Jump to content

Idler (yacht)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Schooner Yacht Idler at the New York Yacht Club Regatta by James E. Buttersworth.
History
United States
NameIdler
NamesakeJohn Parkinson Idler
Owner
  • Thomas C. Durant (1864-1872)
  • Samuel J. Colgate (1872-1879)
  • Archie J. Fisher (1879-1889)
  • John Cudahy (1889-1899)
  • James C. Corrigan (1899-1900)
BuilderF. Colgate, Fairhaven, Connecticut
Launched1864
Out of serviceJuly 7, 1900
Honors and
awards		America’s Cup defense in 1870
FateSank 1900
General characteristics
Class and typeSchooner
Typeschooner-yacht
Tons burthen85
Length95 ft 7 in (29.13 m)
Beam26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
Draft11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Propulsionschooner sail
Sail plan1,934.6 sq ft (179.73 m2) sail area

The Idler was a schooner-yacht built in 1864 by Samuel Hartt Pook of Fairhaven, Connecticut. She was one of the fastest yachts in the New York yachting fleet.[1] Idler came in second place in the America’s Cup in 1870. She was sold as a racing yacht several times before she capsized and sank in 1900.

Construction

[edit]
Schooner Idler with Schooner Dauntless, Leading, by James Edward Buttersworth, c. 1875.

The Idler was a centreboard[2] schooner-rigged[3] yacht constructed in the summer of 1864 by shipbuilder F. Colgate in Fairhaven, Connecticut.[2][4] According to the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, her dimensions were 95.7 feet (29.2 m) in length; 22.6 feet (6.9 m) breadth of beam; 11 feet (3.4 m) depth of hold; and 85 tons (Thames Measurement).[5][6][7]

Idler was notable for her particularly sleek lines.[8] Her hull was painted black,[9] and she was designed to handle heavy weather.[10]

Service

[edit]

New York Yacht Club races

[edit]

Her first owner was railroad magnate Thomas C. Durant.[11]

In August 1868, the Idler competed in the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) schooner and sloop race off Newport, Rhode Island. The race included the yachts Dauntless, Gracie, Magic, Widgeon, Phantom, Fleetwing, and other schooners and sloops. The course was from the northeast point of Block Island, rounding it from the north west, and returning to the same point.[12]

In June 1869, the schooner Idler was in the annual June New York Yacht Club regatta. She raced against the Phantom, Alarm, Palmer, Slivie and other schooners and sloops. The course was from Owl's Head to the S.W. Split, then across to the Sandy Hook Lightship and back. The Idler came in first place with a time of 4 hours, 24 minutes, and 30 secondss.[13]

1870 America's cup

[edit]
The 1870 America's Cup yacht race, August 8, 1870.

On August 8, 1870, the America's Cup race (also called the Queen's Cup) was held at New York Harbor. This was the first America's Cup to be hosted in the United States. The course started from the Staten Island anchorage of the New York Yacht Club, down through the Narrows, to the S.W. Split buoy, across to the Sandy Hook lightship, and then back to Staten Island. The race was won by the Franklin Osgood's Magic with Durant's Idler finishing in second. There were 16 other competitors, including James Lloyd Ashbury's English yacht Cambria (which sailed to New York on behalf of the Royal Thames Yacht Club), and the American yachts Dauntless, Idler, Fleetwing, Phantom, America.[14]

On June 21, 1871, Idler won the Cape May Challenge Cup sponsored by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr.[1]

Colgate ownership

[edit]

In December 1872, Durant sold the Idler to Samuel J. Colgate, millionaire toothpaste and soap manufacturer.[15] He had her rebuilt in March 1873 at the Henry Steers shipyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She was lengthened by 8 feet (2.4 m) and her topmasts were heightened to carry more sail.[16]

Colgate raced the Idler many times. In June 1873, she came in second at the NYYC regatta, beaten by the Madeline[17] but winning on time allowance.[18] In August 1874, the Idler won the colors in her class during the New York Yacht Club annual cruise. The course was from Brenton's Reef lightship and to Oak Bluffs. She competed against the Alarm, Dauntless, and Josephine.[19] She placed last out of seven first-class schooners in the NYCC annual regatta of June 1875,[20] but second in the oceanic schooner regatta held by the Columbia Yacht Club a week later[21] and first in the schooner race held in July by the Seawanhaka Yacht Club of Oyster Bay, New York.[22]

In the 1876 NYYC summer regatta, she set the record for the fastest time over the club course, at 4 hours, 54 minutes, 48 1/2 seconds. She again won the Cape May Challenge Cup race of 1876, beating the America, Countess of Dufferin, Tidal Wave, and Wanderer. She won the Seawanhaka Yacht Club prize on September 16, 1876, and the NYYC fall regatta.[1]

Colgate had Idler's keel reworked in early 1877 by the Steers shipyard, removing her centreboard.[23] Colgate took the yacht on a cruise of the West Indies in April and May 1877.[23] She returned to New York in time to participate in the Seawanhaka Yacht Club regatta in June, where she came in second, beaten by the Rambler.[24] Idler won the the Cape May Challenge Cup in September, easily outracing the Rambler, Vesta, and Dreadnaught.[25]

Colgate did not race the yacht 1878.[26]

Owners Fisher and Cudahy

[edit]

Archibald J. Fisher, millionaire grain merchant of Illinois,[27] purchased the Idler in April 1879[28] from Samuel J. Colgate for $24,000 ($809,914 in 2024 dollars).[1][29] With no other first-class schooner in Chicago in 1880, she "won" every race she entered.[30] She won the Chicago Yacht Club Cup in 1882 and 1883.[31]

Idler received a new foremast in April 1882,[32] a general overhaul in June 1882,[33] a new maintopmast in August 1882,[34] and another general overhaul, including deck recaulking, in March 1883.[35] Her interior was completely refurbished in June 1883,[36] and she underwent yet another general overhaul in April 1885.[37] The Inter Ocean newspaper estimated the total cost of the work was $38,000 ($1,282,364 in 2024 dollars).[38]

The Idler was used primarily as a pleasure craft in 1886, and saw decreasing use through 1887. In 1888, she wasn't placed in the water until late July. By then, the ship was suffering from dry rot. She was drydocked, her hull replanked, and her deck recaulked.[39]

Fisher sold the Idler to John Cudahy, millionaire owner of the Cudahy Packing Company, in September 1889 for $10,000 ($349,963 in 2024 dollars).[38][40] Even though the press estimated the cost of further repairs to the ship would be relatively low (just $2,000 [$1,329,859 in 2024 dollars]),[38] Cudahy had the yacht completely rebuilt, removing all but her white pine deck. The cabin was rebuilt with satinwood and rosewood. The cost of the reconstruction was $18,000 ($629,933 in 2024 dollars).[3]

Her home port was Cudahy's summer home on Mackinac Island in Lake Huron,[2] where the wealthy meatpacker used it primarily for pleasure cruises.[41]

Cudahy did not put the Idler in commission in 1893. It sat in drydock all year. Rot attacked the hull again, and in August 1893 it sprung a major leak which went unnoticed for days.[42] A group of Chicagoans chartered the Idler in the summer of 1894,[43] and she was put back in the water in July.[44] She returned to the slip in late August.[45]

W.D. Boyce, who led the recently-formed Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago,[46] chartered[2] the Idler in April 1895[47] for use as his yacht club flagship. Boyce overhauled the hull, replaced the deck, and bought new canvas and rigging.[48] He raced her competitively for the first time in the Milwaukee Yacht Club Regatta on July 4, 1896. She lost to the steel-hulled schooner Priscilla of Cleveland.[49]

End of service

[edit]

On October 5, 1899, James Corrigan purchased the Idler[50] for about $12,000 ($453,552 in 2024 dollars).[51] He moved her to Fairport Harbor, Ohio, on Lake Erie,[4] and refurbished her at a cost of $8,000 ($302,368 in 2024 dollars).[4][52] He had all but her hull replaced[53] and the ship painted white.[54] Her new interior accommodations were extremely comfortable.[55]

On July 7, 1900, the Idler capsized in a squall on Lake Erie off Cleveland killing six members of the family of John A. and James C. Corrigan, the owners of the vessel. The only survivors were Captain Charles Joseph Holmes, master of the schooner, Mrs. John Corrigan and six crewmen.[56]

After the disaster, Corrigan turned title to the boat over to his friend, Albert R. Rumsey.[57][51]

The yacht was partially raised on July 13,[58] and towed into the harbor at Cleveland on July 14.[59] She was pumped out and refloated on July 15.[54][60]

Rumsey had the Idler towed to Fairport on October 17.[61] It was tied up there for a year. Rumsey initially planned to have the yacht rebuilt as a steam-powered vessel,[62] but abandoned this idea in October 1901 and had it stripped of all useable material.[63]

On January 22, 1904, an ice jam on the Grand River swept the Idler and several other vessels out onto Lake Erie.[64] The yacht was towed back to her berth, but on March 24 another ice jam broke the Idler free and took her out onto the lake. This time, the lake ice pierced the yacht's hull, and she sank.[65] Rumsey sold the wreck, and the new owner intended to salvage the 6 short tons (5.4 t) of pig iron ballast in the yacht. He failed to take any action, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers dismantled and removed the wreck.[6]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Sporting News". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. April 5, 1879. p. 3.
  2. ^ a b c d "History of the Idler". The Plain Dealer. July 8, 1900. p. 6.
  3. ^ a b "A Slump Appears". The Cleveland Leader. October 13, 1899. p. 8.
  4. ^ a b c Bellamy 2010, p. 72.
  5. ^ "Record of American and Foreign Shipping 1884". Mystic Seaport Museum. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Kingman, Dan C. (1904). Annual Reports of the War Department for the Year Ended June 30, 1904. Vol. VII: Report of the Chief of Engineers: Part 3. P. P. II Removing Sunken Vessels or Craft obstructing or Endangering Navigation (Report). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. p. 3208.
  7. ^ Jensen, John Odin (2019). Stories From the Wreckage: A Great Lakes Maritime History Inspired By Shipwrecks. Madison, Wisc.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780870209024.
  8. ^ "Other Ports". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. July 12, 1880. p. 6.
  9. ^ "Yachting". Chicago Tribune. June 8, 1879. p. 7.
  10. ^ "Sporting". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. July 31, 1883. p. 2.
  11. ^ "Dead". Lincoln Journal Star. October 7, 1885. p. 4. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  12. ^ "The New York Yacht Club". The New York Times. August 17, 1868. p. 5. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  13. ^ "Yachting". New York Daily Herald. June 11, 1869. p. 3. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  14. ^ "The Yachts and the Coming Race" (PDF). The New York Times. August 4, 1870. p. 8. Retrieved June 13, 2021; "The Queen's Cup Race" (PDF). The New York Times. August 9, 1870. p. 8. Retrieved June 9, 2025; "Yachting". The New York Herald. August 8, 1870. p. 8. Retrieved June 15, 2021; "1851 — The Queen's Cup — 1870". The New York Herald. August 9, 1870. p. 11. Retrieved June 8, 2021; "Yachting". The New York Herald. August 11, 1870. p. 4. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  15. ^ "Yachting". New York Herald. December 19, 1872. p. 5.
  16. ^ "Yachting Notes". New York Daily Herald. March 5, 1873. p. 4. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  17. ^ "The Yacht Race". The New York Times. June 7, 1873. p. 8.
  18. ^ "Skimming the Lower Bay". The New York Sun. June 7, 1873. p. 1.
  19. ^ "Yachting". The New York Times. August 15, 1874. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  20. ^ "Yachting". New York Daily Herald. June 17, 1875. p. 5.
  21. ^ "Yachting". New York Daily Herald. June 24, 1875. p. 10.
  22. ^ "Yachting". New York Daily Herald. July 7, 1875. p. 3.
  23. ^ a b "Yachting Notes". New York Daily Herald. March 29, 1877. p. 4.
  24. ^ "The Seawanhaka Regatta". New York Daily Herald. June 24, 1877. p. 6.
  25. ^ "Cape May Race". New York Daily Herald. September 7, 1877. p. 6.
  26. ^ "City and Suburban News". The New York Times. May 17, 1878. p. 8.
  27. ^ "The Yacht Idler". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. June 3, 1879. p. 2.
  28. ^ "Yesterday Condensed". Chicago Daily Telegraph. April 2, 1879. p. 2.
  29. ^ "Sporting News". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. June 14, 1879. p. 3.
  30. ^ "The Yacht Club". Chicago Tribune. June 1, 1881. p. 1.
  31. ^ "The Regatta". Chicago Tribune. August 7, 1883. p. 6.
  32. ^ "Dock and Other Notes". Chicago Tribune. April 21, 1882. p. 7.
  33. ^ "Dock and Other Notes". Chicago Tribune. June 25, 1882. p. 16.
  34. ^ "Dock and Other Notes". Chicago Tribune. August 5, 1882. p. 15.
  35. ^ "Marine News". Chicago Tribune. March 16, 1882. p. 11.
  36. ^ "Aquatic". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. June 17, 1883. p. 6.
  37. ^ "General Notes". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. April 26, 1885. p. 7.
  38. ^ a b c "Marine Intelligence". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. September 4, 1889. p. 3.
  39. ^ "The Taffrail Log". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. July 17, 1888. p. 7.
  40. ^ "The Yacht Idler Sold". Detroit Free Press. September 4, 1889. p. 8.
  41. ^ "Resting at the "Fairy Isle"". Chicago Tribune. July 13, 1890. p. 7; "On Mackinac Island". The Inter Ocean. Chicago, Illinois. September 6, 1891. p. 9; "Chicagoans at Mackinac Island". Chicago Tribune. July 17, 1892. p. 10; "Visitors Are Their Prey". Chicago Tribune. August 21, 1892. p. 12.
  42. ^ "Damage to Cudahy's Yacht". Chicago Tribune. August 24, 1893. p. 6.
  43. ^ "General Sporting Notes". Chicago Tribune. June 22, 1894. p. 11.
  44. ^ "General Marine News". Buffalo Courier. July 4, 1894. p. 8.
  45. ^ "Benton Harbor and Vicinity". Chicago Tribune. August 19, 1894. p. 14.
  46. ^ "Mutiny on a Yacht". Chicago Tribune. May 13, 1895. p. 1.
  47. ^ "General Sporting Notes". Chicago Tribune. April 11, 1895. p. 11.
  48. ^ "With the Men Who Sail for Fun". Chicago Tribune. May 5, 1895. p. 33.
  49. ^ "Priscilla Wins Easily". The Chicago Chronicle. July 5, 1895. p. 5.
  50. ^ "Idler Goes to Cleveland". Detroit Free Press. October 6, 1899. p. 3; "Coal Scarce at Ohio Ports". The Plain Dealer. October 10, 1899. p. 8.
  51. ^ a b "Its Mother". The Cleveland Press. July 16, 1900. p. 2.
  52. ^ "Idler Was in Good Condition". The Plain Dealer. July 8, 1900. p. 1, 6.
  53. ^ "Yachting". The Plain Dealer. December 6, 1899. p. 8.
  54. ^ a b "Found in the Cabin". The Cleveland Leader. July 16, 1900. pp. 1, 3.
  55. ^ "About the Town". The Plain Dealer. June 15, 1900. p. 4.
  56. ^ "Yacht Capsizes, Six Drown". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 8, 1900. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  57. ^ "The Yacht Idler Gives Up Three of Her Dead". The Cleveland Press. July 10, 1900. p. 1.
  58. ^ "Idler Now Within Sight of the Shore". The Cleveland Press. July 14, 1900. p. 2.
  59. ^ "Idler Is Inside the Breakwater". The Plain Dealer. July 15, 1900. p. 1.
  60. ^ "Baby Was Found in Idler's Cabin". The Cleveland Press. July 16, 1900. p. 2.
  61. ^ "Yacht Idler Moved". The Cleveland Press. October 18, 1900. p. 6; "The Idler Laid Up". The Cleveland Leader. October 18, 1900. p. 8.
  62. ^ "Idler to Be Rebuilt". The Plain Dealer. October 4, 1901. p. 8.
  63. ^ "Idler Yacht Stripped". The Plain Dealer. October 5, 1901. p. 8; "Idler Still at Fairport". The Cleveland Leader. October 5, 1901. p. 3.
  64. ^ "Much Damage to Vessels". The Plain Dealer. January 23, 1904. p. 4.
  65. ^ "The Idler Sinks Again". The Bucyrus Evening Telegraph. March 24, 1904. p. 1.

Bibliography

[edit]

Bellamy, John Stark (2010). The Last Days of Cleveland: And More True Tales of Crime and Disaster From Cleveland's Past. Cleveland: Gray & Company. ISBN 9781598510676.

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Idler (ship, 1865).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Idler_(yacht)&oldid=1294963810"