Edward Sycamore

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Edward Isaac Sycamore
Lieutenant E I Sycamore RNVR in 1917
Born(1855-08-24)24 August 1855
Duke Street, Chelmsford, England
Died9 April 1930(1930-04-09) (aged 74)
Brightlingsea, England
Other namesCaptain Sycamore
OccupationSailing skipper
Spouse
Elizabeth Rosetta Paine
​
​
(m. 1881)​
Parent(s)John Sycamore and
Eliza Moss

Edward Isaac Sycamore (1855-1930) was a British sailing skipper widely regarded as the leading British yacht skipper of his generation during 1890 to 1929.[1][2][3] He was often referred to as Syc and later Old Syc.[4][5]

Early life[edit]

Sycamore was born in on 24 August 1855 at Duke Street, Chelmsford, the first son of John Sycamore and Eliza Moss. John was a maltster and came from East Doneyland (Rowhedge) on the river Colne.[6][7]  Eliza's family were farmers from St Lawrence on the south bank of the Blackwater.

When Sycamore was twelve he joined the crew of a fishing boat.  After several seasons fishing, he moved to yachting in 1875, working initially for the Marquis of Ailsa aboard the Lady Evelyn. Her voyages included trips to the West Indies and Mediterranean. In 1879 he went to work for H Atkins of Warrenpoint in the 20 ton cutter Louise.  His first command was the Amberwitch in 1884.  Following early successes in the Babe, he rose rapidly to the top of his profession, and remained there until his death on 9 April 1930.

He married Elizabeth Rosetta Paine, daughter of a licensed victualler, on 2 November 1881.  The family moved to Brightlingsea in 1884 living at 34 Nelson Street and then from 1913 White Lodge.[8]

Yachts commanded[edit]

Date Yacht Owner Notes References
1884 Amberwitch Captain Douglas 56 ton yawl [3]
1886 Amelia W A Beauclerk former fishing smack [9][10]
1887-89 Heathen Chinee W A Beauclerk junk rigged [11]
1890-91 Babe W A Beauclerk 2½ Rater [12][13]
1892 Corsair Admiral Montagu 40 Rater [14]
1893 Vendetta Admiral Montagu 40 Rater [14]
1894 Carina Admiral Montagu 40 Rater [13]
1895 Valkyrie III Earl of Dunraven America's Cup [15][16]
1897-98 Bona Duke of Abruzzi [13]
1899 Laurea Edward Hore won Coupe de France [13]
1900 Sybarita Whitaker Wright with Captain Bevis [17][18]
1901 Shamrock II Sir Thomas Lipton America's Cup [19][20]
1902 Namara William B Paget [13]
1903-07 Navahoe George Watjen [21]
1908-10 Shamrock Sir Thomas Lipton 23 metre [22]
1911 Mariquita A K Stothert 19 metre [23]
1912 Shamrock Sir Thomas Lipton 23 metre [22]
1914 Isabella Alexandra Edmund Luttrop 15 metre [24]
1920-24 Westward Clarence Hatry schooner [25]
1923-24 Paula III Sir Walter Preston 15 metre [13]
1925-29 Shamrock Sir Thomas Lipton 23 metre [26][27]

Racing successes[edit]

In 1911 The Yachtsman produced a table showing Sycamore's successes.[28] In 548 races he won 372 prizes, a success rate of 67.8% or a prize in every 1.47 starts.[29]

Sir Thomas Lipton with Capt Sycamore
Year Boat Races Prizes
1890 The Babe 30 25
1891 The Babe 45 39
1892 Corsair 42 22
1893 Vendetta 33 18
1894 Carina 47 23
1895 Valkyrie III - -
1896 Valkyrie III - -
1897 Bona 24 18
1898 Bona 52 39
1899 Laurea 9 9
1900 Sybarita - -
1901 Shamrock II[30] - -
1902 Namara 30 18
1903 Navahoe 20 13
1904 Navahoe 18 13
1905 Navahoe 18 17
1906 Navahoe 14 12
1907 Navahoe 18 17
1908 Shamrock 35 31
1909 Shamrock 41 20
1910 Shamrock 28 19
1911 Mariquita 44 19

Sycamore's wins included six Royal Cups (one in Corsair and one in Carina for Admiral the Hon Victor Montagu; three in Bona in one year for the Duke of Abruzzi; one for Sir Thomas Lipton in Shamrock) and two Albert Cups, both in Bona.[31][32]

War service[edit]

At the outbreak of the First World War Isabella Alexandra and the Kaiser's yacht Meteor were being towed to Cowes by a torpedo boat.  When war was declared they returned to Cuxhaven where the crew of Isabella Alexandra was interned.  They were released after about a week and returned to the UK via Denmark.[33][24]  

Sycamore joined the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant RNVR in May 1917,[34] aged nearly 62, and was appointed in command of ML 350 operating from the RNAS seaplane base at Newlyn.  In September 1917 he was appointed in command of ML 5 based at Calshot.  He remained in command of her, initially at Calshot and later Dundee, until he was demobbed on 15 September 1919.[35]  With the formation of the RAF on 1 April 1918 he became a Captain RAF.  He is thought to have been the oldest person to have been commissioned into the Royal Navy and immediately given a command.  It is also thought he may have been the oldest officer in the RAF when he left.[36]

Death[edit]

Sycamore had been suffering from the accidental breaking of multiple ribs as he had been racing Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock on the Clyde during 1929. On 9 April 1930, he died at his home in Brightlingsea, at the age of 74.[37]

Bibliography[edit]

  • The Field 1875
  • Lloyds Yacht Register 1878
  • Yachting Volumes 1 and 2.  Badminton Library 1894
  • Yachting World Selected editions from 1895
  • Leslie's. United States, F. Leslie, 1895.
  • Report of the Special Committee of the New York Yacht Club New York 1896
  • The House on Sport Ed W A Morgan.  Gale and Polden 1898
  • Collier's. United States, Collier's, 1901.
  • World Review. United States, World Review Company, 1901.
  • Lawson History of the America's Cup W M Thompson and T W Lawson.  Boston 1902
  • Herd register. N.p., n.p, 1903.
  • Adventure. United States, Ridgway, 1914.
  • The Sphere: An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home. United Kingdom, n.p, 1922.
  • The West Virginia Review. United States, Zurich Publishing Company, 1929.
  • Yachting Monthly from 1906 to 1930
  • The Reminiscences of Admiral Montagu The Hon V A Montagu.  Edward Arnold 1910
  • The Complete Yachtsman B Heckstall-Smith and Capt E du Boulay. Methuen 1912
  • All Hands on the Main Sheet Brooke Heckstall-Smith.  Grant Richards 1921
  • Past Times and Pastimes Earl of Dunraven.  Hodder and Stoughton 1922
  • The Rudder. United States, Fawcett Publications, 1926.
  • Famous Yachts John Scott Hughes. Methuen 1929
  • Log of the Shamrock 1929 W Wadley
  • Leaves from the Lipton Logs Sir Thomas Lipton.  Hutchinson 1931
  • Countryside Character. United Kingdom, Blandford Press, 1946.
  • The King's Sailing Master Douglas Dixon.  Harrap 1948
  • Julyan, Herbert E.. Sixty Years of Yachts. United Kingdom, Hutchinson, 1950.
  • Sacred Cowes Anthony Heckstall-Smith. Allan Wingate 1955
  • Brooks, Jerome Edmund. The $30,000,000 Cup: The Stormy History of the Defense of the America's Cup. United States, Simon and Schuster, 1958.
  • A Hundred Years of the America's Cup F W Lipscomb.  Hugh Evelyn 1971
  • The Northseamen John Leather.  Terence Dalton 1971
  • The Racing Schooner Westward C P Hamilton-Adams.  Stanford Maritime 1976
  • Salt-Water Palaces Maldwyn Drummond. Debrett 1979
  • The Racing Yachts A B C Whipple. Time Life Books 1980
  • The Early Challenges of the America's Cup. A John and I Dear.  Columbus 1986
  • The Story of the America's Cup 1851-1992. Tim Thompson, Ranulf Rayner.  David& Charles c1993
  • Yachting - a Turn of the Century Treasury. Ed Tony Meisel. Castle 1988
  • The Man Who Invented Himself James Mackay.  Mainstream 1998
  • An America's Cup Treasury Gary Jobson.  The Mariners Museum 1999
  • A Full Cup Michael d'Antonio. Riverhead Books 2010
  • G L Watson Martin Black.  Peggy Bawn Press 2011
  • Valkyrie Weather Daniel Simons. Printed privately 2012
  • Temple to the Wind Christopher Pastore.  Lyons Press 2013
  • Deer Isle's Undefeated America's Cup crews.  M J Gabrielson.  The History Press 2013
  • Rowe, Mark. 5327: England in Peace and War. United Kingdom, Chaplin Books, 2013.
  • Dublin Bay – The Cradle of Yacht Racing Hal Sisk.  2nd ed.  Peggy Bawn Press 2014
  • Porter, Ken. Clacton-on-Sea and the Surrounding Coastline in the Great War. N.p., Pen & Sword Books, 2017.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Daily Telegraph 1931 12 10.
  2. ^ "Captain Sycamore". Yachting World March 28, 1930.
  3. ^ a b "Cup Racing Skippers". The Ottawa Free Trader. 6 September 1901. p. 11. Retrieved 28 November 2023 – via Google News Archive.
  4. ^ Nautical Quarterly. Nautical Quarterly. 1985.
  5. ^ "The Long Story of Shamrock V". www.america-scoop.com. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  6. ^ Catalogue description: Name Sycamore, Edward Isaac Date of Birth: 24 August 1855.
  7. ^ "Captain Edward Isaac Sycamore". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Our Skipper's Gallery Captain Sycamore February 22, 1895 page 753". Yachting World.
  9. ^ "Classic Boat August 2013". Issuu. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  10. ^ "William P. Stephens Collection". Collections & Research. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  11. ^ "The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Yachting, Vol. 2; Author: Various". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Mersea Museum Captain Edward Sycamore racing the BABE, a ..." merseamuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "A Skipper's Diary" (PDF). Classic Boat. July 2016.
  14. ^ a b R. T. Pritchett, Marquis Durrerin, Ava and James McFerran, C. L. Blake and T. B. Middleton. "Yachting Vol. 2". The Badminton Library of SPORTS AND PASTIMES.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "Valkyrie III America's Cup 1895 East Donyland Rowh". east-donyland. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  16. ^ "San Francisco Call 29 July 1895 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Albuquerque Daily Citizen 05-22-1901". UNM Digital Repository.
  18. ^ "24 Kasım 1900 Tarihli New York Tribune Gazetesi Sayfa 9". www.gastearsivi.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  19. ^ "Shamrock in Open Races.; Capt. Sycamore of Sir Thomas Lipton's Yacht in Favor of Such Competition". The New York Times. London (published 20 January 1901). 19 January 1901. p. 10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 November 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Los Angeles Herald 12 August 1901 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Classic Boat - Charlie Barr Story". Issuu. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  22. ^ a b Written at Melbourne. "Broken Hill Rumpus". Evening Express. Cardiff. 17 October 1908. p. 4. Retrieved 28 November 2023 – via The national Library of Wales.
  23. ^ "The Deben" (PDF). 44 Spring 2012. The River Deben Association Officers and Committee March 2012.
  24. ^ a b "East Donyland Roll of Honour - W.W.I Rowhedge". east-donyland. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  25. ^ "Yachting between the wars". www.merseamuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Sycamore, Capt. Edward Isaac (1855-1930) USA". www.america-scoop.com. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  27. ^ "Bristol Channel Yacht Club" (PDF). Journal of Association of Yachting Historians. 2019–20: 19.
  28. ^ "Conrinthian Vs Professional". The Yachtsman - December 21, 1911.
  29. ^ Carrick, Robert W. (1964). The Pictorial History of the America's Cup Races. Viking Press.
  30. ^ The Encyclopædia of Sport & Games: Rackets - Zebra. 1912.
  31. ^ MotorBoating. February 1943.
  32. ^ Stephens, W. P. (1 April 2015). Handbook of American Yachting. BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-95427-477-2.
  33. ^ "Captain Sycamore Relates his experiences". Essex county standard 15.08.1914.
  34. ^ "The Kaiser's Escape". Dundee People's Journal 1918-6-22.
  35. ^ "Royal Air-force". London Gazette 1920-12-17.
  36. ^ "Sycamore, Capt. Edward Isaac (1855-1930) USA". america-scoop.com. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  37. ^ "Captain Sycamore, Yachtsman, Dead; Famous Skipper of Racing Craft Stricken at 74 in England. His Long Career a Record; Sailed Two of Lipton's Shamrocks In Attempts Here to 'Lift' the America's Cup". The New York Times. London (published 10 April 1930). 9 April 1930. p. 24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
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