At nearly 300 years, the Royal Cork Yacht Club is the oldest in the world. It was founded by a young William O’Brien, the 9th Lord Inchiquin, whom apparently got the sailing bug from his grandfather, the 6th Lord, and whom in turn is believed to have brought the sport from London, where he attended the court of Charles II. There, the recently arrived king enthusiastically sailed Mary on the Thames. Mary was a private jacht —Dutch for a swift, light vessel—, which the nederlander Seven United Provinces had presented Charles on occasion of his departure from exile.
Peregrinus stays here for a few days, doing light maintenance and awaiting a weather window for passage to the Isles of Scilly.
From the mast hangs the civil ensign club members can legally use on their boats: the Irish flag in canton on a field of blue, defaced with a crowned golden harp.