Special: The First Defense

On the 13th day of this month, the United States will meet the latest challenge to its 132-year posses­sion of the America's Cup, the oldest in­ternational sporting trophy in existence. As our defense prepares once more, we should recall that the U. S. Navy and the U. S. Naval Academy participated in the first defense of this Cup against the Brit­ish challenger Cambria off New York Harbor on 8 August 1870.

In the Model Room of the New York Yacht Club, plaques and scale models are proudly displayed, representing defend­ers of the America’s Cup throughout its history. The first item in this impressive display is a brass plaque honoring the 1870 defense, listing the schooner yacht America, 178 tons; owner, Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter, U. S. Navy.

At that time, the superintendent of the Naval Academy—in a manner of speak­ing—was indeed the owner, being an agent of the U. S. Navy, which had ac­quired title to the yacht by capture, sal­vage, and award through a prize court from the Confederate States Navy during the Civil War. The yacht had been sold in England after winning the America’s Cup in 1851 and changed hands three more times during the next ten years, according to the History of the New York Yacht Club. The last owner sold her to the Con­federate States Navy at Jacksonville, Florida, in December 1861, whereupon she was listed in Confederate naval rec­ords as CSS Yacht America. While block­aded in the St. John’s River by Federal forces, she was scuttled 70 miles from the sea in Dunn’s Creek. She was located during a bold sortie by Lieutenant T. H. Stevens, U. S. Navy, commanding offi­cer of the gunboat Ottawa, and salvaged in an ingenious manner.

Fitted out with a 12-pounder rifle and

two 24-pounder smoothbore cannon,⁵ served in the U. S. Navy as a disp^at^ and patrol vessel of the South Atlanti¹- Blockading Squadron. During this seo ice, she captured three vessels and help⁶ salvage another. She was ordered Newport, Rhode Island, in May 1863 take up duty as a practice cruise ship ^,0 the Naval Academy, which had bee moved to Fort Adams, Newport, for ^tn duration of the Civil War. She was f°^r mally transferred to the Navy as a schoo ship by the New York City Admiral Court on 19 May 1863.        .

Rear Admiral E. H. Leutze, U. ^ Navy, recalled his practice cruise as 15-year-old midshipman in the Ameri^ in a report prepared for the Naval Aca^a emy, dated 21 November 1921:    .

“During the summer we rendered rea service. . . . We boarded all sailiⁿ- vessels we came across, and this ^lS strongly impressed upon my memory’ as I went as interpreter in the boardiaS boat in case the vessel should ^u

rench or German, and sometimes in Pretty rough water in the Gulf Stream was pretty badly scared. . . . We ^ad a pretty rough time on the Amer- 'ca as there were very poor accommo- ations and no toilet arrangements, and also suffered a good deal of sea- sicknes, especially in a gale off Port- and, Maine, in which we had to lay to wee days.”

_ma ^er commander in the 1866 midship- ⁿ practice cruise was Midshipman _Ua"7> N. Kane, U. S. Navy, who grad- ^{31 t}'^le ^^eac* °* his class, resigned in En ]' ^attenckd Cambridge University in anH ^an^’ ^w^^ere he received his degree _tg ^Was Master of Drag Hounds. He at- te!l ^ ^ilumbia University, was admit- _Ca ^to the New York State Bar, and be- ^me a leader in civic affairs and C'luh^tTlot*^ore °f the New York Yacht

j_n *ⁿ December 1869, the America, hav- & been out of service as a practice th V“^Sel ®^or three years, was sent to ^e Washington Navy Yard for routine ^ Pairs. A few months later, yielding to _ni°ⁿ§ Public demand, the Navy Depart- ^Cn* °rdered the America to proceed to for       ^Navy Yard to be fitted out

he forthcoming race in defense of the Erica's Cup.

_N Commander Richard W. Meade, U. S. Iji ^vy> ^who knew the America well from ^s days in charge of the seamanship de- at the Naval Academy (1866 to j was ordered by Commodore Alden of the Detail Office to pro­p ^c from his ordnance duty at the West Y°'^nt Foundry to the New York Navy ^ard and take charge of the America for of^{C C},°^minS ^race- f^{n a} letter to the editor the New York World, Commander ^eade described how he off-loaded as h of her heavy man-of-war equip- _th^^nt.^as Possible, and was pleased to find , ⁿ8 to be substantially the same as ⁿⁿ8 the famous race in 1851—except at she now had a fore-topmast. hj^e thought that her lower sails were ^rlect, but this urgent request to have a w gaff topsail and main topmast stay­, cut by a yacht sailmaker (instead of y the Navy Yard sail loft) was denied.

^{e Nav}y Yard sails turned out to have _a | ^a poor fit that they were not used , ’ ^ln his opinion, cost the America two _C^accs in the final standing for the race. °^roniander Meade placed marks on the P ^and tallies on the sheets for quick ^erence as to settings under different uditions of wind and sea, much as is one today on the 12-meter cup defenders ₍,ⁿ challengers. He took aboard old Cap- «in Dick Brown who had sailed the

America in the 1851 race, and asked him to criticize the boat and her rig as freely as possible while they sailed over the club course. As his final preparation, Com­mander Meade employed New York pi­lots Charles Brown and “Big Ben” Brown, son and brother of Captain Brown, respectively. Charles took the tiller as helmsman while Ben took charge of the foredeck where he could keep a close watch on the lead sail sheets, since a strong point of the America was her ability to head-reach in stays while work­ing to windward.

The excitement of the day is evident in the report of this event in the 9 August 1870 New York World, which referred to this race as the “most exciting if not alto­gether the most glorious event in the his­tory of American yachting:”

“The breeze kept freshening from the southeast—the best quarter for the regatta over the appointed course, but alas, also the supremely best for the Cambria, in virtue of her reputed abil­ity to ‘go closer’ and ‘come about quicker’ than any floating thing that ever went close or came about before. River steamers, Sound steamers, Long Branch steamers, schooners, sloops, and tugs of low degree were all on the way down the bay ... but the river, brilliant as it was, was noth­ing to the bay. The little cove in which the house of the yacht club stands was a very chaos of canvas. Small boats tacked in and about the schooners— calling down upon themselves the wrath of assiduous committee men, who sputtered about in tugs, and foul­ing each other with mutual maledic­tions every minute.”

All 18 contestants were anchored in the lower bay of New York harbor on the starting line which ran east-west from the clubhouse, with the Cambria given her choice of position on the line. In the ebb­ing current, all were headed up the bay with the wind aft, requiring a cast of nearly 180° onto the port tack after the starting gun for a beat to windward down the Narrows toward Southwest Spit, thence to the Sandy Hook Lightship, and return. The start was going to require some expert seamanship because several of these big yachts falling off on opposite tacks could wreak havoc with their huge bowsprits and mainbooms.

According to J. D. J. Kelley’s account of the race in Scribners:

“It was emphatically a holiday—for the fair fame of the country was at stake, and all classes of our citizens were assembled to greet the foreign yacht which had pluckily sailed 3000 miles of stormy sea to redeem a na­tional defeat. Then, too, they wished to honor and greet our champions whose ambition and duty had brought them here to defend the ownership of the cup won 19 years before by that rakish schooner now waiting in the line of racers, trim and taut, and fill­ing the largest measure of the nation’s regard.”

At 1126, the first starting gun warned the racers to hoist mainsails and jibs; a minute later, the second gun signalled them to slip anchor, turn, and start. It’s a wonder that there was only one foul in this maneuver (the Tarolinta and the Hal­cyon), and one man overboard—the America’s foredeck captain, the redoubt­able New York Pilot Ben Brown, who was picked up by the America without slowing for a moment. Kelley’s account continues:

“Through a dozen of the competitors rushed America and a rousing cheer rose as she flew, like a great sea bird, to the forefront of the fight, but the Magic was the first out of the Narrows with the Silvie next and then a half dozen other Americans, all leaving the Cambria far behind under Fort Richmond and pointing for Coney Is­land. Off the lower quarantine the America, a short half mile astern of Magic, was rushing for a command­ing position . . . Magic keeping her lead and rolling off knot after knot with a bone in her teeth and a furrow of foam astern and standing up to her work. Soon after, she set her main gaff topsail and a staysail . . . wheeled around Southwest Spit, with America second and only four minutes behind [cursing all the while, no doubt, the poor work of the Navy Yard sail loft which left her without a useable set of upper sails needed to save her time on the Magic], Nineteen minutes later and tenth in number, Cambria rounded the Spit, and then with lifted sheets away they all rushed for the lightship off the Hook.

“As the yachts neared, thousands of waiting spectators gave them a most enthusiastic reception—guns roared, men cheered, bells rang and bands burst into loud and brazen notes of tri­umph; and when Magic rounded the Lightship making it almost a certainty that the cup was safe, there arose a shout almost painful in it’s intensity of delight . . . nor was Cambria forgot­ten, for although hopelessly be­hind—or perhaps for that reason— the pluck of her owner was recog-

Table 1 Finishing Positions for the America’s Cup Race of 1870

when the Secretary of the Navy direc that “no building project, large or snn

ted

all-

be

nized, cheers, steam whistles and guns drowning the awful accompani­ment of vagrant musicians who struck up, with undoubted vigor and against time, what they politely meant for “God Save the Queen.”

The Cambria was fouled during the beat out of the Narrows by the Tarolinta which forced her about (though the Cambria was on the starboard tack), car­rying away the Cambria’s fore port shroud and fore-topmast later in the race. James Ashbury, her owner, made no pro­test to the race committee, although there was a good deal of comment about this incident in English yachting circles for a number of years.

The Magic rounded Southwest Spit first and squared away for home, fol­lowed by James Gordon Bennett’s Dauntless, the Idler and the America, with the Cambria rounding in eighth place. Kelley’s account reported that:

“The strength and beauty of the strug­gle was soon consummated by a glori­ous victory, for as the Magic rushed across the line it was not only the fas­test time ever made over the course, but all things considered, was the greatest victory to her record ever won by a yacht since the world was young. Not that she had much time or dis­tance to spare, however for the echoes of the welcoming cheers were still lin­gering in the green hills of the bay when the stately Dauntless passed by the mark, carrying the reverberations of the nation’s delight into a further and greater echo; and as these cheers roared and rumbled in the distance, the harbor, to its farthest limits, caught up a newer and a greater paean of joy, for the America, fourth in the race flew by the finish line, showing that as the sons were worthy of the sire, so were the brain and skill of old greater than story had told.”

The actual order of finish, and posi­tions corrected by the handicap time al­lowance, for the first four yachts to place and for the Cambria are in Table 1. Three years after this splendid per­formance against 17 of the fastest yachts in the United States and England, the Secretary of the Navy ordered the Amer­ica to be sold. Joseph C. Bruzek tells in his September 1967 Proceedings article, “The Schooner Yacht America,” how, after much political intrigue and hag­gling, she was sold at government auc­tion through an intermediary to the sole bidder, Major General Benjamin F. But­ler (well known in Annapolis as the com­manding officer of the 8th Massachusetts Infantry that prevented the Maryland leg­islature from voting on secession from the Union). The America was overhauled in 1875 in the yard of Donald McKay, the famous designer and builder of clipper ships and, appropriately, was McKay’s last shipwright job. She was raced by General Butler, his son Paul, and nephew Butler Ames for 44 years, and according to the club records won 12 of 51 New York Yacht Club races. In 1876, she sailed unofficially over the America’s Cup course 19 minutes faster than the challenger that year, the Countess of Dufferin. She sailed in the spectator fleet at the America’s Cup races in 1899 and 1901, and hosted Sir Thomas Lipton, who challenged in those years with his Shamrocks 1 and II.

When the Butler family put the Amer­ica on the market in 1917, she was res­cued from a probable sale to a group of Cape Verde merchants by Charles H. S. Foster, a civic-minded sportsman of Bos­ton. Four years later, the idea of present­ing the yacht to the Naval Academy was originated by Elmer Jared Bliss of Bos­ton, who had won a race to Bermuda in the schooner yacht Verona. He “struck palms” with William U. Swan, an Asso­ciated Press sportswriter, in a compact that resulted in the restoration of the America to the Academy.

Money was quickly raised, and George Lawley’s yard placed the yacht in condi­tion for the voyage on a “cost minus” basis. Mr. August Belmont, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, waived the tolls through the Cape Cod Canal, and Colonel Robert M. Thompson, President of the Naval Academy Alumni Associa­tion, assisted in obtaining a Navy vessel to tow the America to Annapolis.

Mr. Swan wrote that “No Victory °^r Constitution could have received ^a greater ovation than was accorded Am^er ica in her triumphal progress to her fm haven.” At 1030 on Saturday, 1 October 1921, Mr. Charles Francis Adams. Chairman of the Restoration Committee and a descendant of two Presidents, p^re sented the America on behalf of the has em Yacht Club to the Naval Academy- She was purchased by the Superinten ent, Rear Admiral Brown, U. S. Navy- for the price of one dollar. The American yacht ensign was lowered and the na tional flag raised at her stem, while t Regiment of Midshipmen stood at atten tion and the band played the national an them; this distinguished vessel had re turned to naval service after an absence 48 years.

The America’s subsequent history ^vvaS less auspicious. With her bottom coppered and cabin fixtures removed,^stl was given a permanent berth on display in Dewey Basin. In December 1940. ^re quiring major refit, she was hauled o and stored at the Annapolis Yacht Yam- Congress appropriated $100,000 in m^e summer of 1941 to restore the yacht at tn suggestion of President Franklin D. R°° sevelt. Work was begun, but caprici⁰¹¹'¹ weather and World War II intervened- ^ heavy, wet snowstorm on Palm Sunday of 1942 collapsed the shed over the yach and further damaged the aging hull- r month later, the restoration was stopped

should be undertaken unless it can shown to be essential to the war effort- After the war, the America was in sue poor condition because of dry rot that she would have to be completely rebuilt; in­stead, the Navy Department awarded ^a contract to scrap her in the winter 1945^16. But so that she would not be entirely forgotten, the Chief of Nava Operations authorized the construction o* a scale model (three-eighths inch to one foot). This lovely model, with spars and deck fitting made of wood taken from the original vessel, was presented to the Naval Academy in 1948. It is noW proudly displayed in the Robert Crown Sailing Center to remind future genera­tions of midshipmen that sail training ^at the Naval Academy, competition at the highest level of international racing, and superb service at sea follow one from the other. This has been our unique heritage in the U. S. Navy and will always be, as long as we go down to the sea in ships-

Rear Admiral NcNitt, a contributor to Proceeding^s since 1938, is Dean of Admissions at the U. S. Naval Academy.