Henrietta (ship)

Schooner Yacht Henrietta
History
United States
Name	Henrietta
Owner	James Gordon Bennett Jr. United States Navy (1861-1865)
Operator	James Gordon Bennett Jr. Samuel S. Samuels
Builder	Henry Steers
Launched	May 18, 1861
Commissioned	1861
Decommissioned	1862
Out of service	Sold in 1870
Fate	Sank in December 16, 1872
General characteristics
Class and type	Schooner
Type	keel yacht
Displacement	205 tonnage by custom-house measurement
Length	107 ft 0 in (32.61 m) on deck
Beam	23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)
Draught	9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
Depth	10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Propulsion	schooner sail
Crew	16 men
Armament	one 24-pound Dahlgren gun

Henrietta was a 19th-century wooden yacht schooner, designed and built in 1861 by Henry Steers for James Gordon Bennett Jr. She was acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into the U.S. Revenue Service assigned to support the fleet blockading the ports of the Confederate States of America. The Henrietta won the first mid-winter transatlantic yacht race across the Atlantic between three American yachts.

Construction and service

Schooner Yacht Henrietta was launched from the shipyard of Henry Steers at Greenpoint, Brooklyn on May 18, 1861. She was designed and built by Henry Steers for James Gordon Bennett Jr. as a pleasure yacht.^[1] She was modelled by William Tooker as a keel yacht of 205 tons.^[2]

Purchased by US Navy

Yacht Henrietta attached to the Revenue Service.

In 1861, Bennett volunteered his newly built yacht Henrietta for the U.S. Revenue Marine Service during the Civil War. At the same time, Bennett was commissioned as a third lieutenant in the Revenue Marine Service and assigned to the U.S. Henrietta. She patrolled Long Island looking for rebels until February 1862 when she was sent to Port Royal, South Carolina.^[3] She carried a 24-pound Dahlgren gun with 16 men.^[4] On March 3, 1862, Bennett commanded the Henrietta as part of the fleet which captured Fernandina, Florida and raised the American flag.^[5] Bennett and the Henrietta was decommissioned and returned to civilian life in New York in May 1862.^[6]

In September 1865, the Henrietta lost to the yacht Fleetwing in a race around Cape May Lightship by 1 hour and 19 minutes.^[7]: p7 In October 1865, she was defeated by the Vesta over the same course.^[2]

Transatlantic race

The 1866 Transatlantic Yacht Race with Fleetwing, Henrietta, and Vesta by James E. Buttersworth.

In what was billed as the "Great Ocean Yacht Race", when three wealthy American men took their yachts on a mid-winter transatlantic race across the Atlantic in December 1866. The three yachts were the Vesta owned by Pierre Lorillard IV, the Fleetwing owned by George and Franklin Osgood and the Henrietta owned by the 21-year-old yachtsman James Gordon Bennett Jr. Each yachtsman put up $30,000 in the winner-take-all wager. They started from Sandy Hook Light, during high westerly winds and raced to The Needles, the furthest westerly point of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, before reaching the seaport Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Bennett's Henrietta won with a time of 13 days, 21 hours, 55 minutes, with Captain Samuel S. Samuels as the skipper. The Fleetwing and Vesta took over 14 days to reach Cowes.^[8][9] After his win, Bennett bought the rival yacht, the Fleetwing, for $65,000 and named her the Dauntless.^[2]

After the race, on January 1, 1867, Commodore McVickar of the New York Yacht Club and Mr. Bennett, of the Henrietta had a personal meeting with Queen Victoria at Osborne House.^[10][7]

End of service

In 1870, the Henrietta was sold for $16,000 to Captain Nickerson of Boston for fruit trade in West Indies.^[11] She was later sold again and used in the African trade and then transferred to New Orleans and the Bay Island Fruit company.^[12]

On December 16, 1872, the Henrietta was lost off the coast of Roatán, Honduras on her return voyage to New York during a heavy gale. Her crew were saved.^[2][13]

References

1. "About The War". Times Union. Brooklyn, New York. 18 May 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
2. Prerce, Henry (1894). History Of Flag Of The United States Of America And Of The Naval and Yacht-Club Signals, Seals, And Arms, And Principal National Songs OF The United States. p. 710. Retrieved 2021-06-10. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. "NH 59584 Schooner Yacht Henrietta". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
4. "Special Dispatch to the Boston Journal". Bangor Daily Whig and Courier. Bangor, Maine. 9 May 1861. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
5. "Bennett, James Gordon, Jr". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
6. "Resigned". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. 2 May 1862. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
7. Loubat, Joseph Florimond (1887). A yachtsman's scrap book: or, The ups and downs of yacht racing. New York, Brentano Brothers.
8. Thompson, Winfield M. (1902). The Lawson History of the America's Cup. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 46. ISBN 9780907069409. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
9. "The Ocean Yacht Race". New York Daily Herald. New York, New York. 15 Jan 1867. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
10. "Audience With the Queen". New York Daily Herald. New York, New York. 1 Jan 1867. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
11. "Arrival Of The Yacht Henrietta in Boston". The New York Herald. New York, New York. 12 Apr 1870. Retrieved 10 Jun 2021.
12. "The Henrietta". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. 9 Jul 1872. p. 3. Retrieved 10 Jun 2021.
13. "Loss Of The Yacht Henrietta". The Hampshire Advertiser. Southampton, Hampshire, England. 12 Feb 1873. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-06-10.