Most sailors know that the America’s Cup got its name from the schooner America, which crossed the Atlantic in 1851 and pretty much creamed the British competition as Queen Victoria watched in dismay.
Most people also know that the Cup was lost in 1983 when Dennis Conner took a bad turn and Australia II took the Auld Mug Down Under.
But how many people know what became of the original schooner America? Where did she go?
America was designed by James Rich Steers and George Steers. Traditional “cod-head-and-mackerel-tail” boats of the time had a blunt bow and a sharp stern with the widest point placed one-third aft of the bow. But George Steers’ pilot boat designs had a concave clipper-bow with the beam of the vessel at midships. His schooner-rigged pilot boats were among the fastest and most seaworthy of their day. In addition to pilot boats, Steers designed and built 17 yachts, some of which were favorites with the New York Yacht Club.
Capt. Richard Brown, a Sandy Hook pilot and eight professional sailors, with the Steers brothers, and James’ son George as passengers, left New York on June 21 and arrived at Le Havre on July 11. After drydocking and repainting America, they left for Cowes, Isle of Wight, on July 30.
Within 10 days of winning the Hundred Guineas Cup on August 22, America was sold to John de Blaquiere, who raced her only a few times before selling her in 1856 to Henry Montagu Upton, who renamed the yacht Camilla but failed to use or maintain her.
Two years later, she was sold to Henry Sotheby Pitcher, a shipbuilder in Northfleet, Kent, who rebuilt Camilla and resold her in 1860 to Henry Edward Decie, who brought her back to the United States.
The same year, Decie sold the ship to the Confederate States of America for use as a blockade runner in the American Civil War. In 1862, she was scuttled at Jacksonville when Union troops took the city.
She was raised, repaired and renamed America by the Union, and served on the Union side of the blockade for the remainder of the war. America was armed with three smooth bore bronze cannons. A 12-pounder was located on the bow and two 24-pounders were placed amidships.
After the war, America was used as a training ship at the U. S. Naval Academy and on August 8, 1870, she was entered by the Navy in the America’s Cup race at New York Harbor, where she finished fourth. America remained in the U. S. Navy until 1873, when she was sold to Benjamin Franklin Butler, a former Civil War general, for $5,000. Butler raced and maintained the boat well, commissioning a rebuild in 1875 and a total refit of the rig in 1885 to Edward Burgess to keep her competitive.
Upon the general’s death in 1893, his son Paul inherited the schooner, but he had no interest in her and gave her to his nephew Butler Ames in 1897. Ames reconditioned America and used her occasionally for racing and casual sailing until 1901, when she fell into disuse and disrepair.
In 1917, America was sold to a company headed by Charles Henry Wheelwright Foster, and in 1921 she was sold to the America Restoration Fund, who donated her to the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. She was not maintained there either, and by 1940 had become seriously decayed. On March 29, 1942, during a heavy snowstorm, the shed where America was stored collapsed. Three years later, in 1945, the remains of the shed and the ship were finally scrapped and burned. Thus ended the long career of one of the most famous sailboats ever launched.
Since then, a number of America replicas have been launched. The first replica of America was built in 1967 by Goudy & Stevens Shipyard in Boothbay, Maine, for Rudolph Schaefer, Jr., owner of the Schaefer Brewing Company. She eventually entered into the charter trade. A second replica of America was built in 1995 by Scarano Boat in Albany, New York. It now operates out of San Diego. Others, including a replica that was built in Bulgaria in 2005 and now operates out of Germany, show that—even though the original is no more—the allure of the original schooner America has not passed.
