Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club (New Zealand)

Last modified: 2022-07-30 by ian macdonald
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• Description of the flag
• Historical development of the flags

• New Zealand
• New Zealand sports flags

Description of the flag

Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, New Zealand.
Established 1883 in Wellington as Port Nicholson Yacht Club.
1896. Plain Blue Ensign. Burgee quartered black and red.
1921. Granted title ‘royal’.
Burgee: white cross on burgee quartered upper hoist black, lower hoist red, fly quarters blue; crown in canton, blue plain anchor, inclined towards hoist, in centre of white cross.

The image is from the 1928 Flaggenbuch. In the 1923 Album des Pavillions Nationaux the burgee has the white cross and anchor, but no crown, and the fly quarters are black. This may be an error, or perhaps the white cross and anchor were added at some time before the title ‘royal’ was granted and a crown put in the canton?
1999. Probably changed to New Zealand Yacht Ensign, but still in Navy List 2009.
David Prothero, 10 February 2015

Port Nicholson was the original (and still official, I think) name for Wellington Harbour, at the southern tip of the North Island. The term still lives on in the names of several companies and organisations, and its Maori corruption ("Poneke", a Maorification of "Port Nicky") as the name of several sports teams and other groups.
James Dignan, 1 March 2015

Historical development of the flags

1884 burgee

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

The Port Nicholson Yacht Club was founded 1884. First known burgee is the quartered black over red.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

Te Aro Sailing Club (1907)

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

The Te Aro Sailing Club (1907, https://rpnyc.org.nz/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-thorndon-dinghy-sailing-club) was given as quartered light blue over white. I'm not sure whether there would be any physical evidence of that colour determining the details of the original.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

Te Ruru Yacht Club

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

The Te Ruru Yacht Club (no date so far) would have a blue coloured anchor on white. Sources vary on whether the eventual anchor was fouled or not, and blue doesn't show too well in black and white. It is difficult to determine the details of the original.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

Merged Yacht Club

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

Those three merged, 1915-1917, depending on the source. After they did, and while the war lasted, they may have used a temporary combination of the three burgees. An example of what it might look like is provided by Port Nicholson. (For some reason it doesn't seem to create my version of the picture.

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022

 image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022For 1922, Lloyds' Register of Yachts show the merged burgee of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club. Black over red in the hoist, blue in the fly, with a white cross overall, bearing a tilted anchor. (Not fouled!)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 28 June 2022