Sélection Bibliorare
270 [LA FAYETTE, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de] Document manuscrit de la main de John Magnus (?) ou de l’un des “Whitehall Oarsmen" [9 juillet 1825] 1 p. in-4 “FREE TRADE AND SAILORS RIGHT". LES RAMEURS VICTORIEUX OFFRENT À LAFAYETTE LEUR CÉLÈBRE BARQUE : L’AMERICAN STAR. IL LA RAPPORTERA AU CHÂTEAU DE LA GRANGE. EXEMPLAIRE DE LA FAYETTE : DE L’HERMIONE À L’AMERICAN STAR Message d’adieu des Whitehall Oarsmen ......
Estimation :
6000 / 10000
Adjudication :
Invendu
Description
“FREE TRADE AND SAILORS RIGHT". LES RAMEURS VICTORIEUX OFFRENT À LAFAYETTE LEUR CÉLÈBRE BARQUE : L’AMERICAN STAR. IL LA RAPPORTERA AU CHÂTEAU DE LA GRANGE. EXEMPLAIRE DE LA FAYETTE : DE L’HERMIONE À L’AMERICAN STAR Message d’adieu des Whitehall Oarsmen : “General Lafayette Permit the Whitehall oarsmen to present to you the race Boat American Star which was successfully distinguished for it fleetness. We wish you to convey it to Your residence in France where it may occasionally remind you of the greatful friends you have left behind, of the sincerity of the Mechanics of a Country which you assisted to liberate and also our great Naval Motto Free trade & Sailors rights" The famous rowing boat, called American star, was built by John and William Chambers. Whitehall gigs are named for the Manhattan street where they were first built more than 250 years ago. George Washington used them to evacuate troops from Brooklyn during the Battle of Long Island, a surreptitious middle-of-the night operation on Aug. 29, 1776, that saved the Continental Army from destruction. Still now, an annual race commemorates the December 1824 contest between two gigs : one the British, Thames River champion, the Dart, the other the Brooklyn-built gig, the American Star. $1000 was placed on that race. Added to political factors between the two nations, it drew out 50,000 spectators : one third of the city’s population and the largest crowd up to that time to witness an American sporting event. The American Star, rowed by Whitehall boatmen and coxed by a fourteen year old named John Magnus, decisively won the race. At once the elegant American Star was a celebrity, a symbol of the country’s engineering skills and the vigor of its people. When an appropriate gift was sought for General Lafayette in July 1825, the beautiful boat was presented by young John Magnus with his statement of the great motto of seamen during the War of 1812 : “Freedom of the seas and sailors right", that we can read on this manuscript - and which was affirmed by Lafayette. The American Star is today the oldest American craft still in existence today, and one of the most elegant. It is housed in the Château de La Grange with the winning rowers names visible on its four seats. In the famous magazine for yachtsmen Wooden Boats (1996), John Gardner, of Mystic Seaport, describes the 25-foot (7.6 m) American Star. During the mid 20th century the boat was rediscovered and restored. It lines have been preserved at Mystic Seaport (Museum of America and the Sea, www.mysticseaport.org) where an exact replica was built in 1974-1975, and still rows at Seaport events. RÉFÉRENCES : C. Dodd, The Story of Wolrd rowing, 1992, p. 312 -- cf.
