George Steers AMERICA

Wartime Classification: IX-58

Type: Gaff Schooner

LOD: 101’3″ / 30.86m – LWL: 89’10” / 27.38m – Beam: 22’10” / 6.95m – Draft: 10’11” / 3.33m – Designer: George Steers and Co – Original Owner: New York Yacht Club Syndicate – headed by NYYC charter member Commodore John Cox Stevens – Year Launched: May 3rd, 1851 – Built By: William H. Brown Shipyard, New York City, N.Y – Hull Material: Wood (white oak, locust, cedar and chestnut) – Gross Displacement: 92 tonnes – Sail Area: 5,296 sq ft (492.0 m2) – Status: A snow-covered Annapolis Yacht Yard shed collapsed crushing her on 29 March 1942; broken up for scrap

 

Historical:

America was designed by James Rich Steers and George Steers (1820–1856) (See George Steers and Co). Traditional “cod-head-and-mackerel-tail” design gave boats a blunt bow and a sharp stern with the widest point (the beam) placed one-third of the length aft of the bow. George Steers’ pilot boat designs, however, had a concave clipper-bow with the beam of the vessel at midships. As a result, his schooner-rigged pilot boats were among the fastest and most seaworthy of their day. They had to be seaworthy, for they had to meet inbound and outbound vessels in any kind of weather. These vessels also had to be fast, for harbor pilots competed with each other for business. In addition to pilot boats, Steers designed and built 17 yachts, some which were favourites with the New York Yacht Club.

Crewed by Brown and eight professional sailors, with George Steers, his older brother James, and James’ son George as passengers, America left New York on June 21, and arrived at Le Havre on July 11. They were joined there by Commodore Stevens. After drydocking and repainting America left for Cowes, Isle of Wight, on July 30. While there the crew would enjoy the hospitality of the Royal Yacht Squadron while Stevens searched for someone who would race against his yacht.

The British yachting community had been following the construction of America with interest and maybe some trepidation. When America showed up on the Solent on July 31 there was one yacht, Laverock, that appeared for an impromptu race. The accounts of the race are contradictory: a British newspaper said Laverock held her own, however, Stevens later reported that America beat her handily. Whatever the outcome, it seemed to have discouraged other British yachtsmen from challenging America to a match. She never raced until the last day of the Royal Yacht Squadron’s annual members-only regatta for which Queen Victoria customarily donated the prize. Because of America’s presence, a special provision was made to “open to all nations” a race of 53 miles (85 km) ’round the Isle of Wight, with no reservation for time allowance.

 

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

• Owner: (1851) New York Yacht Club Syndicate – headed by NYYC charter member Commodore John Cox Stevens
• Owner: (September 1, 1851-1856) – John de Blaquiere, 2nd Baron de Blaquiere
• Owner: (1856-1858) – Henry Montagu Upton, 2nd Viscount Templetown, renamed Camilla
• Owner: (1858-1860) – Henry Sotheby Pitcher, shipbuilder, Northfleet, Kent (rebuilt Camilla)
• Owner: (1860-1861) – Henry Edward Decie (brought her back to the United States.),
• Owner: (1861-1862) Confederate States of America, renamed Memphis (scuttled at Jacksonville when Union troops took the city.) March 1862 – Scuttled in Dunn’s Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River, to avoid capture.

Captain: Henry Edward Decie

• Owner: (1862-1865) – The Union Army (raised, repaired and renamed America.) 18 March 1862 – Found, raised and towed to Port Royal. S.C. for repair and outfitting as a dispatch vessel and blockader. Renamed and commissioned USS America, Acting Master Jonathan Baker in command. While assigned as a blockader America captured schooner David Crockett, 13 October 1862 and the British topsail schooner, Antelope, 31 March 1863.
• Owner: (1865-1873) – U. S. Naval Academy. Ordered north, 25 March 1863 to the Naval Academy. Decommissioned and laid up at Annapolis, MD. in 1866. Completely overhauled at Washington Navy Yard in 1869. Fitted out for international racing at New York Navy Yard in 1870.
• Owner: (1873-1893) – Civil War (Union Army) Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler. Sold by the Navy to MGEN Benjamin F. Butler. Butler raced and maintained the boat well, commissioning a rebuild to Donald McKay in 1875 and a total refit of the rig in 1885 to Edward Burgess to keep her competitive.
• Owner: (1893-1897) – Paul Butler. Upon the General’s death in 1893, his son Paul inherited the schooner, but had no interest in her, and so gave her to his nephew Butler Ames in 1897.
• Owner: (1897-1917) – Butler Ames. Ames reconditioned America and used her occasionally for racing and casual sailing until 1901, when she fell into disuse and disrepair.
• Owner: (1917-1921) – Charles Henry Wheelwright Foster
• Owner: (1921-1921) – America Restoration Fund
• Owner: (1921-1945) – U. S. Naval Academy (donation) by 1940 had become seriously decayed. December 7, 1941 – During her last major overhaul work was stopped due to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. 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.