It is August 31, 1935. Off Dartmouth on the southwestern coast of England, four magnificent J-class boats are meeting up for the very last race of the season. For the crew of “Yankee”, most of whom from Tysnes, it will be a highly dramatic day at sea.

Just over twenty minutes after the start, “Yankee” is well underway and leads by two minutes. The boats are about to round a buoy at East Skerries. Suddenly, an unexpected and strong gust of wind hits the boat. Then disaster strikes. The mast of “Yankee” buckles forty feet above deck. The mainsail ends up in the sea and with it comes an extra jolt. This causes the mast to also break closer to the deck. The sleek racing yacht Yankee suddenly presents a sorry spectacle.

No injuries


Two men are swept overboard, but lifebuoys are quickly thrown out, and the sailors are rescued. The boat lies on its side for three minutes before the crew can cut the damaged rig, allowing the hull to right itself. Fortunately, the entire crew had stayed on the opposite side of where the rig fell, so no one is injured. But parts of the deck are damaged. The competing boats arrive quickly. They are “Endeavour”, “Shamrock” and “Velsheda”, all owned by Englishmen. The American tycoon Gerard B. Lambert had bought “Yankee” before the 1935 season. He is on board that day and waves the English boats on. But they all lower the mainsail and come to the rescue. Eventually “Yankee” is towed ashore in Dartmouth by a trawler. It turns out that none of the stays, windlasses or other supports for the rig are broken. The mast probably buckled due to an imbalance between a reefed mainsail and too much wind force on the two foresails.

Continued below photograph.

Gerard Lambert decides to leave the boat in England over the winter. It is towed to a shipyard in Gosport a little further east on the coast. There it will be repaired and made ready for the 1936 season.

Extreme vessels

The J-class boats are fitted with an enormous rig. The mast is 50 meters high, equivalent to a 15-story building. The sail area could be up to 710 square meters, almost like a handball court. Only very capable and experienced sailors can handle these boats. For the 1935 season, Lambert had spared no effort to succeed. A new steel mast was one of the investments. The year before, “Yankee” had lost by just one second to “Rainbow” in the contest to be the US defender of the America’s Cup. Earlier in the summer of 1935, the boat had won eight and lost nine races against “Endeavour”, owned by the famous English aviator and sailor T.O.M. Sopwith. Now Lambert was intent on setting things right in the final race. But it was not to be.

Coverage in The New York Times and telegram from King George

The dismasting of “Yankee” received a lot of attention, also in the media. The very day after the incident, September 1, it was reported on the front page of The New York Times. Lambert was a well-known businessman on the East Coast of the United States, and “Yankee” sailed under the auspices of Eastern Yacht Club, based in Marblehead near Boston. It was also here that the newly built “Yankee” was launched in 1930. In the New York Times article, Lambert praises the crew:

I’m glad it wasn’t any worse. I’m delighted with the fine manner in which the crew met the emergency. They behaved splendidly.

Mr. Lambert enjoyed being part of high society, also in England, anglophile as he was. This is probably part of the reason why he in Dartmouth received a telegram from Balmoral Castle shortly after the accident, with the following message:

I so much regret the accident which occurred yesterday in your race at Dartmouth when The Yankee lost her mast. I am very glad neither you nor any of your crew were hurt. George V

Sources:

The New York Times/Associated Press
The Classic Yacht Symposium 2010 – YANKEE: The Most Astonishing J
Cultural History for Tysnes, Volume 2
Thanks to Mark Eike, grandson of Magnus Lande, for kindly providing valuable material.

Top photo: Yankee presented a sorry spectacle as she was towed into Dartmouth harbour after her dismasting on August 31, 1935.