[2] Early members included W.R. Probert and George F. Verdon, who ran a ship chandlery and commission agents business in Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), Dr. John Wilkins, the Surgeon for the Port of Melbourne, and Captain Charles Ferguson, the Harbour Master at Williamstown.

[1][4] The following year, 1873, the club moved its sailing activities to its present site at 120 Nelson Place, Williamstown, on account of the sheltered anchorage at that location.

Club members' boats, masts, spars, sails and rigging were stored in a two-storey boathouse at the Williamstown site.

Yachts on the club register were typically straight-stemmed, deep-keel cutters of from 6 to 40 tons; most were copper sheathed below the waterline, and painted black with gold embellishments.

In 1905, the club established its first clubhouse, by taking out a lease on Wickliffe House, on the Upper Esplanade in St Kilda.

[3] In 2015, the club announced a plan to replace and extend its marina with a new floating structure that would provide berthing for 240 boats.