Eastern Yacht Club

The Eastern Yacht Club is located in Marblehead, Massachusetts and founded in 1870. It is one of the oldest yacht clubs on the east coast with significant involvement in the history of American yachting.[1]

Eastern Yacht Club
Motto"Aurae Vela Vocant"
Formation1870
Location
  • Marblehead, Massachusetts

History
Eastern Yacht Club circa 1880s[2]
Eastern Yacht Club c. 1906 with later additions
President Wilson presenting Club Cup to owner of Yacht Ellen who won race off of Marblehead, Mass

The current clubhouse was constructed in 1880.[3] The first meeting of the club was at Mr. John Heard's house in Boston on March 5, 1870.[4] A club house location committee was led by B.W. Crowninshield, and a site on Marblehead neck was purchased. A new structure was built and officially opened on June 9, 1881.[4]

The Eastern Club House 1881

Design and construction

Construction began in 1880, and was designed in the popular stick style. Inside features a model room, with full and half hull models of member yachts through the years.

Additions

Later additions are wing and a tower, staff and guest overnight rooms, a main dining room and bar. and would expand the complex to include tennis courts and a swimming pool.

Fire

The Club house has suffered from two major fires through the years.

Notable races
  • One Design Racing
  • Marblehead Race Week
  • Team Racing
  • Pursuit Racing

Notable yachts
Eastern Yacht Club Member Yachts[3]
Name Owner Years Active at Eastern Notes
Rebecca Commodore Charles H. Joy 1880-
Cleopatras Barge II Francis B Crowninshield 1927-
Constellation Commodore Herbert Sears 1914-1941 nickname "Queen of the Eastern"
Puritan America's Cup defender 1885
Mayflower America's Cup defender 1886
Volunteer General Charles Paine America's Cup defender 1887

World War I contributions

When the United States entered the war, Commodore Herbert Sears called the Under Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Roosevelt, and offered the use of the Eastern clubhouse to the Navy as a base. Roosevelt accepted and the clubhouse was used as a training station for the first year of World War I, primarily for training ashore and aviation training.

A group of 14 members wanting to contribute to the war effort, ordered and personally financed boats to be used by the Navy as patrol craft and built with Navy approval of the design. Known as "The Eastern Yacht Club 62 footers", the boats were designed by Albert Loring Swasey and Nathanael Greene Herreshoff.[5] The boats bore names under construction chosen by the owners and were then given their Section Patrol numbers once accepted by the Navy.[6] The Eastern Yacht Club boats with sponsors were:[5]

Plus one built to the design independently:

References
  1. Power Boating. Penton Publishing Company. 1921.
  2. "Marblehead, Marblehead Neck, Eastern Yacht Club House, 1880". www.digitalcommonwealth.org. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  3. Garland, Joseph (Sep 1, 1989). Eastern Yacht Club: A History from 1870-1985. Down East Books. ISBN 0892722630.
  4. Brown, Harry (1901). The History of American Yachts and Yachtsmen. Spirit of the Times Publishing Company.
  5. Day, Thomas Fleming (1918). The Rudder, The Eastern YC Patrol Fleet. Fawcett Publications.
  6. Motorship "Motorcraft and War Work". Miller Freeman. 1918.
  7. "Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonn". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
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