The ‘Camilla’, of the Royal Yacht Squadron, when owned by Henry Montagu Upton, 2nd Viscount...

John Lynn (fl.1826 – 1838). Oil painting on canvas, The ‘Camilla’, of the Royal Yacht Squadron, when owned by Henry Montagu Upton, 2nd Viscount Templeton (1799-1863), off Cowes by John Lynn (fl.1826 – 1838), 1857/60. A schooner in a choppy sea in full sail, sailing to the right, a small yacht on the right, and another schooner on the left in the distance; land in the background occupying the whole of the skyline, in the foreground on the left is a red buoy; blue cloudy sky. The schooner yacht America was designed by George Steers for John C. Stevens, the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and was built in 1851 in New York to taken on Britain’s formidable Royal Yacht Squadron. The America challenged the squadron for the Hundred Guineas Cup. Commodore Stevens entered the race around the Isle of Wight on 22 August 1851. The event was attended by Queen Victoria. When the America crossed the finishing line, her lead was so great that the Queen asked for the name of the vessel in second place and received the reply. ‘Your Majesty, there is no second’. The trophy that Stevens won became known as The America’s Cup, the world’s most prestigious yachting prize. The America was sold to the Hon. John de Blaguiere in 1851 and in 1856 he sold her to Henry Montagu Upton, 2nd Viscount Templeton (1799-1863). In 1857 she was in the Royal Yacht Squadron under the name of Camilla. In 1860 she was owned by a Mr Decie, who sailed her to the Mediterranean and Australia, and in 1863 she was assigned to the United State Naval Academy, Annapolis. The Academy placed the yacht in a shed and left it to decay. The shed collapsed in a storm in 1942, and in 1945 the remains of the shed and ship were destroyed. Another painting of the yacht 'America' by John Fraser is in the National Maritime Museum Collection, Greenwich (BHC3192). Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (Accredited Museum)