Document No 3357: The 1895 Match - DEFENDER

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AUTEUR : Robert F. Paterson

REF : 0

EDITION : 1895

DATE : 07 Sep 1895 - 13:00

COURSE : 1

DESCRIPTION SITE :

INSCRIPTION: The 1895 Match - DEFENDER
DEFENDER in the first leg of the first race of the 1895 Match defeating VALKYRIE III, Lord Dunraven's second Challenger, off Sandy Hook on September 7, with a big fleet of excursion boats on hand. At the starting signal Captain "Hank" Haff put DEFENDER across the line first, sails sheeted down hard, with VALKYRIE III right under his lee. The Challenger soon worked out from her hole and, footing fast with a rap full, drew away in alarming fashion. So Captain Haff split tacks and when, after coming about again, the yachts came together on opposite boards, DEFENDER was seen to cross VALKYRIE III'S bow by a narrow margin. She was never headed thereafter and went on to win by 8 minutes, 49 second. This was the only satisfactory race of the series. In the next, VALKYRIE III fouled DEFENDER at the start nearly taking the topmast out of her. Crippled, the American yacht kept on, to be beaten by only 47 seconds. VALKYRIE III was disqualified, which annoyed Lord Dunraven so that he crossed the starting line in the last race and promptly withdrew, DEFENDER sailing the course alone. He charged, also, that the DEFENDER had secretly taken on ballast after being measured, which was subsequently disproved, and complained bitterly of crowding by the excursion fleet. The Match marked the nadir of America's Cup racing. DEFENDER was built by the Herreshoffs in l895 at Bristol, of manganese bronze bottom plating and aluminum topsides. She was financed by a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members including C. Oliver Iselin, Esqre., managing owner, W.K. Vanderbilt, Esqre. and E. D. Morgan, Esqre. Captain Haff picked a crew of Deer Islanders to sail her.

L.O.A. 123'
L.W.L. 88'5"
Beam 23'
Draft 19'
Sail Area 12,602 sq. ft.
Mast (Deck to Topsail Halyard Block) 127'6".
SYLVIE, BLACK PEARL, VALKYRIE III, FREE LANCE, MARIETTA II

MARKS: R.F. Paterson, delt., New York 1935, Publishd & Copyrightd At the Sign of the Gosden Head.
SIGNATURE: (in pencil) R.F. Paterson, (Numbered in ink) 37/260

NOTES AMERICA-SCOOP :

DEFENDER WINS THE FIRST CUP RACE; Defeated the Valkyrie by 8 Minutes 49 Seconds in a Beat to Windward and Back. OUTSAILED THE ENGLISHMAN AT EVERY POINT The American Boat Led in the Thrash to Windward by 3 Minutes 23 Seconds.

September 07, 1895- The first of the series of races between the Defender and the Valkyrie for the America's Cup was sailed outside of Sandy Hook yesterday in a light breeze, and an "old sea" of considerable weight. The course was from a point off Seabright, N.J., fifteen miles to windward, east by south, and return...

LICENCE :
Autorisation du site acceptée le 02/04/2019

BATEAUX : DEFENDER VALKYRIE III
LIENS VERS CE DOCUMENT
SITE LARG HAUT ADRESSE
The Mariners' Museum and Park 705 693 https://catalogs.marinersmuseum.org/object/CL19003
eBay 500 497 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Orig-1935-Vessel-Defender-AMERICAS-CUP-DEFENDERS-Pencil-Signed-Ltd-Ed-Print-/201027261176