"NOTHING IS TOO GOOD FOR CORONET": A Memoir of the Last of America's Great Sailing Yachts of the Gilded Age. By Timothy Murray
She was christened Coronet at her launch in August 1885 from Poillon Brothers' ways in Brooklyn, New York. Her owner Rufus T. Bush, had spared no expense to provide himself with a fast, luxurious, and able schooner. Her plumb-stemmed hull was designed for structural strength-and speed! She measured 133 ' from stem to stern, her steep floors fell to a flat keel 12' deep, and her beam was 27 '. With a coat of gleaming black (soon changed permanently to white) she was considered by the press to be her builders' finest product. She was indeed, and is today, a crowning glory of her age, the great age of the American sailing yacht. On deck, varnished teak stanchions complemented mahogany brightwork of deck houses and rail. Below, the main stairway of polished marble, fan-shaped at its foot, led past newel posts crowned with brass lamps, through swinging mahogany doors with stained-glass lights, into the large saloon. Finished in hand-carved mahogany panels and set off with handsome mirrors, the main cabin was graced with a granite-topped sideboard, a writing desk, a large table with matching chairs (over which hung a brass chandelier), and a piano. In 1887, two years old, Coronet challenged all comers to a transatlantic race from New York to Queenstown, Ireland. Rufus Bush refitted her for the occasion, bringing her total cost to $100,000. The gauntlet was taken by Caldwell Colt (of Colt firearms) and his famous schooner Dauntless, skippered by the famous "Bui-
ly Samuels.* Coronet won by better than 30 hours, securing her status in American yachting and commanding the front page of the New York Times for March 28, 1887. The following year Mr. and Mrs. Bush, son Irving, and four other guests took Coronet on a round-the-world voyage in the finest style, attended by a crew of ten, two or three cooks and stewards, two officers, and Captain Crosby. She sailed from Pier 8, East River, on March 22, 1888. it was a lightning trip, not without its share of excitement. A crisis arose in Suez City atthe southern end of the Suez Canal. The log for Monday, February 11, 1889 (their fourth day at anchor), reads simply: "this day at 5:30 a.m. Crew refusing Duty." Captain Crosby dealt with this in just one hour: "At 6:30 a.m. begin to work; willing to turn to ... Crew employed with regular routine.'' All was not over. The following Thursday, having been towed through the Canal without incident, Coronet was safely at anchor in Port Said. Now in the more civilized Mediterranean, Crosby played his hand. The log: "At IO a.m. Capt. discharged all Sailors on account ofrefusing Duty at Port Suez City." The names of nine men follow. Then: "Capt. employed by shipping other. . . men.'' By Monday the forecastle was full again, supplies had been replenished, and Coronet was away. For the passengers, life could be idyllic. A lady guest of her fourth owner, Arthur *See "Sailing Backward Into the Azores," SH 12.
Curtiss James, wrote of a March evening in 1895 off Bermuda: "The soft wind blows into our faces across the twilight water [and] we find ourselves singing, as we so often do, when we are so happy we can do nothing else." It is apparent that she was not exactly living in squalor: "The cabin is a good size, with couches extending the length of the sides, a shelf for books above them, a little open grate stove, a piano, and the dining table in the middle, with bright lights above it." Such was life for the first 20 years of Coronet's story. In 1905 she was purchased by her present owner, The Kingdom, an evangelical Christian movement one of whose major goals was worldwide evangelism. The late Capt. Lester S. McKenzie became part of her crew in 1905 and he recalled two significant changes in the social order on board: a doorway was opened from the forecastle and after cabin to amidships (though these may have been put in before 1905), there was no longer any great distinction made between passengers, officers, or crew-'' All Hands now meant every soul aboard. Coronet's most signal voyage under The Kingdom was a second trip 'round the world (1907-1909) for the purpose simply of prayer for all nations. Captain on this trip was the then 24-year-old Lester McKenzie, who died only in March this year, leaving us priceless memories of this voyage. Somewhere on her fourth (and last) passage around Cape Horn, at 9:30 PM , April 23, ina sudden shock of wind and sea she lost her main boom. The iron sheet bail
The 133 'schooner, which sailed/our times around Cape Horn in her remarkable career, survives today. From a drawingfora painting by John M ecray.