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Lot Essay
The 545-ton schooner Lady Torfrida was built in 1888 for the New York banker McEvers Bayard Brown. Brown was the founder member of the "Jekyll Island Club" - a group of wealthy Americans who in 1886 jointly purchased Jekyll Island, off the Georgia coast, and created a secluded vacation resort for their exclusive use. Early members also included names such as Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Goodyear and Tiffany.
But at the age of 37, Brown sailed to England never to return to his homeland again. Unrequited love is said to have been the reason, and at the time there were reports that anyone who even mentioned the word "America" in his presence was dismissed. His home port, which he rarely left, was Brightlingsea in Essex, where he lived aboard his other vessel, the fabulous steamship The Valfreyia. Brown was affectionately known as "The Hermit of the Essex Coast", and became a legend in his own lifetime, famed for his benificence and largesse, and for his idiosyncratic lifestyle. When he died in 1926 Brown's remains, as he had requested, were returned to America on his beloved Valfreyia. The Lady Torfrida was sold by Bayard Brown to the Grand Duke Michael of Russia prior to 1907.
But at the age of 37, Brown sailed to England never to return to his homeland again. Unrequited love is said to have been the reason, and at the time there were reports that anyone who even mentioned the word "America" in his presence was dismissed. His home port, which he rarely left, was Brightlingsea in Essex, where he lived aboard his other vessel, the fabulous steamship The Valfreyia. Brown was affectionately known as "The Hermit of the Essex Coast", and became a legend in his own lifetime, famed for his benificence and largesse, and for his idiosyncratic lifestyle. When he died in 1926 Brown's remains, as he had requested, were returned to America on his beloved Valfreyia. The Lady Torfrida was sold by Bayard Brown to the Grand Duke Michael of Russia prior to 1907.