Current Exhibit

The America’s Cup and Newport, 1930-1983

The IYRS Maritime Library is pleased to announce its new exhibit,
“The America’s Cup and Newport, 1930-1983”. With photographs and films, blueprint plans, documents, flags and more, the exhibit focuses on life in the city during the twelve occasions these races came to Newport. The exhibit is free to the public, and the library is open Wednesday–Saturday, 12-5pm.

For over fifty years Newport was the home of the America’s Cup races. With three challenges in the 1930s, a hiatus during the 1940s and much of the 50s, the races returned in 1958, and from then on, approximately every four years, the racing world descended on Newport. The challengers in the 1930s, and again in 1958 and 1964, were British, but the others were all Australian, and it was the crew of Australia II in 1983 that finally won the Cup from the United States.

Colorful figures dot the history of these races, such as Sir Thomas Lipton in 1930 and Ted Turner in the 1970s. Lipton’s fifth and final attempt to win the cup in 1930, on Shamrock V,  was again unsuccessful, however his sportsmanship was widely appreciated in this country, and the exhibit includes both a  photograph of Lipton accepting a silver trophy modeled after the Old Stone Mill, presented to him on behalf of the grateful citizens of Newport, as well as his personal signal flag from Shamrock V. The exhibit includes numerous photographs of Ted Turner; in discussion with Ted Hood before the races, and victorious off Bannister’s Wharf, as well as walking triumphantly along America’s Cup Avenue, after winning in 1977.

For those interested in the cost of mounting an America’s Cup challenge, the exhibit includes the syndicate income and expense report for the 1964 defender Constellation, which includes such expenses as $76,807 to Sparkman and Stephens for design, $54, 938 to Ted Hood and others for sails, and $29,230 for the crew to stay at Castle Hill.

As well as many uncommon photographs of shipyards, celebrations, and behind-the-scenes happenings, the exhibit includes numerous films, ranging from a rare color film of the 1937 races, the 1958 trials and races (including Easterner, Weatherly, Columbia and Sceptre), and the 1962 and 1964 races with Weatherly, Gretel I, and Constellation. Many of these were either filmed by or come from the collection of the Olympic sailor and boat builder George O’Day, who himself was a crew member on Weatherly in 1962 and Intrepid in 1967.

The exhibit also includes an annotated blueprint for Starling Burgess’s Rainbow, a blueprint of his design for the “Park Avenue” boom, photographs and correspondence from the crew of Shamrock V, signed books by Harold Vanderbilt, a crew photograph album of Sceptre, and much more.

Sculling along the Newport waterfront, still from a film, 1958 

 

Endeavour II racing, still from a film, 1937

 

Sceptre’s cockpit, still from a film, 1958

 

Annotated blueprint of Rainbow, 1930