When Southampton Was a Yachtsman's Paradise

Today a tycoon might charter a chopper to squeeze in a round of golf at the National between a power breakfast and a late-day session with the corporate counsel — a highly uncivilized approach to the sport of choice for the super rich.

A century ago, capitalist fat cats like J.P. Morgan who were rich and powerful enough to absent themselves from the city for long interludes of pleasurable activity, would instead arrive at the National aboard a private luxury yacht. In that era of opulence and extravagance, the Sebonac Yacht Club at the south bend of the channel that winds by the National Golf Link's main entrance provided a snug lair for some of the biggest, showiest vessels to be seen anywhere.

"From mid-June through the summer, people cruising would come into the National," Virginia Wanamaker recalled in a 1982 interview. "People would drive out there just to see the yachts. And they were big ones," she added, citing Morgan's Corsair and Cornelius Vanderbilt's "beautiful three-masted schooner."

The basin "with its numerous slips and docks," as described in Craig Mitchell's reminiscence written in 1982, was a "hub of all arriving and departing launches, which plied back and forth from their armada of huge mother yachts at anchor in the crowded outer bay."

Colonel H.H. Rogers, heir to a vast Standard Oil fortune and an avid yachtsman, docked various vessels at Sebonac, among them the 70-foot Charming Polly, a unique powerboat equipped with three engines identical to those that powered the German airship Hindenburg. Reputed to be the fastest cruiser on the water, it was capable of whisking Rogers back to Wall Street at 45 knots. To keep these waterborne palaces on course and their passages comfortable huge crews were required not only to navigate but to press the linens, polish the silver and prepare a constant flow of food and drink fit for finicky palates.

"Cottager" news in the local press took note of the comings and goings at Sebonac, reporting on July 8, 1926, that "William K. Vanderbilt 2nd brought a party of friends, including John P. Grier and Sydney Smith, on his yacht Aria Sunday afternoon." On August 12, readers learned that "Lord Beaverbrook, who arrived on the Majestic  last Tuesday, came to Southampton Friday with a party of friends on board the yacht Miramichi, which was anchored off the National Golf Links club, and will pass the next two months cruising in Canadian waters."That was a big week for the busy basin. Other news related that "Harry A. Black has chartered the yacht Harmony for a month and left the Plaza Thursday for Southampton where he was joined by Mrs. Black. They will go to Newport shortly and will divide their time between the two resorts." E. F. Hutton, his wife and daughters, Adelaide and Eleanore, were just coming in from a cruise on the Hussar and would be returning to the Hoyt Cottage in Southampton.  

A few years later Hutton upgraded to Hussar II, which was even bigger and more luxurious than the 585-ton original. Morgan's Corsair also was succeeded by upgraded versions after the original was sold to the U.S. government for service in the Spanish-American War.

The Sebonac Yacht Club survived into the early 1940s when some of the yachts were commandeered for World War II. Gasoline rationing and damage to the long dock in the 1938 Hurricane were added blows, which brought the era of opulent yachts at Sebonac to a close.

Sources from the : "Shinnecock Hills Long Ago" book by Helen M. Wetterau; 1982 interview, Virginia Wanamaker.