Yampa (yacht) explained

Yampa
Nat:
Designer:Archibald Cary Smith
Builder:Harlan & Hollingsworth
Owner:Chester W. Chapin, Richard Suydam Palmer, Kaiser Wilhelm II
Length:135feet
Beam:27feet
Draft:13.8feet

The Yampa was an American ocean-going cruising schooner yacht for pleasure use from 1887 to 1899. The yacht was originally built for Chester W. Chapin, a rail baron and U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. It completed several ocean cruises with no accidents. It passed through several hands and ultimately was purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany as a birthday present for his wife. He had another larger yacht built based on the design of the Yampa, which was named the Meteor III.

History

The Yampa was a yacht originally designed by naval architect Archibald Cary Smith for Chester W. Chapin,[1] and the steel-keeled schooner was constructed in 1887 by the firm Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware, four years after Chapin died. She was considered the best in her class until 1891.[2] The Yampa was 135feet overall, 110feet at the water line, and her draft was 13.8feet. She had a registered tonnage of 162 tons net and 170 gross,[2] with a beam of 27feet. She participated in various events related to the America's Cup, a trophy award for best in a match race between two sailing yachts of different countries.[3] [4] [5] [6]

American banker James Hood Wright used the Yampa for pleasure cruising in the summer of 1894.[7] Chapin sold her that November to Richard Suydam Palmer who had memberships in various yacht clubs, and he refitted her in December 1894.[8] The Yampa sailed for Gibraltar on January 18, 1895, and from there she went to Tunis and Algiers in Africa. She then sailed to Malta and other ports in the Mediterranean Sea. She made several ocean cruises from 1894 through 1895 with no significant accidents, and sailors referred to this as "sea-kindliness." In February 1896, Palmer traveled with the Yampa for three months to the West Indies, stopping at Bermuda, Barbados, Trinidad, St. Thomas, and Nassau.[9] [10] Cuthbert S. Thompson, who was a cousin of Palmer, committed suicide in Bermuda aboard the yacht while Palmer's guest in March on the West Indies trip.[11] [12] [13]

Palmer took her to Southampton in England in 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.[14] From there, he went through the North Sea and was towed to Kiel, Germany by way of the Kiel Canal. There the yacht anchored close to the German Emperor's yacht SMY Hohenzollern. The emperor liked the schooner and sought to purchase it. Palmer had left his business card on the SMY Hohenzollern and was informed that the emperor talked all day about how he liked the American vessel. The emperor immediately then took steps to acquire her for himself,[15] and bought the yacht from Palmer in December 1897.[16] The schooner was a birthday present for his wife Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. The ship went to Southampton to be refitted to the emperor's luxurious specifications. The German Royal family took many cruises on the Yampa which carried the Empress's flag; she was renamed Iduna and participated in several European regattas. In 1898, she competed in the international Emperor’s Cup regatta.[17] That same year, she was outfitted to race against the schooner Rainbow.[18]

The emperor had another yacht built based on the design of the Yampa, using Smith as the naval architect, and he had the yacht constructed in America instead of Germany.[19] [20] The new vessel Meteor III was an enlarged and improved version of the Yampa, and was the end result of a sequence of previous vessels designed and built by Smith.[21] Meteor III was built in New York harbor in 1902,[22] and christened by Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. When the Meteor III was ordered in 1901 the Iduna, previously the Yampa, became the property of the emperor's wife.[23] [24] [25] The Iduna participated in various races into 1909.[26] [27] The Induna and the Meteor III were sold in the early part of 1920 and the proceeds as a wedding present went to German crown prince Wilhelm, the heir to Kaiser Wilhelm II.[28]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. News: . The Yacht Tampa [sic]

    Mr. Chapin's Steel Schooner Receiving the Finishing Touches ]

    . . 16 . Brooklyn, New York . December 18, 1887. .
  2. News: . A Famous Schooner . . 3 . Akron, Ohio . August 24, 1895 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180203181557/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17010961/akron_daily_democrat/ . February 3, 2018 .
  3. News: . Amphitrite Winner . The Evening World, page 3 . New York, New York . August 14, 1895 . .
  4. News: . Getting in Line . Democrat and Chronicle, page 1 . Rochester, New York . August 15, 1895 . .
  5. News: . History of the Cup . The Morning Astorian, page 4 . Astoria, Oregon. September 8, 1895 . .
  6. News: . Great Racers to Cross the Atlantic . Evening Bulletin, page 9 . Honolulu, Hawaii . March 25, 1905 . .
  7. News: . A Famous Schooner . Akron Daily Democrat, page 3 . Akron, Ohio . August 24, 1895 . .
  8. News: . Orders American Yacht . . 5 . Little Rock, Arkansas. June 24, 1901 . .
  9. News: . Yacht Yampa Arrives . 1 . . Brooklyn, New York . May 6, 1896 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180205072641/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17152408/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/ . February 5, 2018 .
  10. News: . Yachts and their owners . New York Tribune . May 7, 1896 . .
  11. News: . Suicide of Johnson in Bermuda . Chicago Tribune . Chicago, Illinois . February 22, 1896 . .
  12. News: . General News Summary . The Marion County News. Hamilton, Alabama . March 5, 1896 . .
  13. News: . SAD CRUISE OF YACHT YAMPA.; Cuthbert S. Thompson Shoots Himself in a Fit of Insanity . The New York Times . New York, New York . February 22, 1896. .
  14. News: . Yachting Notes . The Sun . New York City . July 26, 1897 . .
  15. News: . Downey Describes Yacht . . 11 . New York, New York . February 26, 1902 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180203181439/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17024293/newyork_tribune/ . February 3, 2018 .
  16. News: No new yacht for the Kaiser.; The Yampa Rechristened and Transferred to the German Flag. . March 5, 1898 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 3. .
  17. News: Yachting: The Emperor's Cup . Country Life Illustrated . July 17, 1897 . 2 . 39–40 . February 4, 2018.
  18. News: FOREIGN RACING SCHOONERS.; The American Yacht Yampa Will Be Fitted to Race Against the New Schooner Rainbow . January 27, 1898 . The New York Times . .
  19. News: . Meteor III . Quad-City Times, page 1 . Davenport, Iowa . February 26, 1902 . .
  20. News: . Picture of the Meteor. The Sabetha Republican-Herald, page 6 . Sabetha, Kansas . March 6, 1902 . .
  21. News: . The Meteor's Evolution . The Indianapolis Journal . Indianapolis, Indiana. February 2, 1902 . .
  22. News: . Kaiser's American-Built Boat . The Jennings Daily Times-Record, page 3 . Jennings, Louisiana . March 10, 1902 . .
  23. News: . Will Have A Yankee Boat /Emperor William of Germany Orders a Schooner Yacht from A. Cary Smith of New York. The Boston Globe . 4 . Boston, Massachusetts. July 17, 1901. .
  24. News: . Captain Karpf in Command Meteor . The Washington Times . 11 . Washington, District of Columbia. February 2, 1902. .
  25. News: . Greatest Yacht Owner:the Kaiser . Buffalo Morning Express . 12 . Buffalo, New York. October 9, 1904. .
  26. News: . Billy is Strong on the Sea / The Kaiser aims at Yachting Supremacy . The Nebraska State Journal . 18 . Lincoln, Nebraska. October 9, 1904. .
  27. News: . Emperor's Motorboat Wins at Kiel . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 11 . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . June 30, 1909. .
  28. News: . Wilhelm the Bridegroom . New York Tribune . 64 . New York, New York. November 5, 1922. .

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