CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 65GORDON BENNETT
was, however, still leading when she picked up a pilot in
anticipation of threading the Needles Channel.
Unfortunately, by the time she approached the Isle of
Wight, it was pitch dark, and her pilot made a dreadful
hash of things in poor visibility, mistaking St Catherine’s
Point light for the Needles light and forcing the Vesta to
double back on herself. During this time, Fleetwing
ghosted past her and claimed second place, arriving in
Cowes at 2am, eight hours behind Henrietta. Vesta with
her infuriated crew was two hours further back.
RECORD MAKING
Thus ended the fi rst ever transatlantic yacht race. Did
the schooners beat the clipper ships? Not quite, and it
wouldn’t be until 1905 that Charlie Barr and the Atlantic
would better the James Baines’ time. As for Samuels, he
returned to New York an exceedingly rich man and
continued to dabble in off shore yacht racing, teaming
up with Bennett again in the race between his new
yacht, Dauntless and Cambria, the challenger for the
America’s Cup in 1870.
Surprisingly, they lost this race but by then, the
irascible Bennett was already Commodore of New York
Yacht Club and he served in this position longer than
any other man in the club’s illustrious history. During his
tenure, he continued to shape the sport, phasing out
the rather staid starts from anchor in favour of the
fl ying starts yachtsmen know and love to this day. He
also introduced boat on boat matches to the America’s
Cup which superseded the less engaging fl eet race of
1870.
The race was also to have a profoundly positive
eff ect on Anglo-American relations which had been
badly damaged by British collusion with the
Confederates during the civil war – the British supplied
the Confederate raider Alabama much to the disgust of
the Union. On arrival in Cowes, Bennett and Samuels
were invited to Osborne House to meet Queen Victoria.
Quite what she made of the three is anyone’s guess, but
the meeting signalled a thawing of relations between
the two powers.
incoherent. It was at this point that a race across the
Atlantic was proposed to decide the matter once and for
all. The stakes were almost as high as the level of
intoxication that fateful night, for the entrance fee was to
be $30,000 per yacht, with a ‘winner takes all’ incentive.
Thus, the fi nal pot was $60,000, or about $10 million in
today’s terms. If that was mad, then the start date of
December 11 was borderline crazy. Yet when the
respective men awoke with pounding heads the
following day, they did not dismiss the scheme as
drunken droolings, but headed up to the New York
Yacht Club, of which they were all members, and
formalised the race. After initially declining the proposal- probably on the grounds that it was barking mad –
Commodore William McVickar grudgingly relented and
the race was truly on. The three young men set about
preparing their yachts for what was to be the fi rst
transatlantic yacht race. Thus offshore yacht racing was
founded by the whim of three sozzled boors in a
gentlemen’s club. The rest is history.
YACHTS AND CREW
If the premise of the race was borderline mad, the one
merit of it was that each contestant owned a fi ne,
seaworthy schooner. With her shallow draft, light
displacement and centreboard, Vesta was probably the
least suitable vessel to take on the North Atlantic in
winter, but she was a new vessel with a massive 24ft
(7.3m) beam. It is perhaps notable that her owner, so
bold in betting on his vessel, opted to stay at home for
the race. He left his yacht in the capable hands of her
master, Captain Johnson. Confi dence in his vessel was
further boosted when she handed her rival, Henrietta, a
thrashing during a warm up race between Sandy Hook
and Cape May on 6 November.
Fleetwing was a different vessel. Built in 1864 with
106 LOA, she was deeper and narrower than the others
and at a registered 212 tonnes, heavier, too. Although
Henrietta was 107ft (32.6m), she registered six tonnes
less. Again, her owner entrusted her, to Captain Thomas,
and preferred to stay at home.
Bennett’s Henrietta was a handsome 205-tonne
schooner which had been built in 1861. At the time ofAbove: Fleetwing
in 1895.
Below: the New
York Yacht Club
regatta 1869,
with, from left,
Vesta, Henrietta,
Dauntless,
Phantom,
Fleetwing,
Palmer, AddieV,
Whitewing,
Geraldine and
Annie