Among Captain Harris's pupils was Prince Alfred (the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), who entered the Service August 31st, 1858. He did not, however, take up his quarters on board the _Illustrious_, but attended daily for instruction in seamanship, navigation, etc. [Illustration: MODEL OF THE FIRST "BRITANNIA," BUILT IN 1682. _Photo: Cassell & Co., Ltd._] He evidently retained a lasting impression of the excellence of the instruction he had received in the training-ship, for on March 23rd, 1862, when he was getting on towards the time of his examination for sub-lieutenant, he writes to Captain Harris thanking him for a number of questions and answers in seamanship, for which he had evidently applied, and which he states will be invaluable to him for his examination. Towards the end of 1858 it became apparent that a larger and more commodious ship would soon be required for the increasing number of cadets, the batches necessarily overlapping one another, and the vessel selected for the purpose was the _Britannia_, a fine three-decked ship of 2,616 tons, carrying 120 guns. She was launched as far back as 1820, and was a large vessel for that time, and considered an excellent sailer. The name has since been associated with the training of young officers, no modern vessel having received it until quite recently. [Illustration: MODEL OF THE THIRD "BRITANNIA," BUILT IN 1762.] There were several previous _Britannias_, as would naturally be expected, the first being launched in 1682. She was of 1,739 tons, and carried twenty-four brass 42-pounders, thirty 18-pounders, twenty 9-pounders, fifteen 5-1/2-pounders, and five 3-pounders, a formidable armament in those days. She was broken up in 1715, and her successor was launched in 1719. She was of 1,869 tons, and carried 100 guns. The third _Britannia_ dates from 1762, and was also a 100 gun ship, measuring 2,091 tons. This vessel was a very bad sailer, but was constantly in commission, taking part in the action off Cape St. Vincent in 1797, and finally being present at Trafalgar, where she carried the flag of Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk, and had ten men killed, and forty-two wounded. Her name was, for some reason, changed after this to _St. George_. The fourth _Britannia_, selected to take the place of the _Illustrious_, carried the flag of Admiral Dundas in the Crimean War, in the early days of steam, when several sailing line-of-battle ships were employed, being usually towed into action by steamers; she took part in the bombardment of Sevastopol, October 17th, 1854, and at the close of the war was laid up, until the necessary alterations were taken in hand, in 1858, to fit her for her new duties. All being ready by the end of the year, on January 1st, 1859, during the absence of the cadets for their Christmas leave, Captain Harris shifted his pennant from the _Illustrious_ to her successor, thus commencing a new epoch in the history of the cadets' training ship.