The yacht Gracie was launched in July 1868, modeled and built at James E. Smith shipyard at Nyack, New York, by builder A. G. Polhemus, from a model by Abraham A. Schank, for Commodore William Voorhis. Her building was supervised by Voorhis. The yacht was 58.6 feet long, 18.9 breadth, 6.6 depth, 5.6 draft and 40-tons.[1]
On September 25, 1868, Gracie raced for the Atlantic Yacht Club with William Voorhis in command. She won in the first class sloop class.[2]
She raced at the New York Yacht Club (1872-1874, 1880, 1882); Sea Cliff Boating Club (1875); Queens Country Club (1876); and the Atlantic Yacht Club (1868, 1881).
On July 5, 1871, Sappho won the citizens prize for schooners in the 1871 Cape May race. The Gracie won the citizens prize for sloops. The Columbia and Dauntless were also in the race.[3]
On July 18, 1876, yacht Gracie, from the N.Y.Y.C, with Mr. Halsey, was towed from the Herald telegraph station to New York.[4]
On October 23, 1878, yacht Gracie raced in a match with the sloop yacht Vision starting at the Sandy Hook Light and sailing twenty miles and back to the lightship. The Gracie won a $250 silver Cup.[5]
In 1878, she was rebuilt by David Carll at City Island. Her dimensions were increased to 69 feet long, 21.6 breadth, 6.8 depth and 6.6 draft.[1]
In 1880, yacht Gracie was sold to Charles Ranlett Flint and Joseph P. Earle from the New York Yacht Club. Flint was an avid sportsman and yachtsman.[1] He was a member of the syndicate that built the yacht Vigilant, that was the U.S. defender of the eight America's Cup.[6][7]
Gracie raced the America's Cup defender Mischief in trails off Sandy Hook in early 1881.[8][7] On August 5, 1881, Gracie beat the Mischief for the Spirit of the Times Cup in New Bedford regatta of New York and Eastern Clubs for two $500 cups. The Gracie claimed to have won the race.[9][7]
On October 20, 1881, the Gracie won in a trial yacht race between the yachts Mischief and Pocahontas. The expectation was that the Gracie would be selected to sail against the Atlanta for the America's Cup.[10]
On November 11, 1881, the Gracie was the principal competitor of the Mischief for the honor of defending the America's Cup. The Mischief was selected over the Gracie, who came in second, but some felt that the Gracie should have been selected on account of her sailing qualities as an American yacht.[11] The selection of the Mischief over the Gracie was criticized because her owner was an Englishman, and not a naturalized citizen of the United States, and the Gracie was believed to be the better boat. The owners were Joseph Pitnam Earle and Charles R. Flint.[12] After the Mischief was selected, the Gracie sailed a leeward race on the first day against the challenger and defender, the Canadian yacht Atlanta, and the Gracie won.[13][14]
In October 1883, there were two races. The first was the Goelet Cup regatta, sponsored by Ogden Goelet, for the New York Yacht Club at Newport, Rhode Island on August 6, 1883. The course was from Brenton Reef Lightship around Sow & Pigs Lightship (now Vineyard Sound) and return home. The Montauk, owned by Samuel R. Platt, won the $1,000 cup for schooners and the Gracie, owned by Flint & Earles, won the Goelet prize for sloops.[15] The second race was on October 11, 1883, between the sloop yacht Gracie and Fanny, of New York. They started from Sandy Hook. The Gracie came in second[16]
On April 20, 1884, Joseph P. Earle purchased the Gracie from shares that Charles R. Flint owned. He was in the process of fitting out the yacht for commission in the upcoming May races.[17]
On August 23, 1885, the trial race between the Priscilla, Puritan, Gracie, and Genesta. The Gracie came in third place. The Puritan was selected to sail in the America's Cup against the Genesta.[18]
On May 23, 1886, Earle's sloop yacht Gracie from the New York Yacht Club, had repairs done at the Henry Piepgras' shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She raced in 1887, against the Dauntless, Montauk, and Fanny. On April 12, 1889, the sloop Gracie was fitted out at City Island.[19]
March 24, 1895, the yacht Gracie, and Joseph P. Earle of the N.Y.Y.C, were at Nyack, New York, was given a new rig for a commission to sail at the upcoming regattas. Sails were provided by Sawyer & Son.[20]
End of service
After a 42-year career in racing, she was sold in 1909 and converted to a freight boat sailing from Milton Point, off Long Island to New York.[1]
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years. The most recent America's Cup match took place in March 2021.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
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The Widgeon was a 19th-century yacht and Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1855 by James R. & George Steers for Daniel Edgar of the New York Yacht Club and designed by George Steers. She came in 17th in an unsuccessful America’s Cup defense in 1870. Widgeon was sold in 1871 to a group of New York pilots to replace the John D. Jones, which sank in a collision with the steamer City of Washington. New York pilots condemned the Widgeon as unseaworthy in 1879, which sparked a fight for steam pilot-boat service. In 1883 a decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court and the Board of Commissioners of Pilots that pilot boats could be "propelled" by steam.
The Actaea, or Actea, was a 19th-century Boston yacht built in 1880 by Weld and David Clark of Kennebunk, Maine for David Sears, Jr., of Montgomery Sears of Boston. She was purchased by a group of New York Sandy Hook Pilots in 1890. She was one of the largest and fastest pilot boats in the fleet. In the age of steam, the Actaea was sold in 1896 to John J. Phelps of the New York Yacht Club and used as a pleasure yacht.
The Fleur de Lis was a 19th-century yacht and pilot boat built in 1865 by J. B. Van Deusen for Captain John S. Dickerson of the New York Yacht Club. She was bought by pilot Franklin B. Wellock and became the Boston pilot boat No. 7. She was known as one of the best pilot boats in the Boston harbor. By 1904, the pilot boat Fleur de Lis was lying in a graveyard for old boats in East Boston.
The Coquette was a 19th-century yacht and pilot boat, built in 1845 by Louis Winde, at the Winde & Clinkard shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts for yachtsmen James A. Perkins. Her design was based on a model by shipbuilder Dennison J. Lawlor. The Coquette was a good example of an early American yacht with a clipper bow. As a yacht, she won the attention for outsailing the larger New York yacht Maria at the second New York Yacht Club regatta in 1846. Perkins sold the Coquette to the Boston Pilots' Association for pilot service in 1848. She continued as a pilot boat until 1867 when she was sold as a Blackbirder to be used on the African coast.
The James W. Elwell was a 19th-century two-masted Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1867 by John A. Forsyth at Mystic Bridge, New London, Connecticut for New Jersey and Sandy Hook maritime pilots. She raced for a $1,000 prize at the Cape May Regatta in 1873. She went ashore and was shipwrecked on North Beach Haven, New Jersey in 1875.
The Dauntless was a 19th-century wooden yacht schooner, designed and built in 1866 by Forsyth & Morgan at Mystic Bridge, Connecticut, and owned and sailed by noted yachtsmen, among them James Gordon Bennett Jr. and Caldwell Hart Colt. She was first called the L'Hirondelle and later renamed the Dauntless. The Dauntless was in three Trans-Atlantic matches for the New York Yacht Club. She came in fourth in an unsuccessful America’s Cup defense in 1870.
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