Bloodhound is a ocean racing yacht. She was designed by Charles E. Nicholson and built by Camper and Nicholsons in 1936. From 1962 to 1969 she was owned by the British royal family and in January 2010 she was purchased by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust.
In 1962 Bloodhound was purchased for the Royal Family at the request of Prince Philip. In February she was sailed from Plymouth to Gosport to be refitted by Camper and Nicholsons and the work was finished by June. Prince Philip sailed Bloodhound with Uffa Fox at Cowes Week in August of that year.
During royal ownership Bloodhound would accompany The Royal Yacht Britannia in the Western Isles when the royal family had their one true family holiday every year. She had a permanent crew of three, and one skipper was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. It was during these times that the young royals learned to sail on Bloodhound. When not in royal use, Bloodhound and her crew were chartered to yacht clubs across the country at a daily fee of ã1 (later increased to ã2) per participant, used to expose thousands of people to offshore sailing.
In 1969 Bloodhound was sold by the royal family and Bloodhound then effectively retired from racing. Over time the boat gradually fell into considerable disrepair and very nearly became beyond salvage until in 2003 she was purchased by Tony and Cindy McGrail of Poole, a yacht surveyor and classic yacht restorer. At the time the vessel was in urgent need of restoration but it was felt that the amount of work involved might make such a project uneconomical. However, Tony and Cindy embarked on a four year reconstruction bringing BLOODHOUND back to pristine condition.
In January 2010 Bloodhound was purchased from Tony & Cindy by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust and is now berthed alongside Britannia in Leith.