The cutter-rigged 'Owen Glendower' was a Royal Yacht Club vessel (Royal Yacht Squadron from 1833), of 113 tons. Colonel John Hall may been her original owner but was certainly so in the 1830s, selling her to the Earl of Dysart in 1839. Her early history remains to be found but she was one of eight yachts which contested the King's Cup at Cowes in 1828 - the third year of what later became 'Cowes Week' - losing to Joseph Weld's 127-ton 'Lulworth' , which also won the 250-guinea Ladies Challenge Cup that year ('Sporting Magazine', November 1828, p.65). This breezy sketch, with the yacht under a full press of canvas, may show her during a race although there is no obvious competitor in close sight. The artist - previously just recorded as 'Gilbert' - is most likely to be Joseph Miles Gilbert (1799-1876), who lived and worked at Lymington from about 1830: see for example BHC4182, which is his oil of Weld's 'Alarm' winning the Ladies Challenge Cup in 1830 (Weld thereby retained it, being his third successive annual win). The view here is looking west out of the Solent with the cliffs of the Isle of Wight on the left, the Needles beyond the distant outbound brig, and Hurst Castle on the right.