Thistle (yacht)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thistle in drydock, as photographed by John S. Johnston.

Thistle was the unsuccessful Scottish challenger of the seventh America's Cup in 1887 against American defender Volunteer.

1 Design
2 Career
3 Specifications
4 References and External links

[edit] Design

The cutter Thistle was designed by George Lennox Watson and built by D. & W. Henderson & Company Meadowside, Partick on the Clyde, Scotland in 1887, for a syndicate of owners which included William Clark, John Clark, Andrew Coates, William Coates, James Coates, George Coates, J. Hilliard Bell, and William Bell of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club, and headed by James Bell. It was built of all-metal construction, with a teak deck. Thistle was skippered by John Barr.

[edit] Career

Thistle was built under conditions of great secrecy during the winter of 1886-7 and launched with its hull covered by a huge canvas. After winning or placing second in 13 of 15 Scottish regattas in its first year afloat, Thistle sailed to New York as the challenger in the 1887 America's Cup against the US defender, Volunteer. It lost both Cup races, and returned to Scotland in September 1887.

Following a few very successful years racing in Britain, Thistle was sold to the German emperor, Wilhelm II in 1891 for 90,000 gold marks and renamed Meteor. In 1895, it was sold to the German navy as a school yacht and renamed Comet. In 1921, the vessel was broken up.