''Defiance'' was a yacht built by George Owen for a syndicate of New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston sportsmen headed by George M. Pynchon to compete in the trials to select the defender for the 1914 America's Cup. The outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914 caused the Cup races for that year to be delayed until 1920.

History

She was built for $63,000 at the

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest de ...

. The new design had problems from the beginning. Her sail spread was so great that the frail body, even with its load of lead as

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...

, could not stand the strain. Twice the designers reduced the sails and had her mast cut down in size. The yacht was withdrawn from the competition during the trial races. Commodore E. W. Clark, treasurer of the owning syndicate, bought out all the other interests in her in an attempt to rebuild or change her rigging so that she could race again. By this time over $100,000 had been spent on building and modifying her. By January 6, 1915 the yacht was sold as

scrap metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

. The boat contained seventy tons of lead in her keel.

Owners

*Commodore E. W. Clark of the Philadelphia Corinthian Yacht Club

References

{{reflist America's Cup defenders