Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk
NEW ENGLAND, USA
America’s Cutty Sark on the move
The restoration of the 131ft (40m) schooner Coronet, which has been happening in fits and starts since 1995, has entered a new phase, with the plan to move it to the Henry du Pont Preservation Shipyard, part of the Mystic Seaport Museum in nearby Connecticut. The plan is to complete the 1885 yacht in three years.
The restoration of has long been known about but completion has proved elusive for the last 27 years, despite a stream of great boatbuilders and suitably high-profile owners, like the late Bob McNeil, who, with boatbuilder Jeff Rutherford, was also behind the restoration of the magnificent steam yacht . At that time, around a decade ago, the plan was to restore the great is often cited as being America’s most historic yacht – the last grand survivor of her era. Her story certainly bears out the claim. She was designed by William Townsend and built (by the New York City yard of C&R Poillon) for Rufus T Bush, who put up a $10,000 challenge against all-comers for a transatlantic race, a challenge that was taken up by Caldwell Hart Colt’s and his yacht . On 28 March, 1887, The devoted its entire front page to ’s victory. Rufus and his son Irving T Bush then circumnavigated the globe on their schooner, becoming the first registered yacht to pass Cape Horn from east to west in the process.
