Lot 87: SHANE COUCH B.1963

signed l.l.:Shane Michael Couch

oil on canavs

100 by 150 cm., 39 1/2 by 59 in.

Sappho was designed and built in 1867 by Richard Poillon who was also her first owner. She sailed across the Atlantic to Cowes the following year and was put up for sale but no buyer came forward. On her return to the United States she was purchased by William P. Douglass and re-fitted in the South Street dockyard of Manhattan. The new specifications proved highly successful and the present work shows her at the height of her powers.

Columbia was launched in 1871, the year of the race depicted, she was a considerably larger yacht at 183 feet long.

Gracie, built in 1868 by James E. Smith of Nyack New York, is renowned for the longevity of her racing career which lasted from 1868-1910.

Dauntless, owned by J.G. Bennett Jnr. is the oldest yacht in the painting, built in 1865. She crossed from Queesntown to New York in 1870 in 23 days 7 hours.