Defender (1895 yacht)

Defender was the victorious United States defender of the tenth America's Cup in 1895 against challenger Valkyrie III.^[2] 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

Defender on July 20, 1895, six weeks before the 1895 America's Cup.
Yacht club	New York Yacht Club
Nation	United States
Designer(s)	Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Builder	Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Launched	1895
Owner(s)	William Kissam Vanderbilt, Edwin Dennison Morgan, Charles Oliver Iselin
Fate	Broken up in 1901
Racing career
Skippers	Henry C. Haff
Notable victories	1895 America's Cup 1895 Defender Trials
America's Cup	1895
Specifications
Displacement	151.5 tons
Length	123 ft 0 in (37.49 m) LOA 89 ft 1.5 in (27.165 m) LWL
Beam	23 ft 1 in (7.04 m)
Draft	19 ft 1 in (5.82 m)
Sail area	12,602 sq ft (1,170.8 m2)[1]

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. Lord Dunraven of the Valkyrie alleged cheating by the Defender's crew.^[3]

Following the contest, Defender was towed to the residence of C. Oliver Iselin in New Rochelle, New York where it remained docked for four years without sailing. In 1899 J. Pierpont Morgan and W. Buttler Duncan rebuilt Defender to race trials against the America's Cup defense candidate, Columbia.^[4][5]

The yacht was towed to Herreshoff's Bristol yard for restoration to enable it to race in the selection trials for the 1899 defence. Following the selection trials, Defender returns to its mooring and was finally broken up in 1901.

Model

Model of Defender on display at the MIT Museum

• 
  overall view, showing the hull (including the keel) and rigging
• 
  Bow
• 
  Mast
• 
  Aft
• 
  Rigging