Having unsuccessfully challenged for the America's Cup in Cambria in 1868, James Lloyd Ashbury again commissioned Michael Ratsey of Cowes to build a new yacht. Livonia was based on the lines of Sappho, and was launched on 6 April 1871. Ashbury took his new yacht across the Atlantic to once again challenge for the America's Cup, this time on behalf of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club.
