Defender (yacht)

Defender as photographed by John S. Johnston on July 20, 1895, six weeks before the 1895 America's Cup.

Defender was the 1895 America's Cup defender.

Design

Defender was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1895. It was Herreshoff's second victorious America's Cup defender design.

Defender was a sloop with all-metal construction: steel, aluminum, and manganese bronze. It was owned by William Kissam Vanderbilt, Edwin Dennison Morgan and Charles Oliver Iselin, and skippered by Henry C. Haff.

Career

Defender defeated the New York Yacht Club's Vigilant then went on to defend the cup against British keel cutter Valkyrie III. Following the contest, Defender was towed to New Rochelle where it remained for another four years without sailing. It was rebuilt to race trials against the 1899 America's Cup defense candidate, Columbia. Defender was broken up in 1901.

Specifications

• Overall length: 37.5m
• Length at water line: 27.17m
• Beam (width): 7.03m
• Draft: 5.81m
• Displacement: 151.5 tonnes
• Sail area: 1134.3 m2

References and external links

• Herreshoff Marine Museum
• America's Cup Ac-clopaedia
• John S. Johnston's Yacht Photography of the 1890s