Everybody loves a lady - and what a lady is Atlantic
by Lee Mylchreest on 13 Aug 2010
Atlantic at the beginning of the Transatlantic Race in 1905 - painting by Anthony Blake SW
I heard my father say 'What a lady!', and rushed to his magazine to look, but it was a sailing magazine, and he was staring at a classic boat. I'm not so miffed these days, specially when someone reincarnates such a lady as Atlantic, and has her sailing again, as elegant as the original.
Dutchman Ed Kastelein, who had already created or restored such famous yachts as Thendara, Aile Blanche, Borkumriff, Zaca a te Moana and most recently the Herreshoff racing schooner Eleonora, has had this legendary schooner built faithfully to the original.
The idea had been dismissed as being too much of a premium aspiration into classic yachts, but he started to collect illustrations and publications of the famous original and, assisted by yacht historian John Lammerts van Bueren, copies of dozens of drawings were gathered from various archives in the USA. Doug Peterson has acted as consulting naval architect warrantying the authenticity of the lines and floatation. The hull of the largest racing schooner ever having been rebuilt was commissioned in the autumn of 2006, and was in the water test sailing last month. Maybe in the not too distant future, she will be showing her colours again.
The original Atlantic, built of steel with no hydraulics and just ten crew, set the record for the transatlantic crossing at 12 days, 4 hours and 1 minute. A mono-hull record that would stand for 100 years. The schooner was the quintessential cruiser/racer. She could do 17 knots on her steam engine of 400hp, weighing 30 tons including boiler, exclusive fuel. Two generators provided for electricity.
The schooner measures 69.24 meters (227') overall, 56.43 meters (185') over the bows, excluding bowsprit and mizzen boom outboard of respectively 8.76 meters (28'8) and 4.05 meters (13'3). With her beam of 8.85 meters (29') and draft of 5.00 meters (16'5) her displacement is 395 tons. From the different sail plans of the original, the record setting 1905 rig of 1,720m (18,500 square feet) was chosen for the recreated yacht.
The record lasted for 75 years until 1980 when Eric Tabarly crushed it with Paul Ricard, the foiled trimaran.
Her History:
Commissioned by New York Yacht Club member Wilson Marshall, the Atlantic was launched in 1903. William Gardner, one of America's foremost designers of large yachts, designed her. From the moment Atlantic went to sea, it was clear that she was an exceptionally fast and beautiful schooner. When a yacht in 1903 hits twenty knots during her sea trials, she is a promising yacht, but even then nobody could imagine two years later this yacht would set a record that would stand unmatched for almost a century.
Unlike modern racing owners that often sacrifice all for speed, Wilson Marshall felt there was no reason to compromise on comfort. Unlike contemporary racing schooners, Atlantic was equipped with every imaginable luxury. Fitted out with the finest mahogany panelling, she had two steam driven generators powering up the electric lights, refrigerators and a large galley. On deck her halyard winches and primary sheet winches were steam driven too.
She had two double and three single staterooms, a lobby, a large full beam saloon, a dining room, a chart and gunroom, three large bathrooms and in the deckhouse there was a comfortable observation room. She had retractable chimneys, so while under sail the below deck steam heating, lighting and refrigerating systems could keep running. Atlantic's fo'c'sle accommodated her thirty-nine strong crew and officers, who would live aboard throughout the year.
During her first season Atlantic proved fast, winning both the Brenton Reef and the Cape May Cup hands down, but it was only in 1905 she made the headlines by winning the Kaiser's Cup, a Transatlantic race from Sandy Hook to the Lizard. Referred to as 'The last Great race of Princes' the entries for this race included all the yachts that the rich and powerful from Britain and America could send to sea. The legendary Captain Charlie Barr, who had already successfully defended the America's Cup three times, was hired to skipper Atlantic. Charlie Barr's determination to win was as legendary as his skills for driving the largest of yachts to the very limit. Therefore, he did, sailing 3006 miles in 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds. Atlantic's 24-hour record was 341 miles, an average speed of 14,1 knots. Uncountable attempts were made to break this record but it would hold firm until 1998, the longest standing speed record in the history of yachting.
Atlantic's story continued for another seventy-seven years with ownership passing through the likes of Cornelius van der Bilt and Gerald Lambert. She was used as a mother ship for other racing yachts like Vanity, for America's Cup defenders and the J-Class Yankee on her voyage to England. Her guest book included the rich and famous of the world. She was simply the most famous and beloved racing schooner of all time.
Although after World War II Atlantic would never sail again, she refused to give up her existence. Somehow she was saved from the scrap yard on three different occasions, broke loose from her moorings, sailing back to sea without a man aboard and ended up used as a houseboat, a restaurant and a floating dock at a fuel station, until finally on 30th of January 1982, she was broken up at Newport News Boat Harbor, Virginia.
The new Atlantic is the first large yacht taking full advantage of the new fingerjointing technology in which the Royal Boogaerdt company near Rotterdam has specialised. This new technology provides for an incredibly beautiful and uncluttered teak deck, where all boards are invisibly joined to lengths of 13.20m.
At Absolute Projects in Portugal the deck hardware has been recreated using original plans and photographs.
Meanwhile the Harken company went out of their way to manufacture 36 all bronze custom winches in the style of the bygone days. Their commitment to creating something exceptional is just another example of the joy and good spirit around the project, where each and every supplier feels great pride and ownership on their part of the project.
You can see more of this remarkable project at www.schooner-atlantic.com
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