拍品專文
After the death of Sir Thomas Lipton in 1931, his yacht Shamrock V - with which he had made his last America's Cup challenge in 1930 - was purchased by the millionaire aircraft manufacturer Mr. T.O.M. (Tommy) Sopwith who, after racing her for two seasons, decided to challenge for the Cup himself. Shamrock V being deemed unsuitable, Charles Nicholson was commissioned to design a new J-class challenger and the boat was built in Camper & Nicholson's Gosport yard in 1933. Christened Endeavour and registered at 143 tons, she was 135¾. feet in length, with a 21½. foot beam and a 15 foot draught.
With the challenge issued and accepted, the new York Yacht Club had then to find a defender and they chose Harold Vanderbilt's new boat Rainbow. She had been designed by W. Starling Burgoss and built by the Herreshof Company with the America's Cup in mind; she was not however, the automatic choice of the N.Y.Y.C. and only won the pre-Cup trials against Yankee by the narrowest of margins. By comparison, Endeavour won eight out of her twelve trials and came second in three although in fact, both yachts were extremely well-matched and Sopwith began the Cup series with high hopes of bringing home the elusive trophy. Before the racing began there was tension between the teams, first over the question of weight handicaps and then over Rainbow's high-powered winch, and neither issue was satisfactorily resolved when the first race took place on 17 September 1934. Endeavour won it by over two minutes as she did the second race the next day. On that occasion, the race proved the fastest ever sailed over the Cup's triangular course and Endeavour won by fifty-one seconds. Unfortunately, her luck turned on the 20th and Rainbow won all the remaining races, two of them by substantial margins, even though there was considerable controversy over the result of the crucial fourth race on the 22nd.
By winning four of the six races Vanderbilt's Rainbow retained the Cup for New York for another term; it had been "a close run thing" however, and Sopwith was never reconciled to his defeat caused, or so he felt, by a lack of fair play on the American side.
With the challenge issued and accepted, the new York Yacht Club had then to find a defender and they chose Harold Vanderbilt's new boat Rainbow. She had been designed by W. Starling Burgoss and built by the Herreshof Company with the America's Cup in mind; she was not however, the automatic choice of the N.Y.Y.C. and only won the pre-Cup trials against Yankee by the narrowest of margins. By comparison, Endeavour won eight out of her twelve trials and came second in three although in fact, both yachts were extremely well-matched and Sopwith began the Cup series with high hopes of bringing home the elusive trophy. Before the racing began there was tension between the teams, first over the question of weight handicaps and then over Rainbow's high-powered winch, and neither issue was satisfactorily resolved when the first race took place on 17 September 1934. Endeavour won it by over two minutes as she did the second race the next day. On that occasion, the race proved the fastest ever sailed over the Cup's triangular course and Endeavour won by fifty-one seconds. Unfortunately, her luck turned on the 20th and Rainbow won all the remaining races, two of them by substantial margins, even though there was considerable controversy over the result of the crucial fourth race on the 22nd.
By winning four of the six races Vanderbilt's Rainbow retained the Cup for New York for another term; it had been "a close run thing" however, and Sopwith was never reconciled to his defeat caused, or so he felt, by a lack of fair play on the American side.