The sleeper from Yorkshire

The fine art of sailing on the Solent never ceases to produce surprises, says Martin Black

Anyone interested in the origins of yachting hopes that they will find some overlooked trifle which will prove to be an important part of the jigsaw puzzle which is the early history of our sport. One such item has now come to light to reveal another tussle between British and American yachts, just 17 years after the America won the 100 Guinea Cup.

A small firm of auctioneers, based in Yorkshire, was offering the oil painting shown below. It depicts a magnificent looking British schooner crossing the finishing line off the Squadron in Cowes. There was nothing on the picture to indicate her name or what the race was. Smoke from a cannon on the committee boat suggests that she has just won the race – certainly the masthead man up the foremast is waving jubilantly.

So who is she? The biggest clue is her long pennant – white with a light blue border. Most of the great schooners carried the owner’s flag. There was one exception – Cambria, built in 1868 by Michael Ratsey and owned by James Ashbury. Reference to Lawson’s History describes her pennant and confirms that it is indeed she!

Given the large number of onlookers, both on land and at sea, this was clearly an important race, but not a Queen’s Cup. Such races were only open to Squadron members, and Ashbury was not among the elite. He was trade – his company built railway carriages.

So what race could be depicted and who was the artist?

On 15 August 1868 the recently launched American schooner, Sappho (310 tons) arrived in Cowes from New York. She was owned by her builders, C & R Poillon of Brooklyn. Their plan was for her to race against the cream of the British fleet and after her certain success, sell her in the UK. On her arrival, her manager, PP Baldwin of the New York YC, promptly issued a challenge to all interested parties for a race around the Isle of Wight, the prize being a sweepstake into which, the contestants would contribute £20 each.

Four British boats responded – The schooners Aline (212 tons) and Cambria (185 tons) as well as the large cutters Condor (129 tons) and Oimara (183 tons). Just as had been the case when the America visited in 1851, it was agreed that the race should be round the Isle of Wight on 25 August.

At 132ft overall, Sappho was very much the dark horse, since her one race in America the previous year had been abandoned for lack of wind. The only guide to her form was that she had crossed to Cowes in the very fast time of 15 days. Now she was lined up against her more seasoned competitors. For the race, 17 hands were recruited in Cowes to supplement her own crew of seven.

It was a fine, sunny day, with a light west-northwesterly breeze and an east running tide. Sappho had the best start, with the tide under her. By Old Castle Point she and Cambria were making the running. Sappho took in her fore topsail and tried to set a gaff topsail, but the yard became jammed against the boom and broke off short.

Off Osborne House, the leaders were Aline, Condor and Sappho. The wind now fell very light, so that by Ryde, Sappho started to fall astern of the fleet. All was not lost, however, as on the run from No Man’s Lands Fort, Sappho brought up better wind than her rivals and “foaming like a mad horse, passed Oimara in a twinkling”, and was fast gaining ground on the others. Now off the eastern end of the island the wind freshened considerably, becoming a true northwesterly. As Sappho rounded Bembridge buoy it all went badly wrong. She carried away her martingale (the fore-and-aft stay running below the bowsprit, which counters the upward force created by the head stays).

Worse was to follow. Off Ventnor, an ominous crash was heard forward. Her huge jibboom was seen to snap short – about a foot from the cap, carrying the jib topsail and jib in one chaotic mass over her starboard side. It took 10 minutes to clear away the wreckage, by which time the British yachts had achieved a commanding lead, which they did not give up.

The British boats had a tightly fought race, but it was Cambria who won, beating Aline by nearly two minutes.

On 12 September 1868 The Field published the following: “FOR SALE – The American schooner SAPPHO of 310 tons, built in 1867; has magnificent accommodation, and is now in every way suited for foreign cruising. She is now fitted out and ready for sea. For particulars apply to the Secretary, Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes.” There were no takers and by that December Sappho had returned to New York.

Who was the artist? The amount of detail in the picture suggests that the artist was an eye witness. The level of execution was very high and those factors alone suggested that it could be either Thomas Dutton or his contemporary Arthur Fowles. It was Charles Miller of the eponymous auctioneers who tuned up trumps. He located an identical picture which had featured in a Christie’s auction in April 1993, which showed “Cambria winning at Cowes 1868” by Arthur Fowles. The only difference was that that pictured measured 28 x 39ins while my little treasure was 20 x 28ins. It seems that my picture must have been a finely wrought preparatory painting to be shown to the client before the larger version was worked up.