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| Formation | 1870 |
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| Location |
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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]
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| Formation | 1870 |
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| Location |
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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]
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]
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.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. The club suffered a few fires over years losing the right tower tower portion. [3]
| Name | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rebecca | Commodore Charles H. Joy | |
| Puritan | John Malcolm Forbes | America's Cup defender 1885 |
| Mayflower | General Charles J. Paine | America's Cup defender 1886 |
| Volunteer | General Charles Paine | America's Cup defender 1887 |
| Cleopatras Barge II | Francis B Crowninshield | |
| Constellation | Commodore Herbert Sears | nickname "Queen of the Eastern" |
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 final 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. [6]
The nine nearly identical motor boats built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island.The boats bore names under construction chosen by the owners and were then given their Section Patrol numbers once accepted by the Navy. [7] The Eastern Yacht Club boats with sponsors were: [6]
Plus one built to the design independently:
Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attached to the town is a near island, known as Marblehead Neck, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Marblehead Harbor, protected by shallow shoals and rocks from the open sea, lies between the mainland and the Neck. Beside the Marblehead town center, two other villages lie within the town: the Old Town, which was the original town center, and Clifton, which lies along the border with the neighboring town of Swampscott.
The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. As of 2001, the organization was reported to have about 3,000 members. Membership in the club is by invitation only. Its officers include a commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, secretary and treasurer.
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920.
America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
USS Sea Hawk (SP-2365) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
William Starling Burgess was an American yacht designer, aviation pioneer, and naval architect. He was awarded the highest prize in aviation, the Collier Trophy in 1915, just two years after Orville Wright won it. In 1933 he partnered with Buckminster Fuller to design and build the radical Dymaxion Car. Between 1930 and 1937 he created three America's Cup winning J-Class yachts, Enterprise, Rainbow and Ranger.
USS War Bug (SP-1795) was a motorboat in commission in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
The second USS Commodore (SP-1425) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. It was financed by Herbert M. Sears as part of the "Eastern Yacht Club 62 footers".
The first USS Kangaroo (SP-1284) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
USS Apache (SP-729) was the first to be delivered of eight motor boats built by Herreshoff Manufacturing Company at Bristol, Rhode Island ordered and financed by members of the Eastern Yacht Club of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The boats were designed by Albert Loring Swasey and Nathanael Greene Herreshoff with the intention that the boats be used by the Navy as patrol craft and built with Navy approval of the design. Apache, as were the other boats, bore names under construction chosen by the owners and were then given the Section Patrol numbers on Navy acceptance and activation. The names were dropped after a period and all the boats then bore only the S.P. numbers.
George Lawley & Son was a shipbuilding firm operating in Massachusetts from 1866 to 1945. It began in Scituate, then moved to Boston. After founder George Lawley (1823–1915) retired in 1890, his son, grandson and great-grandson upheld the business, which continued until 1945. Of the hundreds of ships built by the Lawleys, highlights include the yachts Puritan and Mayflower, respective winners of the 1885 and 1886 America's Cup.
USS Stinger (SP-1252) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Herreshoff No. 306 (SP-1841), also written Herreshoff #306, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1922.
USS Herreshoff No. 308 (SP-2232), also written Herreshoff #308, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1923.
USS Herreshoff No. 321 (SP-2235), also written Herreshoff #321, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1921.
USS Herreshoff No. 323 (SP-2840), also written Herreshoff #323, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1927.
USS Herreshoff No. 322 (SP-2373), also written Herreshoff #322, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1919.
Enterprise was a 1930 yacht of the J Class and successful defender of the 1930 America's Cup for the New York Yacht Club. It was ordered by a syndicate headed by Vice-Commodore Winthrop Aldrich, designed by Starling Burgess, and built by Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
Constellation was the largest steel schooner when completed, having been designed by the yacht designer Edward Burgess and launched in 1889. She was built at the Piepgras Shipyard on City Island in the Town of Pelham on Long Island, New York. It was built for yachtsman Edwin D. Morgan III, who was a commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and grandson of New York Governor and state senator Edwin D. Morgan. The vessel remained in service on the United States East Coast at Marblehead, Massachusetts, until 1941 when the schooner was taken out of service and scrapped for its metal to aid the war effort.
Herbert Mason Sears (1867-1942) was a noted yachtsman and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his contributions during World War I.