'America'
'America'
Gaff Schooner, Built 1851 LOA 101ft. 3in., beam 11ft. Built by William H. Brown and designed by George Steers.
The America Half Model is in the 'Bar area'
A syndicate of New York Yacht Club members, headed by NYYC charter member Commodore John Cox Stevens, with members Edwin A. Stevens, George Schuyler, Hamilton Wilkes, and J. Beekman Finley, built a yacht to sail to England. The purpose of this visit was twofold: to show off U.S. shipbuilding skills and make money through competing in yachting regattas. Stevens employed the services of the shipyard of William H. Brown and his chief designer, George Steers. On May 3, 1851, she was launched from the Brown shipyard, near Eleventh Street, East River, New York.
On August 22, 1851, America won the Royal Yacht Squadron's 55-mile regatta race around the Isle of Wight by 18 minutes. The Squadron's "One Hundred Sovereign Cup or "£100 Cup", sometimes mistakenly known in America as the "One Hundred Ghinea Cup", was later renamed after the original winning yacht.
Legend has it that while watching the race, Queen Victoria asked who was second and received the famous reply: "There is no second, your Majesty.