The
Niagara was built in 1895 by the
Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in
Bristol, Rhode Island for $12,500 for prominent New York financier,
Howard Gould, a son
Jay Gould, the enormously wealthy railroad magnate and financial speculator.
Racing history During her first racing season of 1895, the
Niagara participated in roughly fifty races of the leading yacht clubs of
Great Britain. Her skipper was John Barr, the former commander of the
Thistle, and a crew, which included sailors from the United States and Norway. She was in the twenty-rating class and sailed the
Royal Thames Yacht Club regatta in the Channel, and the
Royal Harwich Yacht Club regatta at
Harwich. Among the awards won were
Lord Dunraven's
Castle Yacht Club Challenge Cup, a silver tea set and tray from Robert Cross for the Royal Western Yacht Club (in
Paisley), silver punch bowls from the
Clyde Yacht Club (at
Argyll and Bute),
Royal Corinthian Yacht Club (at
Burnham-on-Crouch), and
Royal Albert Yacht Club (in
Portsmouth); silver loving cups from the Royal Western Yacht Club of England (in
Plymouth) and the West of Scotland Yacht Club in addition to the Maitland Kersey Cup (from the
Castle Yacht Club). Captain Barr returned to America in October 1895, leaving the
Niagara at
Fay's yards in
Southampton for the winter. Gould returned to America the following month in November 1895 aboard the American liner
SS St. Louis. The following year in 1896, she again competed in the English races and won twenty of forty races she participated in, and second at others. After the 1896 season, Gould returned to America in November 1896 again aboard the SS
St. Louis. Although the
Niagara did well, Gould swore he would never race in the British regattas again (due to issues with the Yacht Racing Association), instead favoring the Kiel and Baltic regattas instead. In 1960, she was broken up in England. ==See also==