CHALLENGER OUTSAILED

Shamrock III. Lost in Dense Fog Misses Finish Line. Small Fleet to Cheer the Winning Yacht.

Sept. 03, 1903 - Reliance won her third race from the third Shamrock yesterday, and the reward of her three victories is the title.

No sooner had Galatea followed in the wake of Genesta as a defeated challenger than Albion's sons set out for another trial for the cup. This time the challenge came from Scotland, the Royal Clyde Yacht Club sending a letter proposing a race in 1887 on behalf of Mr. James Bell, with a boat of about the size of the Mayflower.

In 1893,the New York yachtsmen went to Herreshoff with orders for two cup-defence vessels, and he produced Vigilant, centre-board, and Colonia, a keel boat.
Colonia was owned by a syndicate composed of Archibald Rogers, Frederick W. Vanderbilt, William K. Vanderbilt, F. Augustus Schermerhorn, J. Pierpont Morgan, and John E. Brooks.

First Herreshoff's design of a series of 5 winners

When the question of building a cup defender came forward yachtsmen naturally looked for a designer worthy of the highest accomplishment of which the country was capable. The star of Burgess had set, but in its place had risen that of Nathaniel G. Herreshoff, of Bristol, R. I., designer of the forty six-footers Gloriana and Wasp and other racers with good records.

Gallery "Sir Thomas Lipton"

On April 17th, or just a month after she was launched, Shamrock III was dismasted in a race with Shamrock I. in Weymouth Bay on the south coast of England. She was carrying a club topsail at the time when a puff hit her, and the whole rig crumpled up and went over the side. Several of the crew were injured, and one man was knocked overboard and drowned.

W. Starling Burgess was born in 1878, and was an aeronautical engineer and naval architect. His father, Edward Burgess, designed the America's cup defenders PURITAN, MAYFLOWER and VOLUNTEER. Orphaned by the age of 12, after his parents died within months of each other (typhoid Fever, pneumonia), Burgess was raised by relatives, and mentored by many of his father’s legendary colleagues, including George Lawley Jr,...

William Burton had sailed in more than 1000 boats in British waters. For twenty five years, yachting has been his favorite sport, but instead of making a play of yachting he has made it a study just as much as he has his business. He is one of those men who never stay at anything. Everything that he undertakes he enters into with heart and soul. For that reason he is also master of a pack of hounds and during the season is an ardent huntsman.

Artist Franklyn Bassford came naturally to marine art, and was a prominent participant with the famous lithography house of Currier & Ives, painting original works of racing yachts. One of his first known canvases for this company was a scene of the classic America’s Cup 1885 match of PURITAN and GENESTA, his initial year with the firm.