Resolute 20"

Resolute was the last of the six successful defenders designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. It was the smallest and the most discreet-looking of all the boats built for the 1914 America's Cup. Captain Nat had designed a minimalist yacht that would be owed time by her competitors in the corrected time game.

 

April 25th: Resolute was christened by Grace Vanderbilt and launched.

 

Selected as Cup defender after selection trials against Vanitie and Defiance.

 

August 12th: the America's Cup was delayed due to World War I where Great Britain was fighting Germany.

 

1920

The selection trials for the defence of the America's Cup were re-sailed between Resolute and Vanitie. Resolute was selected after hard races against Vanitie.

 

July 12th and 13th: After measurement, Shamrock IV had to give the NYYC defender designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, Resolute, 7 minutes 1 seconds or 7 minutes 15 seconds or 6 minutes and 40 seconds, depending on the rig configuration used on the 30-mile course.

 

The America's Cup races: sailed between 15th to 27th July, at New York.

Best three out of five races.

Resolute vs. Shamrock IV

 

Alternating courses as follows:

- 15 miles to windward off Ambrose Channel Lightship and return (30 miles in all)

- Equilateral triangle - distance 30 miles off Channel Lightship

 

Races: five sailed.

 

Results:

 

Resolute beat Shamrock IV by three wins to two!

 

- July 15, 1st race, 30 miles, Windward-Leeward Course: Shamrock IV beat Resolute. Resolute did not finished, disabled.

- July 20, 2nd race, 30 miles, Triangular Course: Shamrock IV beat Resolute by 02 minute 26 sec in corrected time.

- July 21, 3rd race, 40 miles, Windward-Leeward Course: Resolute beat Shamrock IV by 7 minutes 01 sec, corrected time.

- July 23, 4th race, 30 miles, Triangular Course: Resolute beat Shamrock IV by 9 minutes 58 sec, corrected time.

- July 27, 5th race, 40 miles, Windward-Leeward Course: Resolute beat Shamrock IV by 19 minutes 45 sec, corrected time.

 

On July 15th, Resolute had to withdraw after breaking the mainsail halyard.

 

September 1920: Resolute was dry-docked at the Herreshoff yard at Bristol

 

1925

Resolute was sold to E. Walter Clark a Philadelphia banker and director of a railroad company and NYYC member.

 

1926

Nat Herreshoff 77 converted Resolute as a schooner. Walter Clark raced it against

Vanitie also converted as a schooner.

 

1929

June 1929: Resolute was fitted (as was Vanitie) with a one piece hollow wood mast, the largest triangular mainsail and the biggest Genoa ever seen on a boat of this size, following directions from Nat Herreshoff, now 80-years old.

 

1930

With Vanitie, Resolute was selected to sail as a trial horse for the 1930 America's Cup defence candidates. It was measured as a J Class, but was not allowed to race the Cup, as it had not been built following the A1 Lloyd's rules.

 

1931

Resolute was stored at Herreshoff shipyard at Bristol by its owner, E. Walter Clark.

 

1938

On September 21, 1938, Resolute was partially destroyed by a hurricane. Walter Clark decided to sell the wreck.

 

1939

The wreck of Resolute was sold piece by piece for scrap.

 

RESOLUTE

1920 USA

 

Yacht Club: New York Yacht Club, New York.

Successful defender of the thirteenth America's Cup (1920 )

 

Owner: Syndicate headed by Henry Walter with John Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Frederick G. Bourne, George F. Baker, Jr., Arthur Curtiss James, Harold S. Vanderbilt, Richard T. Crane, Payne Whitney, Robert W. Emmons II.

 

Keel sloop fitted with a centreboard

Universal Rule - 75-footer (75 feet at LWL)

Rating: 83.5

 

Designer: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff

 

Builder: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island, USA

Sailmaker: Ratsey & Lapthorn, New York.

 

Year of building: 1913-1914

Launched: April 25th, 1914

 

Skipper: Charles Francis Adams II

Afterguard: John Parkinson, George A. Cormack, George Nichols, Robert W. Emmons II, Arthur Adams.

Crew: 27 Scandinavians

 

Data:

 

Construction -

 

Construction: Metal composite, steel - Tobin bronze

Frames: Steel

Planking: Tobin bronze

Deck: Wood covered with canvas

Mast: Steel

Boom: Steel

Spinnaker pole: Wood

Keel ballast: Lead

 

Dimensions -

 

L.O.A.: 32.50 m

L.W.L.: 75 feet and 6 inches - 23.01 m

Beam: 6.42 m

Draft: 4.21 m

Draft with centreboard: 6.37 m

Displacement: 105.8 tons

Tonnage: 99 tons

Sail area: 815.22 m2

Mast: 39.75 m

Boom: 23.36 m

Bowsprit: 3.73 m

 

Year of building: 1914

Launched: 4/25/1914

 

13th Edition: (1920)

Crew: 27

Hull: Steel

Mast: Steel

L.O.A: 32.5

L.W.L.: 23.01

Mast: 39.75

Beam: 6.42

Boom Sail Area Displacement: 105.8

Draft Rating Ballast: 4.21