Besides the yacht America, to which I have referred in a previous chapter, there were other American yachts which have made some noise in the world, but in a different way. I allude now to the yacht Wanderer, which had a very startlin’ career.
The Wanderer was launched about twenty-four years ago, and was considered at that time “a big thing” in every respect. She was big in size, for one thing, two hundred and forty-three tons measurement, keel ninety-five feet, twenty-six feet beam, and hold ten feet. Then she was big in point of expensive style of furnishin’. Her cabin was as fine as a Fifth avenue parlor, and she was a perfect gem to look at.
Her first owner was J. D. Johnson. She belonged to the New York Yacht Club, but was never entered for any one of the regular races, as she could have to give too much time allowance to the other yachts, owin’ to her measurement and canvas. But as a pleasure yacht she was considered twenty years ago “the boss.” One Winter her owner and a party of bachelor friends went in her to the West Indies, Havana, New Orleans and other Southern ports, and had the highest kind of a high old time. The cruise was a perfect “ovation,” as the papers would say, and the ladies at every port went wild about her. An invitation to sail in her was considered the highest kind of social honor, and the girl who had such an “invite” held up her head a good deal higher than the girl who hadn’t. After this trip, however, her owner kind of got tired of yachtin’, and sold the Wanderer to a man named Corrie–William C. Corrie–who was a member then of the New York Yacht Club.
Somehow, nobody ever exactly knew how, the Wanderer ceased bein’ a regular yacht after Corrie got her, and before long she became about the very worst thing a yacht could possibly become–worse than bein’ a pirate, if possible–she became a slave ship, an out-and-out slaver, engaged in the runnin’ off of negroes from the African coast, and sellin’ ‘em into slavery.
For a while the people didn’t believe the stories about the vessel, and thought they were all yarns, but pretty soon the United States authorities got interested in the matter and found out they were all true.
One dark night, when The Wanderer had over three hundred poor black devils aboard, off the Southern coast, a United States man-of-war gave chase to her and fired at her. But the Wanderer showed the man-of-war her heels and was soon out of range then. Then the yacht, or slaver, made for the coast as quick as she could, and got rid of her negroes without interference. All the three hundred negroes were sold into slavery, and the captain made a good pile of money off of human flesh–regular blood money it was, indeed.
But this sort of thing wore out at last, and the United States authorities took possession of the Wanderer and her career of cruelty was over.
The exposé, of course, made a great stir all over the country, and especially in New York. The matter was “dodged” a while by the members of the New York Yacht Club, naturally enough, but it couldn’t be kept quiet. It wasn’t one of those things that could be kept quiet for long, so finally the New York Yacht Club held a meetin’, and the matter was brought up before it in the regular shape. There was only one thing to be done, and the club did it at once, and swallowed the bitter pill with as much dignity as possible.
Its members passed a resolution that the name of the yacht Wanderer be erased from the list of vessels belongin’ to the club, and that William C. Corrie, proprietor of the yacht and member hitherto of the club, be expelled.
Along with this resolution there was passed a sort of lecture to Corrie for violatin’ the laws of his country and for shockin’ the moral sense of the community. I don’t know whether the lecture did him any good, but the bein’ expelled from the club certainly did him a lot of harm.
The matter itself has long been forgotten, but it is interestin’ to remember as a curious part of the history of what people call the good old times.
A few years before the Wanderer made a stir, another yacht called the North Star made a noise in the world a while. The North Star was a steam yacht of the largest size, built for old Commodore Vanderbilt to make a pleasure trip in. She left New York harbor one fine mornin’ in May, just twenty-eight years ago, with the biggest kind of a family party on board. There was the old Commodore himself, not so very old then; his first wife, eighteen of his sons, daughters, sons-in-laws and daughters-in-law, a doctor and a clergyman. All New York harbor was alive to see the yacht start, and everybody who stayed at home envied Vanderbilt his trip. The Commodore was as lucky in his pleasure as in his business. There never was a yacht that had a better passage, or a party on board that enjoyed itself more.
The run across the Atlantic was made in the pleasantness kind of weather, and touchin’ Southampton, the party went to London, Liverpool, Rome, Naples, Copenhagen, Gibraltar–everywhere, in fact, the Commodore spendin’ money like water, payin’ all expenses, and living like a prince. The people turned out to see the American yacht as a curiosity, and in every way the excursion was first-class. “Vanderbilt’s luck” followed Vanderbilt’s yacht from first to last.
Then there was another New York yacht that I may mention, the schooner yacht Edith. R. B. Forbes owned her at first, then he sold her as a pilot boat to some South American parties. The Edith was the finest yacht belongin’ to the New York Yacht Club that ever visited South America carryin’ the flags of the country and the club. She sailed far up the Uruguay River, carryin’ the American colors in this direction further than they had ever been carried before. The Edith made the trip from Boston to Montevideo in forty-seven days, although she lost her mainmast on the way.
Then there was the yacht Julia, which was modeled by George Steers who also modeled the America. She was owned by J. M. Waterbury, and bein’ of a model almost is fine as the America, won almost every race she was engaged in. She was a first-class sloop-rigged yacht of eighty-three tons. For five successive years the Julia won the first prize in the annual regatta of the New York Yacht Club. She won in the great match race twenty-one years ago with Bennett’s yacht, the Rebecca. A good deal of the Julia’s luck was due to the man who sailed her, just as a good deal of a racehorse’s luck is due to the jockey.
The Julia was sailed by Captain Dick Brown, probably the best man who ever sailed a yacht. He was the man who managed the America in her great race at Cowes. George Steers thought Brown was the best captain in America.
The Red, White and Blue was a little yacht, a very little yacht, that made a big stir some seventeen or eighteen years ago. She started from Whitehall slip for Europe under command of Captain Hudson. She was nothing but “a cockleshell” and she encountered stormy weather. But she crossed the broad Atlantic all the same. The crew consisted of two–one sailor and one captain. Then there was a dog, Fanny, but the dog couldn’t stand as much hardship as the men, and died on the voyage. The first news Hudson heard on reachin’ the other side was that the Great Eastern had just succeeded in layin’ the Atlantic cable. Reaching England, the Red, White and Blue became a regular sensation, and was visited by thousands. Up to that time she was the smallest vessel that had ever crossed the ocean.
It is a singular fact, yet not so singular, after all, that every vessel ever built by George Steers was fast, and one almost every race she might have on hand. He commenced as a boy by building a seventeen foot sailboat called the Martin Van Buren, that beat the Gladiator, considered till then the fastest sailboat in New York harbor. From that day till the afternoon he was thrown out of his wagon he kept on buildin’ fast boats and faster yachts. He was the right kind of a fast man.
[Editor’s notes: Author Erik Calonius recently (2021) issued a new edition of his book on the Wanderer: The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy that Set Its Sails. Drayton Gardens Press.]
