1886
Mayflower was the second defender designed by Edward Burgess. During its first trials, Puritan (1885) defeated it easily.

The American selection trials for the defense were sailed on 21st and 25th August 1886. Four contenders raced. Two "old" racers: Puritan (Edward Burgess 1885 victorious design) and Priscilla (A. Cary Smith 1885 design already beaten the previous year). Two new boats were also there: Atlantic, a classic sloop modeled for the NYYC by Philip Elsworth, and Mayflower.

During the two races, Mayflower respectively crushed Atlantic and then Puritan and the Boston boat was immediately selected to defend the Cup.

America's Cup races: September 9 to 11, 1886, New York
Best two out of three races.
Mayflower vs. Galatea

Alternating Inside & Outside Course as in 1871, but first leg to leeward and return leg to windward

Races: two sailed.

Results:
Mayflower beats Galatea by two wins to nil.

- September 9, 1st race, 32.6 miles, Inside Course: Mayflower beat Galatea by 12 minutes 02 sec in corrected time.
- September 11, 2nd race, 40 miles, Outside Course: Mayflower beat Galatea by 29 minutes 09 sec in corrected time.

1887
Galatea owner, Lieutenant William Henn, challenged General Paine for a private match sailed on spring 1887, off New York. It was raced in a strong breeze. Again Mayflower defeated the British challenger.

Mayflower raced the selection trials for the 1887 Cup defense. It was Volunteer that was selected, the third Burgess defender!

Mayflower was soon sold in New York, and returned to Boston.

1889
Mayflower was again in New York. It was owned by F. Townsend Underhill, NYYC member. He ordered Edward Burgess to alter it as a schooner. It was sold to a Boston yachtsman and raced for a time under the Eastern Yacht Club banner.

1905
Lady Eva Barker bought Mayflower. An auxiliary motor was fitted.

1908
Lady Barker chartered Mayflower to an adventurer, Guy Hamilton Scull. He was a former lion hunter in Africa and policeman in New York. Assisted by Boylston, a veteran of the Boers war in South Africa, Scull headed the Southern Research Company, an office specializing in finding buried treasure.

They set their sights on the treasure of a Spanish galleon which had sunk two centuries earlier off Jamaica. The expedition left New York on September 21st, 1908. Off Florida, Mayflower faced a first storm. Then, on October 1st, 1908, off Watting Island, a hurricane beat down on the former Cup defender, which faced winds of more than 170 kilometers an hour. The rig did not resist and the distraught boat went down several times. As the situation deteriorated, the adventurers decided put in the sea the load of dynamite they were carrying, but the boxes of explosive smashed against the hull, pushed by the raging sea. Mayflower was lost. Two steamers passing in the area rescued the crew. On October 3rd, 1908, the wreck smashed up on coral reefs in the northwest of Cuba.

J.T./pr

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