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Volunteer (yacht)

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Volunteer
turning Sandy Hook Lightship during the America's Cup race on Sept. 27, 1887. Photograph by John S. Johnston
Yacht clubNew York Yacht Club
Nation United States
Designer(s)Edward Burgess
BuilderPusey & Jones Shipbuilding Company
Launched1887
Owner(s)General Charles J. Paine
FateBroken up in 1910
Racing career
SkippersHank Haff
Notable victories1887 defender trials
1887 America's Cup
America's Cup1887
Specifications
Displacement130 tons
Length108 ft 0 in (32.92 m) (LOA)
86 ft 0 in (26.21 m) (LWL)
Beam23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Draft10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Sail area8,981 sq ft (834.4 m2)

Volunteer was an American racing yacht built in 1887 for the America's Cup races. It was the victorious American defender of the seventh America's Cup match that same year against Scottish challenger Thistle.

Design

Volunteer, a centerboard compromise sloop, was designed by Edward Burgess and built by Pusey & Jones Shipbuilding Company at Wilmington, Delaware in 1887 for owner General Charles J. Paine of the New York Yacht Club.

Volunteer had an all steel frame and hull, with a deck of white pine.

Career

Volunteer easily beat the 1886 America's Cup defender Mayflower during the defender trials for the 1887 America's Cup and won both Cup races on September 27 and 30, 1887, against . Volunteer was skippered by Captain Hank Haff with the assistance of Captains Terry, Berry and L. Jeffreys.

Soon after the Cup races, Volunteer was bought by John Malcolm Forbes (who also owned Puritan) and was altered as a schooner in 1891. It was broken up at a New York junkyard in 1910.