On her arrival at New York, Shamrock was rigged promptly for racing, and was given several trials off Sandy Hook, in which she appeared to be a veritable witch in light airs. On September 13th she met with an accident, her steel gaff buckling until it collapsed. It may be mentioned here that her spars and gear were too light for her sails, which defect caused a loss of speed. She was finely handled by Capt. Archie Hogarth, assisted by Capt. Robert Wringe.

The English offside

After Mr. Ashbury, with his letter writing propensities, had departed, the New York Yacht Club came in for some pretty-severe criticism in England — criticism which the facts, especially as to the last series, did not warrant. The club had conceded many points beyond those imposed under the strict wording...

As the cutter Arrow, Alarm was designed and built by Joseph Weld. It was launched at the Inman shipyard on May 10th, 1830. She cost £20,000 (£1.10m today 2003) but exceeded all other cutters in terms of tonnage and was the final development of racing cutters at that time.
Alarm won the King's Cup in 1830 beating Mr Maxse's Miranda, in 1831 beating Lord Belfast's Louisa and in 1832 beating the Duke of Norfolk's Arundel....

Dick Brown was a New York and Sandy Hook pilot who sailed the schooner-yacht AMERICA to England in the summer of 1851, and was at her helm when she successfully raced for the trophy that was to become known as the America's Cup.
Pilots from ports like New York and Boston were a special breed. They sailed in small schooners and managed in all weather conditions to shepherd big ships into the harbor.

William Gay Yorke's paintings of ships evolved naturally enough from a combination of artistic talent and an early life spent around sailing vessels as a shipwright, painting in his spare time. In his early thirties, he was successful enough as a painter of ships to give up his trade and paint full-time.

Roy Cross was born in London, April 23, 1924. His first interest was aeroplanes and he became a member of the Society of Aviation Artists in 1952. He was largely self-taught but for a time studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, and the St. Martin's School of Fine Arts.