The 1885 Schooner Yacht Coronet

LOD: 133' Beam: 27' Draft: 12' Sparred Length: 190'
Sail Area: 8300 sq. ft.
Designers: C. & R. Poillon; William Townsend; Christopher Crosby
Built: 1885 at C. & R. Poillon, Brooklyn, New York

Many of Coronet's contemporaries have since vanished. They were sunk, grounded, or simply ruined by the ravages of time. Remnants, models, and photographs of these vessels may still exist, yet Coronet has miraculously stayed afloat. She exists today as a symbol of a gilded age, an exuberant time in American history when a grand yacht was a symbol of great fortune and success that joined its owner's coterie of elegant domains: the townhouse on Fifth Avenue, the summer cottage in Newport. Built in 1885 for American industrialist Rufus T. Bush, Coronet had the luxe of a fine home — but one that was meant to travel to faraway shores. 

During her first five years, Coronet earned fame as a trans-Atlantic race winner and circumnavigated the globe as one of the first U.S.-registered yachts to round Cape Horn. A series of owners have used Coronet for different ends: for pleasure cruising, racing, scientific exploration, and even as a global voyager for a missionary cause. The storied schooner yacht is now being restored on the IYRS campus with work on the hull and deck scheduled to begin in Summer 2008.

Read about Coronet's History and Milestones.