We hear from our friend Hamish Ross (NZL, Alinghi General Counsel) that the "
Piece Talks" continue -- the good efforts by the current Defending Club and Trustee, Société Nautique de Genève, to retrieve the historically significant and valuable pieces of the original America's Cup that went "walkabout" in 1997 after the Cup was bashed and then repaired.
Cup
aficionados will recall that the trophy, while sitting on display at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, was attacked with a sledge hammer by an activist from New Zealand's indigenous Maori people in 1997, two years after RNZYS had won the Cup from San Diego YC.
Last week SNG said in a
statement that some pieces had been "unlawfully removed" from the London-based Garrard firm (click
here for the letter from Garrards to SNG in that regard), which crafted the original trophy in 1848, while it underwent the extensive repairs. SNG went on to say that they were using their best efforts, persuasive and, if necessary, legal, to obtain the pieces.
This is correct and proper, as the pieces belong to the America's Cup trust of which SNG is the current trustee. The Challengers, who along with Alinghi are among the current beneficiaries of that trust, appreciate the good efforts of SNG, Ernesto Bertarelli, Hamish Ross, et al. No doubt Hamish is also delighted to be able to add a few more paragraphs, if not an entire chapter, to his upcoming book on the history of the Cup.
We also hear that ETNZ's Challenge Rep, Jim Farmer, has helped convince those concerned in New Zealand that they might well be skating on thin legal ice if they didn't forward the pieces in question to SNG, and PDQ! Jim is not only a lawyer but a Queen's Counsel, and for those of you outside the British Commonwealth who might not be familiar with the title, suffice to say it means Jim swings a bigger legal bat than most -- at least in NZL.
We understand there were at least two pieces of significant size leftover after the 1997 repair. In what we believe to be a world exclusive, below is a photo of the piece that has now been recovered by SNG....
Photo courtesy of Iona Sterling/SPQR (click to enlarge).Most who have seen this photo are surprised by just how big this piece is -- that is a NZ two-dollar coin in the foreground. The piece, as you can see, is upside down. We understand it was from the "collar" immediately below the bulbous part of the Cup, and it contains the engraving of the winners just before and after the turn of the last century (1900). That includes the 1886 challenge of Lt. Henn in
Galatea, the first time that a woman sailed in the Cup; the Earl of Dunraven's challenges in 1893 and 1895, the latter arguably the most controversial ever; as well as the first (1899) of Sir Thomas Lipton's five challenges.
The piece above was the one held by the Spirit of Adventure Trust, but was returned after a bit of bluster about the Defender being "bully boys" (SNG and Alinghi? Never!). SNG appears to have been well within their rights. NYYC and RNZYS also backed SNG in their efforts.
As to the other known piece, it is said to be in the possession of a gentleman living north of Auckland. According to their release, "Société Nautique de Genève is currently pursuing the individual who holds the second piece. He has been advised that legal proceedings will be commenced against him for return of the property...unless the piece is returned."
We hear the gentleman may also be seeing the light, and hopefully will be returning the second piece to the Defender/Trustee this week.
This would end "Silvergate" as just another interesting footnote in the storied history of the oldest trophy in international sport. However, one question remains.
What will SNG do with the pieces? Mount them to a slab of, what, carbon for passing on with the Cup to the next winner? Melt them down and use the silver in the next addition, when necessary for more engraving space, to the Cup's base?
If any of our dear readers have ideas, please do not hesitate to pass them on to the Challenger Commission. Write us care of
blog[at]tfehman[dot]com. The CC never hesitates to give the Defender our best advice, which is usually accepted with appreciation if not always followed.
Labels: Cup, Silvergate, SNG
We are reliably informed, and very pleased to report, that SNG have now recovered the second piece of the original America's Cup that was not returned to RNZYS after the 1997 repair. Click here for the background on all this in our previous post.
