|
 |
 |
 |
||
The November 1896 issue of Outing magazine published a long article about the Amorita including plans of its hull and the following excerpts:"Last year the swift Amorita was launched from the yards where the Iroquois had been built, having been designed by the self-same hand."
"The Amorita was designed by A. Cary Smith, and built for William Gould Brokaw, by Harlan & Hollingsworth at Wilmington. She was launched in December, 1895."
"She is of steel construction. Her under-body shows a deep rockered keel of the Valkyrie type, the forefoot from the water-line to the centerboard being almost straight. Just under the water-line, where the stem joins the fore-foot, there is a slight upward curve. The ballast is all inside, cast in a gutter keel. The centerboard houses below the cabin-floor, permitting of an arrangement which places the saloon amidships in the deepest and widest part of the vessel. The extreme draught, without the centerboard, is thirteen feet, or three feet greater than that of Emerald and only 2.4 feet less than that of Colonia. She has a good beam for a yacht of her type, with slightly flaring topsides and a rather slack bilge. The chief characteristics of the Amorita’s form, however, are her bluntly rounded bow, her long, heavy stern-overhang, and the fullness of her bows and quarters above the water-line. Comparing the line of her stem, from water-line to stem-head, on the sheer plan, with the same line on Emerald or Colonia, the stem of the Amorita has a heavy rounded curve approximating the quadrant of a circle where the others approach a straight line. It looks as though the bow had rammed something hard. ..."
"Until a few weeks ago the Amorita was the fastest boat in her class. Last year, she and the Emerald were the fastest schooner yachts afloat. Between the two they swept everything before, or, rather, left everything behind them, in their respective classes. Amorita made her début at the beginning of last season and at once proceeded to gather in all the prizes in the seventy-five-foot class. She was never outsailed by a yacht of her own class, and during her first season, she was beaten only by the larger vessels Emerald and Lasca. ..."
The September 1897 issue of Outing noted about one race that "Amorita, owned by Mr. W. Gould Brokaw, also crossed the line, but having no competitor, excited no interest."Brokaw was still the owner of Amorita by 1902.
American millionaire William Gould Brokaw (1846 - ?) of New York City was the son of William Vail Brokaw (founder of Brokaw Brothers clothing house and director of the Bowery Savings Bank) and his wife Elizabeth Foote Gould. He owned a mansion "Nirvana" on Great Neck in Long Island as well as a town house on Madison Avenue. He also owned and raced an automobile built by Louis Renault in 1904. He was married to Mary Blair, and their messy divorce in 1909 was splashed across the pages of the Washington Post.
Can you provide any information about Amorita? Please contact us.