"If we can fly today in the San Francisco Bay, this is because there have been "adventurers" like Walter Greene and Mike Birch.
To understand the future, we must know and respect the past."
Loïck PEYRON (Voiles et Voiliers July 2014)
GENESTA having been docked for overhauling, and before being refloated, she was measured by John M. Wilson, Measurer of the Club; who performed the same office for Puritan.
Three American yachts of the cup class were put in commission at the opening of the sailing season of 1901. One was Columbia, defender of 1899, the other was a new “Herreshoff" boat built for a New York Yacht Club syndicate and called Constitution, and the third was built in Boston, for Thomas W. Lawson, and was called Independence. An authentic detailed description of this boat is given in another chapter of this book.
The story of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company must start with John Brown Herreshoff. At the time of his birth, the Herreshoffs were living at Point Pleasant Farm on Poppasquash Neck. He showed a great deal of energy and ambition for a lad, having his own rope walk, a workshop and a foot lathe.
Mark Greene was an American maritime painter known for his yacht races and America’s Cup paintings.
He is one of the founders of the American Society of Marine Painters.
Dick Brown was a New York and Sandy Hook pilot who sailed the schooner-yacht AMERICA to England in the summer of 1851, and was at her helm when she successfully raced for the trophy that was to become known as the America's Cup.
Pilots from ports like New York and Boston were a special breed. They sailed in small schooners and managed in all weather conditions to shepherd big ships into the harbor.