Atlantic Yacht Club
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The Atlantic Yacht Club is a family-oriented yacht club located on the shores of
Gravesend Bay Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is the ...
in south
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. A storied member of the New York sailing community, the club is perhaps best known for its contributions to New York sailing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it featured prominently as one of the leading yacht clubs of its day. The Atlantic Yacht Club's facilities have moved several times over its history: the first facility was located at the foot of Court Street on Gowanus Bay in
Gowanus, Brooklyn Gowanus ( ) is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 6. Gowanus is bounded by Wyckoff Street on ...
; it subsequently moved to a site at the foot of 55th Street in the neighborhood that subsequently became known as
Sunset Park, Brooklyn Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, bounded by Park Slope and Green-Wood Cemetery to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the ...
. In 1898 it moved to perhaps its most famous club-house, located in Seagate. Seagate is located on the western end of
Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
, and the club facilities were located on the northern, inland, side of Coney Island facing Gravesend Bay. For many years, the Atlantic Yacht Club was one of the largest and most prestigious
yacht clubs A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The club's current location on Gravesend Bay faces out toward its former Sea Gate site. A family oriented sailing club, the Atlantic Yacht Club sponsors an active junior sailing program.


History

The Atlantic Yacht Club was organized in 1866 by a breakaway group from the earlier Brooklyn Yacht Club. Within five years its membership rolls eclipsed those of the Brooklyn Yacht Club, and the club developed a reputation as an active corinthian sailing organization that attracted many of Long Island's most prominent citizens and soon drew in members from throughout the region, as well as prominent sailors who frequented the active New York sailing season. The Atlantic Yacht Club rapidly developed into one of the most active yacht clubs in New York, hosting regular
regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
s and competing against the leading yacht clubs in the region. The club's annual Atlantic Race Week and Lipton Cup regatta regularly drew sailors from around the world, competing in multiple classes. The club was also a driving force behind the formation of the
United States Power Squadrons The United States Power Squadrons (USPS) DBA America's Boating Club, is a non-profit educational organization, founded in 1914, whose mission is to improve maritime safety and enjoyability through classes in seamanship, navigation, and other rela ...
in 1914. The club's original clubhouse was a barge that was moored at the foot of Court Street at the end of Gowanus Creek, facing Gowanus Bay. Gowanus Creek, and the Erie Basin in
Red Hook, Brooklyn Red Hook is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, New York, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Car ...
served for several decades as a center of the New York sailing and yachting community, and several important boat yards were located in the area. As time passed, however, increasing industrialization in the area led many to relocate to other sites around New York Harbor and, indeed, locations in Long Island Sound. In the early 1880s, the club acquired a waterfront farm property on 55th Street in Yellow Hook, Brooklyn. The neighborhood subsequently assumed the name of Bay Ridge, a name suggested by club-member, former Commodore and leading Brooklyn florist, James Weir. The converted clubhouse was soon replaced by a larger facility constructed at the end of the club's new pier at the end of 55th Street. A marina and anchorage were established at the same site at that time. A new clubhouse at Seagate was designed by Frank Tallman Cornell and built in 1898 on Poplar Avenue overlooking Gravesend Bay (the site of the old clubhouse becoming the main yard of the
Morse Dry Dock and Repair Company The Morse Dry Dock and Repair Company was a major late 19th/early 20th century ship repair and conversion facility located in New York City. Begun in the 1880s as a small shipsmithing business known as the Morse Iron Works, the company grew to ...
). The move to the new clubhouse was driven in large part by Commodore
George Jay Gould I George Jay Gould I (February 6, 1864 – May 16, 1923) was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. He was himself a railroad executive, leading the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (DRGW), Western Pacific Railroad (WP), and the Manhatta ...
, the prominent financier and a son of
Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...
. The club attracted New York socialites and aristocrats, including prominent members of the Auchincloss, Dodge, Elsworth, Fish, Gould, Hoagland, Iselin, Vermilye and Voorhees families, among many others.
Sir Thomas Lipton Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet (10 May 18482 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup ...
, J.P. Morgan and the
Earl of Dunraven Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (usually referred to as Earl of Dunraven) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 February 1822 for Valentine Quin, 1st Viscount Mount-Earl. Quin had already been created a Baronet, of Adare ...
(the British challenger for the America's Cup, with his yacht ''Valkyrie'') were among the club's prominent members. Known for corinthian sailing, for many years the club sponsored one of the most active racing programs in New York Harbor, holding races almost weekly through the summer season.
Sir Thomas Lipton Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet (10 May 18482 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup ...
, a five-time unsuccessful British challenger for the
America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...
, typically stayed at the club during his America's Cup campaigns. His yacht ''
Shamrock A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...
'' docked at the Atlantic Yacht Club during the Cup campaigns. The Atlantic Yacht Club played a major role with respect to the famous
Kaiser's Cup Kaiser's Cup was a yachting race across the Atlantic between Sandy Hook, New Jersey (USA) and The Lizard (Cornwall, England). This was a famous sailing race of the day, and was won by the yacht ''Atlantic'' which held the record for nearly a centur ...
transatlantic race of 1905. The race was initially proposed on September 18, 1903, at the Sea Gate club-house during a dinner to commemorate the retirement as club Commodore of
Robert E Tod The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
. Initially intended as a snub directed at the New York Yacht Club's largely steam-powered yachting fleet, at Lipton's recommendation the regatta was encharged to the New York Yacht Club. In due course, the regatta was won by the yacht ''
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
'', sponsored by the
New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...
, and skippered by
Charlie Barr Charles Barr (11 July 1864 – 24 January 1911), was an accomplished sailing skipper who three times captained winning America's Cup yachts. Early life Charlie Barr was born in Gourock, Scotland in 1864 and first apprenticed as a grocer before w ...
. Barr, a three-time winner of the America's Cup, was one of the leading sailors of his day. The ''Atlantic'' sailed to victory in record time, establishing trans-Atlantic mono-hull records that stood for 100 years. The AYC's entry, the yacht ''Thistle'', a schooner built in 1901 by New York's Townsend & Dourney, and owned and skippered by Robert E Tod, finished 10th. Tod, a New York investment banker, was the only owner-skipper in the regatta. The Atlantic Yacht Club's Seagate clubhouse burned down in 1933. The club soldiered on for a number of years thereafter, becoming inactive in the 1950s. The club was revived several decades later, in the early 21st century. Today, the AYC operates as a sailing club located off Bay Parkway, directly across Gravesend Bay from its earlier Sea Gate location, with a social facility in Brooklyn Heights.


References

*''Atlantic Yacht Club: New York Harbor, 1895'' (1895) by Yacht Club Atlantic Yacht Club Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (Sep 24 2009)


External links

*
''Coney Island: Lost and Found'' By Charles Denson''Sea Gate Remembered'' By Arnold Rosen''Appleton's Dictionary of Greater New York and Its Neighborhood''
* ttp://www.jsjohnston.org 1890s Yacht Photography of J.S. Johnstonbr>
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=P9NPkoZWSpwC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=%22atlantic+yacht+club%22+sale&source=web&ots=mdmGds1vy9&sig=xs6d02Yi7DCxM8UnneOYceitoXM&hl=enAtlantic: ''The Last Great Race of Princes'' by Scott Cookman"]
"Fire destroys club house"
{{Coord, 40.697098, -73.992420, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title 1866 establishments in New York (state) Sailing in New York City Sea Gate, Brooklyn Sports clubs established in 1866 Sports in Brooklyn Yacht clubs in the United States