Atlantic (yacht)

The Atlantic was built in 1903 by Townsend and Downey shipyard, and designed by William Gardner, and Frederick Maxfield Hoyt[1] (yacht designer) for Wilson Marshall. The three-masted schooner was skippered by Charlie Barr who was accompanied by navigator and tactician Frederick Maxfield Hoyt [1] when it set the record for fastest transatlantic passage by a monohull in the 1905 Kaiser's Cup race. The record remained unbroken for nearly 100 years.[2][3]

History
 United States
Owner: Wilson Marshall
Builder: Townsend & Downey
Launched: 1903-07-28
Honours and
awards:		 Kaiser's Cup, 1905
Fate: scrapped (1982-01-30)
General characteristics
Type: three mast gaff-rigged schooner
Displacement: 303 tonnes
Length: 69.40 m (227.7 ft)
Beam: 8.85 m (29.0 ft)
Draught: 4.90 m (16.1 ft)
Installed power: steam and sail
Sail plan: 1,720 m2 (18,500 sq ft)

Her speed and elegance have made her the subject of a book.[4]

Trans-Atlantic sailing record

In 1905, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany proposed a race across the North Atlantic and put forward a solid gold cup to be presented to the winner. Eleven boats including the Kaiser's yacht Hamburg, George Lauder Jr's schooner the Endymion which was the record holder going into the race, and the schooner Atlantic skippered by Charlie Barr, with navigator and tactician Frederick Maxfield Hoyt[1] took part.

The competitors encountered strong winds and gales which ensured a fast passage time and all eleven boats finished the race. Atlantic won, breaking the existing record with a time of 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds. The record stood for 75 years until broken by Eric Tabarly sailing the trimaran Paul Ricard. However Atlantic's monohull record stood for nearly 100 years until was broken in 1997 by the yacht Nicorette completing the crossing in 11 days 13 hours 22 minutes.[5] For ships sailing in an organised regatta (as opposed to solo crossings, where the ship can wait for optimal sailing conditions), the record held for nearly 100 years and was only broken by Mari-Cha IV, crossing during the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge.[6]

United States Navy Service

Following the United States declaration of war on Germany in April 1917, Atlantic was acquired by the Navy on 10 June 1917 and commissioned as USS Atlantic II (SP 651) on 28 July 1917 with Lieutenant Charles Stanley Keller in command.[7]

She was assigned to Patrol Force, Atlantic Fleet, and cruised along the east coast until November 1917 when she was assigned duty as a guard ship at Yorktown, Va., and tender to a squadron of submarine chasers. In January 1919 she was assigned to the 5th Naval District.

She was decommissioned on 11 June 1919 at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was sold to a private owner on 24 July 1919.[8]

Coast Guard Service

Atlantic was acquired by the Coast Guard and commissioned on 1 April 1941. She was assigned hull number WIX-271. She was assigned to Coast Guard Headquarters but was stationed at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut where she was used for cadet training. She was decommissioned on 27 October 1947 and sold to a private owner on 10 September 1948.[9]

Later Years

In 1953, the ship was towed to Wildwood, New Jersey where it was a kept as a floating tea room, museum, and tourist attraction.[10][11] She was neglected and sank in 1963 during a storm but was refloated in 1970.[12] She deteriorated and sank at the dock in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1982, the wreckage was removed for the installation of a floating dry dock at Metro Machine Shipyard.[13]

Her rudder is located at the Museum of Yachting in Newport, Rhode Island.

Honors and awards

Replica

Ed Kastelein commissioned a full-sized replica of Atlantic, built at the Van der Graaf BV shipyard (consulting engineer: Doug Peterson) in Hardinxveld-Giessendam (Netherlands).[14] The initial launch took place in March 2008,[15] and the schooner was completed in June 2010.[16]

Sophie Kastelein-Bouakel contributor, designed and built the interior of the Atlantic replica

Michael Vedder designed and built the interior of the Atlantic replica.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Quindecennial record of the class of 1895 Sheffield scientific school of Yale University". www.archive.org. Yale University. 1912. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. "Atlantic reincarnated". Yachting World. Archived from the original on 2007-10-31.
  3. Ramsey, Nancy (2005-06-02). "YACHT RACING; Schooner Breaks Century-Old Record for Crossing the Atlantic". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  4. Cookman, Scott (2002). Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-41076-4.
  5. "Historical list of Offshore World Records". World Record Speed Sailing Council.
  6. "Rolex Transatlantic 2005: Atlantic's Record Falls". 2005-06-02. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  7. "Atlantic II (SP 651)". NavSource Naval History. 1917-06-10. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  8. http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170651.htm
  9. http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Atlantic1941.pdf
  10. "The Yacht That Sunk In Wildwood". Wildwood Video Archive. 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  11. "Lewis Gardner yacht Atlantic collection". Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  12. "Historic Craft Raised From the Deep". The New York Times. 1970-05-03. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  13. Julian, John. "American Beauty" (PDF). Ocean. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  14. "Atlantic Schooner". atlantic-schooner.com. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  15. "Atlantic Newsletter N°7". Ancko Ltd.
  16. "Atlantic Newsletter N°14". Ancko Ltd.
  17. "EdM Vedder Projects". EdM Vedder.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.