Hoisting RELIANCE's Topsail, 1903

black-and -white negative

PHOTOGRAPHS - GLASS NEGATIVES
Burton, James
USA, NY, New York
1903
emulsion on glass
overall: 8 x 10 in.; 20.32 x 25.4 cm

8x10 glass negative photographed by James Burton in 1903 in New York Bay, New York during a practice session. Image of the cutter RELIANCE showing the deck of the cutter from the starboard side of the crew raising the topsail with the main sail already raised. A tender that carried the men in suits who are on deck rests to the left in the image. RELIANCE was a 143' cutter and the largest America's Cup defender ever built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Rhode Island from designs by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff for the defense against the British SHAMROCK III in 1903. She was bronze plated over steel frames, flat sections, a fin keel & long overhangs. She also placed a number of winches below deck, both halyards & sheets led below. Syndicate owned by Harold Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and others. The syndicate manager was C. Oliver Iselin. Her captain was Charles Barr. RELIANCE had 2 steering wheels, a hollow rudder which could be filled or emptied, special winches, shifting gears, and other new design changes and carried a crew of 64. RELIANCE was broken up after the 1903 race and scrapped. Handwritten on negative sleeve: "Reliance deck view." Written on negative itself in the margin: "667" and "Reliance". CREDIT LINE: Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection, James Burton photographer.

B.1984.187.667

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection, James Burton photographer