The historic Gosport Regatta will sail once again on September 19, from the Piscataqua River Basin. You can follow the fleet of sailing boats from on board the Thomas Laighton as they race to Star Island. The Laighton is the official Gosport Regatta spectator boat. Join the celebration marking the return of this historic 1873 race.
The famous schooner America was one of 50 yachts competing in the Gosport Regatta, celebrating the opening of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island in the summer of 1873.
The first Gosport Regatta of 1873 was sponsored by John Poor, owner of the Oceanic Hotel, and was won by the famous yacht America.
Tickets at $125 per person and $225 per couple are available by contacting Star Island Corporation at (603) 430-6272. Ticket includes passage on the Laighton, awards reception, dinner, and the traditional Pelican Show. You will board the Thomas Laighton at 1:00 and return to Portsmouth Harbor at approximately 9:00 p.m.
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The poster for the 2010 Gosport Regatta reads: "1873: The famous schooner America was one of 50 yachts competing in the Gosport regatta, celebrating the opening of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island." This information had been taken from the recent book, Images of America: Isles of Shoals, which captioned a stereoscopic image: "John Poor organized a sailing regatta for the grand opening of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island in 1873. Oscar Laighton notes that 500 boats came. More than 50 participated in the race, which started at the Isles of Shoals, went around Boon Island, and back. The famous yacht America won the race.
In Ninety Years at the Isles of Shoals: Oscar Laighton wrote about John Poor’s new hotel that opened in June 1873. Poor "had sent invitations to every yacht club in the country to meet at the Oceanic and race for a valuable cup. Five hundred yachts were soon in our harbor. The race was around Boon Island, thirteen miles to the northeast, and back round a spar buoy at Appledore. The race was won by the yacht America."
Writing fifty years after the Isles of Shoals regattas, Oscar Laighton seems to have merged the events of 1873, 1874 and 1875 – the opening of the Oceanic, the 500 yachts, the race around Boon Island and a spar buoy or stake boat, and the victory of the America. Indeed, the Oceanic Hotel opened in 1873, but that summer, there was no mention in the Portsmouth Herald of a yacht race at the Isles of Shoals. The newspaper reported, however, that General B. F. Butler’s America was cruising in the area and planning to visit the Shoals.
New York Times articles describe one yacht race day in 1874 and three races in 1875. The August 20, 1874 "regatta at the Isles of Shoals" had 75 entries in three classes, but not the America. It was "a lovely day and a fine breeze," and "steamers and tugs, crowded with spectators, came from all parts of the coast."
The July 24, 1875 event was likely the event pictured in the Images of America book – a stereoscopic view of that date’s "Oceanic Regatta" is available through the Internet. Six first-class yachts raced a triangle marked by Boon Island and a stake boat, but only the last-place yacht rounded the second point and thus won the race, and the fourth-fastest America was among those disqualified. John Poor announced two more races for the Oceanic Punchbowl, and on August 1 and again on August 2, the America bested the Resolute in the two-yacht match races.
Oscar Laighton may have muddled the specifics of the long-ago Oceanic Regattas, but it’s a gala bit of Star Island heritage, and we wish Gosport Regatta racers and afterguard "a lovely day and a fine breeze."
