, James Buchanan Duke had established the Dukes Tobacco Company which rapidly expanded to become American Tobacco in 1890. James Duke ran a series of cigarette cards called ‘Yacht Colors of the World’. It included the Royal Bermuda, Royal Canadian, and the St Petersburg Imperial among others, and the Royal Yacht Squadron, incorrectly titled ‘The Royal Squadron Yacht Club’.

Each card had a colour illustration of a well-known actress of the time dressed in the colours of the particular yacht club, accompanied by a colour illustration of the club’s burgee. Amazingly, among some of the very famous clubs of the time was the Isle of Purbeck. The card, number 91 in the series, had an illustration of one Estelle Clayton, a Broadway star. The club’s red-and-black burgee is shown and Estelle is wearing a red-and-black hat to match. The burgee clearly shows a swan: is this because of the Swanage connection?

I am mystified as to why this local Dorset club in England was chosen for an American cigarette card series. The cigarettes would have been distributed worldwide no doubt and the name of the Isle of Purbeck Yacht Club would have been a complete mystery to most when the packet was opened!

Michael Scott, Poole, Dorset