Defender Limited 25"

Dimensions: 25" H x 4" W x 24" L
Item #: D0504

SOLD FULLY ASSEMBLED - JUST PULL OUT OF THE BOX AND DISPLAY
NO masts to assemble, NO rigging to tie, NO wrinkled sails, NO hassles!

SOLD FULLY ASSEMBLED - THIS IS NOT A KIT
25" H x 4" W x 24" L (1:62 scale)

This newly designed Limited Edition museum-quality scale replica Defender yacht is offered exclusively by Handcrafted Model Ships, and includes a numbered Certificate of Authenticity signed by HMS Founder and Master Builder Richard Norris, as only 250 will ever be made. Accurate in almost every detail to the original Defender sailboat.

The Limited Edition Defender Sailboat features amazing accuracy, quality and craftsmanship:

-   Authentic cloth American flag
-   Accurate deck planks stained to match the actual Defender sailboat
-   High quality solid brass cleats
-   Accurately scaled solid metal ship wheel
-   Wood structures on the deck that feature intricately painted windows
-   A scale tied-down lifeboat on the stern of the deck to mimic the actual Defender America's Cup yacht
-   The hull is meticulously painted the actual colors of the original Defender America's Cup yacht. Look closely on the blue hull and you can see the individual planks and wood grain
-   High quality sails with accurate rigging: The sails are slightly starched to hold their shape and a higher quality and higher thread-count material is used, similar to that of the actual Defender yacht at the time it sailed. We offer three unique sail materials that are matched to the different eras of model yachts we offer.

Defender was the 1895 America's Cup defender.

Design

Defender was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1895. It was Herreshoff's second victorious America's Cup defender design.

Defender was a sloop with all-metal construction: steel, aluminum, and manganese bronze. It was owned by William Kissam Vanderbilt, Edwin D. Morgan and C. Oliver Iselin, and skippered by Henry C. Haff.

Career

Defender defeated the New York Yacht Club's Vigilant then went on to defend the cup against British keel cutter Valkyrie III. Following the contest, Defender was towed to New Rochelle where it remained for another four years without sailing. It was rebuilt to race trials against the 1899 America's Cup defense candidate, Columbia. Defender was broken up in 1901.