A t left, an 1851 chart redrawn by Sir Peter J ohnston, shows just how much America benefitted.from cutting inside the Nab-much less than hitherto believed, because ofthe changed position ofthe light. Courtesy Sir Peter Johnston and the New York Yacht Club. A merica but departed for home on a steamer before either of the rwo races were run . Commodore Stevens had invited Steers to join the schoo ner fo r the passage across the Atlantic, when it became apparent that Stevens and other syndicate members could not make the transAdantic trip . Steers made the passage accompani ed by his older bro ther James and] a mes' s so ns George (age 17) and H enry (age 15). When the Stevens parry joined the boat, they treated the Steers family as hired help. T his rankled with James, who made acid remarks in his journal about Commodore Stevens, whom he called "a damned old hog, bristles and all ." T his resentment may be laid to the normal rubs of people living together in a boat over a period of time, especially when the owner's parry is very wealth y and not reluctant to let that fact be known, and the guest designer and his family are workingmen much closer to the paid captain and crew of the vessel than to John and Edwin Stevens, their friend Colonel H amilton, and oth er distinguished guests th ey from time to time invited aboard. Befo re critics sniff too much over this whiff of class warfare, it should be noted tl1at when the Steers brothers quit me schooner and went back to New York, 15-year-old H enry Steers, at his own request, remained behind. H e sailed in the races and wro te about America's triumphs in later years. T he broth ers never wo uld have let the boy stay on unless th ey knew H enry was in good hands and wo uld be treated well, which is evidently just what happened . T he Steers brothers returned to New Yo rk in triumph. George left Brown's East Fourth Street ya rd in Lower M anhattan and set up shop with James in their own ya rd across the river in Broo klyn, where they were flooded with wo rk due to the America's success. The ya rd soon acquired a M anhattan branch. In addi tion to yachts and the famous China di pp er Sunny South, the brothers built rwo of the great wooden C ollins liners which were competing successfully with the British C unard Line, and they built the big steam fri gate USS Niagara, launched early in 1856. Later that year, on 25 September 1856, George was killed when his horse panicked and he was thrown from his carri age. H e had been driving to G reat Neck on Long Island, to close his summer home there and bring his wife back to theciry. W itl1 onlya limited education, he had packed marvelous achievements in to his 36 yea rs on earth . The New York Times saluted him in words that recognized the true wo rth of the man behind the achievements: "H e was a man of rare gen ius, of the noblest instincts and of incorruptible integri ty of character. " Commodore John Cox Stevens had come home with the Hundred G uinea C up in September 185 1. On 20 October he was saluted with a resplendent feas t at the As tor H ouse, a hotel across from C ity H all Park-sa id to be the only hos telry in the city capable of mounting a dinner of this ten-course magnificence, including 56 dish es . Among the "ornamental co nfections" was a spun sugar representation of the America beating the Titania-a wonderful race against a wo rthy adversary. The dinner wo und up with the unveiling of the America's C up, which thereafter was produced on festive occasio ns in John Stevens's life. H e retained possession of it as the senior member of th e America's syndicate. A few yea rs later John's high-spirited enjoyment of life was shattered by the long illness of his wife Maria Livingston Stevens. Stevens withdrew from acti ve affa irs, and when Maria died in February 1855 , he sold his mansion in Was hingto n Square to retire to a farm in South Am boy, New Jersey. It is said that the C up was nearly disposed of in the move, saved only by an alert butler
SEA HISTORY 98, AUTUM N 2001
who realized that the orn ate ewer meant something important in the life of Commodore Stevens. No t knowing just what to do with this piece ofVi ctori ana, which didn't even hold wa ter (it has no bottom), syndicate members considered melting it down to make medallions fo r each of th em. Bur wiser heads prevailed, and Stevens joined the others in co nveying the C up to the New Yo rk Yacht C lub before he died in June 1857. In the New York Tribune, Stevens' s friend H orace G reeley paid this tribute to Stevens: "Statesmen and soldiers often save a country, while such men as John Cox Stevens make a co untry." And it's true that Stevens's wealth, inves tment savvy and managerial abilities helped build the towering wealth ofN ew Yo rk, which made it a radically different city from the modes t town he had grown up in. The immigrants wh o poured thro ugh the port, broadening the city's population base and accelerating the nation 's development, came because of the opportunities they fo und in the ciry, from digging the Erie Canal to building the immense railway nerwork which wo uld soo n span the continent. T he America and her victory against all comers were products of Stevens's soaring imagination , remarkable abilities and driving determination to win, multiplied and given wings by the genius of Geo rge Steers and the sure touch of the New York pilot skipper Dick Brown. Regardless of past differences, Stevens always gave credit to Steers for building the boat that wo n the C up, and to Brown and his crew for sailing her the way they did. T he America's C up's deed of gift to the New York Yacht Club was framed in a generous, forwa rd-looking spirit. T he C up was to be open to challengers fro m all nations, never the property of an individual, but always of a club, and that club must continue to hold the C up "open to be sailed for by Yacht C lubs of all fo reign nations ... thus making it perpetually a C hallenge C up for fri endly co mpetition berween foreign co untries."
The America's Cup Races: A Continuing Saga There was li ttle interes t in taking up th e challenge of the America's C up, and the C ivil War soon blotted out five years along with many American Jives. US-British relations were acrimonious, for with a few honorable exceptions, Bri tish co mmercial interests supported the Southern cause.New Yo rkers showed generosity of spirit in sending a relief ship with fo od and clothing fo r British mill hands thrown out of work due to the shortage of Southern cotton imposed by the No rthern blockade. But finally, fo ur years after the war's end, came a challenge. As John Rousmaniere points out in his marvelous America's Cup Book, 1851- 1983, the challenge came not from th e English aristocracy en rolled in the Royal Yacht Squadron , but fro m an ambitious entrepreneur out to make a name for himself, the industrial magnate James Ashbury. On his way to the match in 1870, As hbu ry's deep-draft schooner Cambria defeated New Yo rk Yacht C lub Vice C ommodore James Go rdo n Bennett's famous Dauntless, in a close race across the Atlantic. In N ew York it developed she would h ave to race against a fleet of seventeen schooners- as A merica had h ad to race a fleet of fou rteen to win her cup . The long-legged Cam bria didn 't come close, finishing tenth behind the nimble centerboard schooner Magic, which was h elped out by some ro ugh tacti cs at close quarters by other competi tors determined to see an Am erican victory in this firs t challenge for the Am erica's C up . America was in this race, fi nishin g fo urth, 14 minutes ahead of 23