 There were three sailing races, one six-oared gig race, and a military band played out at the Dartmouth Castle and 120 attended a ball.In 1834 the regatta, which used to be run by leading gentlemen of the neighbourhood, changed its format when the inhabitants of the town called a meeting and elected a committee of their own.In 1856 it became a Royal Regatta when Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales came into Dartmouth in a flotilla of nine boats on an unscheduled visit because of bad weather, arriving the day before the regatta started on 11 August.