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Niagara (yacht)

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NameNiagara
BuilderHerreshoff Manufacturing Company
LaunchedApril 16, 1895
StatusPrivate yacht
Class and typeSloop
Length65 ft (20 m)
Beam12 ft (3.7 m)
Draft10.75 ft (3.28 m)

Niagara was a 65-foot (20 m) long sloop built in 1895 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island for New Yorker Howard Gould.

Construction

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The Niagara was built in 1895 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island for $12,500 for prominent New York financier, Howard Gould,[1] a son Jay Gould, the enormously wealthy railroad magnate and financial speculator.[2] She was built at the same time as the other Herreshoff flier, Isolde, to challenge Lord Dunraven's Audrey.[3][4]

Racing history

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During her first racing season of 1895, the Niagara participated in roughly fifty races of the leading yacht clubs of Great Britain. Her skipper was John Barr, the former commander of the Thistle, and a crew, which included sailors from the United States and Norway.[5] She won twenty-nine first prizes, nine second prizes, and one third prize.[2][6] She was in the twenty-rating class and sailed the Royal Thames Yacht Club regatta in the Channel,[7] and the Royal Harwich Yacht Club regatta at Harwich.[8]

Among the awards won were Lord Dunraven's Castle Yacht Club Challenge Cup,[9][10] a silver tea set and tray from Robert Cross for the Royal Western Yacht Club (in Paisley), silver punch bowls from the Clyde Yacht Club (at Argyll and Bute), Royal Corinthian Yacht Club (at Burnham-on-Crouch), and Royal Albert Yacht Club (in Portsmouth); silver loving cups from the Royal Western Yacht Club of England (in Plymouth) and the West of Scotland Yacht Club in addition to the Maitland Kersey Cup (from the Castle Yacht Club).[2]

Captain Barr returned to America in October 1895, leaving the Niagara at Fay's yards in Southampton for the winter.[5] Gould returned to America the following month in November 1895 aboard the American liner SS St. Louis.[11]

The following year in 1896,[12] she again competed in the English races and won twenty of forty races she participated in,[2][13] and second at others.[14][15] After the 1896 season, Gould returned to America in November 1896 again aboard the SS St. Louis. Although the Niagara did well, Gould swore he would never race in the British regattas again (due to issues with the Yacht Racing Association),[16][17][18] instead favoring the Kiel and Baltic regattas instead.[19]

In 1960, she was broken up in England.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "HMCo #451s Niagara". www.herreshoff.info. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Blanchard, Frank L. (1899). Niagara; The Old And The New. New York: Publishers Printing Company. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. ^ The Encyclopædia of Sport & Games: Rackets - Zebra. 1912. pp. 402–403. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  4. ^ Diaper, Tom (2016). Tom Diaper's Logbook: Memoirs of a Racing Skipper. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4729-3082-8. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b "CAPT. BARR HOME AGAIN.; Tells of the Victories of Howard Gould's Niagara in British Waters". The New York Times. 6 October 1895. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  6. ^ "COWES REGATTA WEEK OPENS.; Britannia and Howard Gould's Niagara Winners in Their Classes". The New York Times. 6 August 1895. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  7. ^ "NIAGARA SAILED WELL; The American Yacht Defeated Two Forty-Raters. BRITANNIA WON ON TIME ALLOWANCE The Race to Dover a Surprise to the English Yachtsmen -- Sailed in Cruising Trim -- Niagara Weil Handled". The New York Times. 9 June 1895. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  8. ^ "AILSA AND NIAGARA BEATEN.; Britannia Won the Race for Big Yachts Off Harwich". The New York Times. 4 June 1895. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Howard Gould Dies Here At 88. Last Surviving Son Of Jay Gould, Rail Financier, Yachtsman, Auto Racer". The New York Times. September 15, 1959. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  10. ^ Correspondent, Our Own (1 June 1895). "AILSA HURT BY CHANGES; Not So Lively in the Thames as in the Mediterranean. BRITANNIA THE BEST ON THE WIND Lord Dunraven's Audrey Practically a New Boat -- She Will Race Against Howard Gould's Niagara". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2020. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ "HOWARD GOULD HOME AGAIN; Declares There Was No Jockeying with the Ballast of the Vigilant -- Praise for English Yachtsmen". The New York Times. 17 November 1895. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  12. ^ "MAY BE A CUP CHALLENGER; THE NEW METEOR IS BUILT WELL WITHIN THE LIMITED LENGTH. Will Race Against Britanain, Ailsa, and Satanita -- Ogden Goelet's Samphire Not a Racing Success -- New Twenty-Raters to Meet Howard Gould's Niagara -- A Twenty-three-Foot Class Will Furnish Good Sport on the Clyde". The New York Times. 20 April 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  13. ^ "NIAGARA'S ENGLISH CUPS; Trophies Won by Howard Gould's Twenty-Rater Cutter. ON SHOW IN TIFFANY & CO.'S WINDOW The Lot Includes a Cup Presented by the Earl of Dunraven, and Another by His Friend Mr. Kersey". The New York Times. 12 January 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  14. ^ "VALKYRIE DID NOT START; Lord Dunraven Will Not Risk Spoiling Her Sails by Rain. BRITANNIA DEFEATED AILSA AGAIN Howard Gould Says the Valkyrie Is a Fast Boat -- His Niagara Beaten by Dakotah on Time Allowance". The New York Times. 2 July 1895. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  15. ^ "ENGLISH YACHT PRIZES; AMOUNTS WON BY THE WINNERS IN THE DIFFERENT CLASSES. Ailsa Heads the List with $10,000 and Trophies to Her Credit -- Saint the Best Boat in the Twenty-Rat- ing Class, with Howard Gould's Niagara Second -- Small-Boat Bac- ing Becoming Very Popular with Everybody in British Waters". The New York Times. 20 September 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  16. ^ "HOWARD GOULD INDIGNANT; OVER THE INVASION OF THE NIAGARA IN HIS ABSENCE. He Writes a Letter to the Yacht Rac- ing Association. Protesting Against Its Action -- It Was a Discourtesy to the Owner of a Foreign Vessel -- The Changes Suggested Have Been Made, Though They Were Not Needed". The New York Times. 30 September 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  17. ^ "HOWARD GOULD SUSTAINED.; The English Press Says that He Was Treated Discourteously". The New York Times. 1 October 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  18. ^ "HOWARD GOULD'S PROTEST.; To be Discussed at the Meeting of the Yacht Racing Association". The New York Times. 8 October 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  19. ^ "HOWARD GOULD ARRIVES; WILL NOT RACE IN BRITISH REGATTAS AGAIN. Says Very Little About the Trouble over the Water Tanks -- Was to Have Built a Sixty-Footer for English Racing, but Will Now Race Niagara in German Regattas -- Thinks Niagara Is as Good as the Other Boats in Her Class". The New York Times. 1 November 1896. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
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