The ''Yampa'' was an American ocean-going cruising

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

for pleasure use from 1887 to 1899. The yacht was originally built for Chester W. Chapin, a rail baron and

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from Massachusetts. It completed several ocean cruises with no accidents. It passed through several hands and ultimately was purchased by

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

of Germany as a birthday present for his wife. He had another larger yacht built based on the design of the ''Yampa'', which was named the ''

Meteor A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

''.

History

The ''Yampa'' was a yacht originally designed by naval architect Archibald Cary Smith for Chester W. Chapin, and the steel-keeled schooner was constructed in 1887 by the firm

Harlan and Hollingsworth Harlan & Hollingsworth was a Wilmington, Delaware, manufacturing firm that built railroad cars and became one of the first iron shipyards in the United States. It operated under various names from 1837 to 1904, when it was purchased by Bethlehem ...

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, four years after Chapin died. She was considered the best in her class until 1891. The ''Yampa'' was overall, at the water line, and her draft was . She had a registered tonnage of 162 tons net and 170 gross, with a beam of . She participated in various events related to the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

, a trophy award for best in a

match race A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams cons ...

between two sailing yachts of different countries. American banker

James Hood Wright James Hood Wright (known professionally as J. Hood Wright; November 4, 1836 – November 12, 1894) was an American banker, financier, corporate director, business magnate, and reorganizer of US railroads. He began as a bookkeeper but his manage ...

used the ''Yampa'' for pleasure cruising in the summer of 1894. Chapin sold her that November to Richard Suydam Palmer who had memberships in various yacht clubs, and he refitted her in December 1894. The ''Yampa'' sailed for Gibraltar on January 18, 1895, and from there she went to

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

in Africa. She then sailed to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and other ports in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. She made several ocean cruises from 1894 through 1895 with no significant accidents, and sailors referred to this as "sea-kindliness." In February 1896, Palmer traveled with the ''Yampa'' for three months to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, stopping at Bermuda, Barbados, Trinidad, St. Thomas, and Nassau. Cuthbert S. Thompson, who was a cousin of Palmer, committed suicide in Bermuda aboard the yacht while Palmer's guest in March on the West Indies trip. Palmer took her to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in England in 1897 on the occasion of

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the Diamond jubilee, 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to cel ...

. From there, he went through the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and was towed to

Kiel, Germany Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Bay of Kiel ...

by way of the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (, until 1948 called in German the ) is a fresh water canal that links the North Sea () to the Baltic Sea (). It runs through the Germany, German states of Germany, state of Schleswig-Holstein, from Brunsbüttel to the Holtenau di ...

. There the yacht anchored close to the German Emperor's yacht SMY ''Hohenzollern''. The emperor liked the schooner and sought to purchase it. Palmer had left his business card on the SMY ''Hohenzollern'' and was informed that the emperor talked all day about how he liked the American vessel. The emperor immediately then took steps to acquire her for himself, and bought the yacht from Palmer in December 1897. The schooner was a birthday present for his wife

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; 22 October 1858 – 11 April 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Biography Early life and fa ...

. The ship went to Southampton to be refitted to the emperor's luxurious specifications. The German Royal family took many cruises on the ''Yampa'' which carried the Empress's flag; she was renamed ''Iduna'' and participated in several European

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 wa ...

s. In 1898, she competed in the international Emperor’s Cup regatta. That same year, she was outfitted to race against the schooner ''Rainbow''. The emperor had another yacht built based on the design of the ''Yampa'', using Smith as the naval architect, and he had the yacht constructed in America instead of Germany. The new vessel ''Meteor III'' was an enlarged and improved version of the ''Yampa'', and was the end result of a sequence of previous vessels designed and built by Smith. ''Meteor III'' was built in New York harbor in 1902, and christened by

Alice Roosevelt Longworth Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (February 12, 1884 – February 20, 1980) was an American writer and socialite. She was the eldest child of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and his only child with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Lo ...

, the daughter of President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. When the ''Meteor III'' was ordered in 1901 the ''Iduna,'' previously the ''Yampa'', became the property of the emperor's wife. The ''Iduna'' participated in various races into 1909. The ''Induna'' and the ''Meteor III'' were sold in the early part of 1920 and the proceeds as a wedding present went to German crown prince Wilhelm, the heir to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yampa Royal and presidential yachts 1887 ships Ships built by Harlan and Hollingsworth Individual sailing yachts Schooners of the United States Sailing yachts built in the United States Ships built in Wilmington, Delaware Wilhelm II