St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-10-26
4lliscrllanu,
A PIONEER YACHTSMAN.

c. L. Norton, writing for Harper
Weekly, tells the story of the frs
American yacht. 1t appears tha'
Captain George Crowninshield, il
1901, placed an order for a slooI
yacht of about twenty-five tom
with his fellow townsman, Chris
topher Turner, a famous shipbuildel
of that day. The craft was 6uisheo
in due time and named the Jefferson
in honor Of the then president. Il
was used for pleasure cruising unit
the outbreak of the war in 1912
when Captain Crowninshield ship
ped crew of twenty men, put
aboard the Jefferson as big a gun as
it could safely carry, and started out
for some international racing with
English merchantmen on the high
seas. Within few days the spirited
little boat captured the English
schooner Nymph, and putting a
prize crew aboard sent her home to
Salem. Two other captures were
the rewards of this successful cruise.
The first American yacht had been a
source of profit to his owner and had
at the same time rendered a service to
the American cause. This same Capt.
Crowninshield also owned an Ameri-
can yacht that long antedated the
famous schooner which brought over
the queens cup. This original
American made four voyages as
privateer and captured certainly
twenty-six and probably between
thirty and forty British vessels. The
value of her prizes considerably ex-
ceeded million dollars. She was
one of the heetest vessels OF her day,
and could easily run away from any
thing that was too big to be fought.
The little yacht Jefferson was sold in
1915 and turned into a fishing
smack, in which capacity she served
for many years in the waters about
Nahant and Marblehead. There is
a possibility that she may be still
afloat, for the late B. W. Crownin-
shield says in pamphlet from which
many OF these facts are taken that
he had good reason for believing
that she survived only a few years
ago. Mr.. Norton suggests that if
there is any chance of finding her and
preserving her as a relic, the Eastern
Yacht club might we'll devote some
OF its surplus funds to rehtting her
as an annex to the handsome club
house on Marblehead Neck. When the
Jefferson was disposed of her owner
wanted something larger and better.
He had become very wealthy in
commerce and privateering, and was
fond of exploration and adventure.
His new yachts was launched in 1916,
and was called first the Car of Con-
cordla and afterward Cleopatra s
Barge. She was rugged as a brig
antlne, and cost about $4,000. She
measured 83 feet on the water line,
was % feet liz inches wide, and II
feet 5A inches deep-proportions
and dimension not very different
from those of the cup defender May
flower and her successors Her
decoration was eccentric in the
extreme. One side the Yacht was
painted in horizontal stripes of
many colors, and the other side bore
a similarly diversified device of the
flerrng-bone pattern. Her standing
rigging was made of ropes of diff
ferent colored strands, and huge
false windows were painted on the
sides of her cabin. But despite her
bizarre appearance she was very fast,
and beat the frigate United States,
crack cruiser, in an all-day's sail.
The captain set out in her, soon af-
ter she was launched, for the
Mediterranean, visiting Fayal and
the Azores on the way. The yacht
attracted a great deal of attention
wherever she went, and was visited
by the royal families of the different
states where she made port. The
captain returned to Salem in 1917,
and Immediately began preparations
tor cruise to England and St.
Petersburg, but he died suddenly of
heart disease on board the Yacht of
which he was SO proud, which was
afterwards sold as a merchantmen
and finally became the property of
King kamhameha |. of the Sand
wich Islands. He used it as yacht
Tor about year, when it was run
upon reef and proved a total loss.
This, Mr.. Norton says, is in brief the
eventtul history of the first American
yacht of which we have any
authentic record.