The Last Days of the Schooner America

The schooner America was a technological marvel and a child star. In the summer of 1851, just weeks after her launching at New York, she crossed the Atlantic and sailed to an upset win against a fleet of champions. Her achievement is what launched a certain event in 1870 – the America’s Cup.

Almost immediately after that famous victory, she began a decades-long run of adventure, neglect, rehabilitations, and hard sailing, always surrounded by colorful, passionate personalities. America ran and enforced wartime blockades. She carried spies across the ocean. And she was on the scene as yachtsmen and business titans spent freely and competed fiercely for the cup she first won.

To bring this unique story to life, Annapolis sailor David Gendell delved into archival sources and oral histories and interviewed some of the last living people who saw America at the Annapolis Yacht Yard. To learn more about this book, click here.