Description

 The 1876 races for the America’s Cup featured the last appearance in the contest of the two-masted schooners. Henceforth the races would be between single-masted sloops. The challenge came from Canada in the form of the Countess of Dufferin, entered by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto, and she was much jeered at when she arrived in New York as having “freshwater written all over her”. Designer Capt. Alexander Cuthbert modeled her on American practice, and her final suit of sails was recut in New York.

In the event the defender, John Dickerson’s New York Yacht Club Madeleine won both her races on 11th and 12th August 1876 and so retained the Cup.

Original painting in gouache on board