Description
Impressive and rare example of a model English merchant sailing vessel, circa 1860, that plied the China Trade from England to Hong Kong. The ship has the sail rig of the Sandy Hook pilot boats, of which the “America” was the most famous example. “In 1851 a radical looking schooner ghosted out of the afternoon mist and swiftly sailed past the Royal Yacht stationed in the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the south coast of England, on an afternoon when Queen Victoria was watching a sailing race. As the schooner, named America, passed the Royal Yacht in first position, and saluted by dipping its ensign three times, Queen Victoria asked one of her attendants to tell her who was in second place. “Your Majesty, there is no second,” came the reply.” After beating all comers, the America became the model on which English fast merchant ships were based. Previously property of the original ship owner who commissioned this replica of his schooner, which sailed from the Suffolk coast to Asia.
