The NYYC Defender Syndicate-  RESOLUTE

As early as August 27, 1913 correspondence between Capt. Nat and George Cormack discuss plans for a meeting to which Nat will bring “the two models” so one can be accepted. He does visit the syndicate in New York  between the 1st and 4th of Sept., but no record of the meeting has been found.¹

We do know that Nat's Naval Architecture and Engineering Notes include design data for four Cup defender models (A to D) written over the 2½ weeks beginning the 8th of September 1913.² The surviving RESOLUTE half-model “D” is the last to be carved. All are for a 75-foot waterline, but vary in overall length, quarter beam length, beam, bottom of keel length, displacement and wetted surface. Ballast to displacement ratios range from 50 to 59%. One, Model “C”, is not a carved model, but is the half-model for Alexander Cochran's racing schooner WESTWARD adjusted to a new scale and increased in linear dimensions. (Perhaps this was  Nat's look at a defender for Cochran and not a design for the NYYC syndicate.)

Construction of RESOLUTE on the ways starts on Nov. 7th. By then Nat has completed his rigging  strain calculations, details of the rigging to be ordered and the  list of sails. On Dec. 12th, within a few hours of pouring the lead keel he discovers an error in his calculations- the keel is “much to light”. By Dec. 18th he has decided to throw away the manganese bronze keel plates and cast added lead on top of the present casting. This is done the day after Christmas and new keel plate sections are cast the following day. On Saturday Jan 31,1914 he records the final lead keel weights and leaves for Bermuda (to free himself from the debiltating effects of the cold and dampness on his rheumatism) the next Tuesday, after first meeting with the syndicate in New York.³

His Bermuda stay is a short seven weeks and he returns to see the hull plating completed and direct the launching at 6:30 PM Saturday April 25th. (All HMCo Cup boat launchings were on a Saturday evening to minimze impact on both the workday and workweek.) She has white topsides, a burnished bronze underbody, a keel sheathed in bronze and wood rudder. RESOLUTE resembles a NY 50 with short overhangs; “she looks as though she were built to get all the allowance she could from the others, both of which are larger”.⁴  RESOLUTE is trialed on May 3rd and delivers on May 12th following the fitting of a new centerboard.

John Palmieri