Oxford City Royal Regatta | News | Regatta Tankard Mystery

	OXFORD CITY ROYAL REGATTA Saturday 17th August 2002

2000 Regatta Tankard Mystery

A tankard won in 1859, and recently discovered in 40' of water off the Florida Keys, is being reunited with the Regatta this weekend.

The tankard is inscribed with the name of Thomas Dolley, a local brewer and the landlord of the “The Dolphin” at Folly Bridge. He won the tankard as stroke of the Dolphin Eight in the Grand Challenge Cup for eight-oared boats at the Oxford City Regatta of 1859. Three other members of the Dolley family raced in the crew of the Dolphin Club eight that year, winning the final against the ‘Wave Club’ by two lengths.

The following year, 1860, the Oxford City Regatta gained royal patronage when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), who was studying at Christ Church at the time, presented the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup for coxless pairs. The first winners were W and J Dolley - William was the son of Thomas Dolley and a well know Oxford citizen, being for some time the proprietor of the Great Western Hotel, the Merton swimming baths and livery stables. He also had a long-standing association with the University as a teacher in the art of boxing, having been Heavyweight Midland Boxing Champion at some time during the 1860’s.

The tankard was found in 1985 by a recreational diver, Ely Pena from Cuba, in relatively shallow water not associated with a shipwreck, and kept in a box for several years. Eventually he showed it to a friend of his, Louis Rivera from California, who traced the Oxford City Royal Regatta through the internet and contacted the organizer, Paul Azzopardi, who arranged for it to be returned to Oxford.

Mr Rivera said “I thought of auctioning the tankard to a collector, but I am a romantic and in the back of my mind I always wanted it to return to England … I think it’s wonderful!’

Nobody knows how the tankard came to lie on the seabed off the Florida Keys, or how long it had lain there before being discovered.

The tankard will be on display, along with the Grand Challenge Cup and other historic trophies, during the Oxford City Royal Regatta, which takes place this Saturday (19^th August 2000) over a 1000 m course on the Isis, between Folly Bridge (site of The Dolphin) and Longbridges. Races will be held every 3 minutes between 9.00 am and 6.40 pm without a break, and spectators are welcome to watch from the towpath.