A late 19th Century oval silver coloured snuff or trinket box, the hinged cover engraved 'Presented to the Pirate Yaught Club by Mr H Colbeck, Jan 1896', width 6.5cm. The Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club (RYYC) required members to own a yacht of at least 20 tons, thus encouraging the sport of yachting for the gentleman of means. It is known that a group of owners of smaller yachts (who could not become members) would race their smaller yachts and fishing cobles on Sundays. This caused great outrage to the fishermen and commercial coble owners, who wouldn’t have dreamt of putting to sea, let alone fish on the Sabbath. Furthermore, they believed these private individuals where doing more than racing and depriving them of part of their livelihood. They were referred to as ‘nobbut a bunch of pirates’. In 1896, it is believed the Pirate Yacht Club (PYC) was formed when renegade members of the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club who encouraged these small boat races and owners of the Yorkshire One-Design merged. The PYC boats displayed the burgee of a black skull and crossed bones on a red ground. Haggitt Colbeck (believed to be the H. Colbeck) was a relative of Lieutenant William Colbeck RNR FRGS. William Colbeck took the PYC burgee on his expedition across the Great Ice Barrier, towards the South Pole in 1898. By 1908, the RYYC had dropped the 20 ton rule, in the same year the PYC was disbanded.

Condition report
Good, light dents to the top, possibly been re-polished. Maybe silver but not hallmarked.

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