The first Great Ocean Yacht Race across the Atlantic ends at the Isle of Wight in the English Channel.

A race across the Atlantic between three schooners under New York Yacht Club rules for a prize of $90,000 had begun from New York just under fourteen days before. At 5:45pm on Christmas Day, 1866, the Henrietta, owned by the newspaper heir James Gordon Bennett, Jr. reached the Needles on the Isle of Wight and claimed the victory.  The Fleetwind arrived eight hours later and Vesta another ninety minutes after that.  (By John Osborne)