CHAPTER VII
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES
New York in 1679—The earliest American schooner—American origin of the term—The first American lighthouse—New York in 1717—The yacht Fancy—New York in 1746—The American lumber trade restricted to sloops—Influence of this rule upon shipbuilding—Captain Schank's sliding keel—American independence—First appearance of the American flag in the Orient—Stephen Girard—The Enterprise—American sloop—Voyage to China and back—Captain Shackford crosses the Atlantic alone—First American vessel to circumnavigate the globe—Discovery of the Columbia River—Voyage of the sloop Union round the world—North River sloops—The leeboard—First American yacht, the Jefferson—Evolution of the centre-board—Centre-board patent of 1811—Baltimore clippers—Privateers—Frigates—The Constitution—Exploits of the American Navy—Life on the ocean.
AFTER the occupation of New York by the British in 1664, most of the Dutch settlers continued their residence, and exerted a considerable influence upon the social customs of the time. To this day, many of their names and the names of their old landmarks are familiar about New York. Hence, it seems probable that they continued also to build and own yachts, although no record of them has been preserved.
The first schooner built in America, and, no doubt, in the world, was constructed by Andrew Robinson at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the year 1713. As we have seen, two-masted vessels with fore-and-aft sails were built in Holland early in the
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