ENDEAVOUR YACHT

   
Endeavour is a 130-foot (40 m) J-class yacht built for the 1934 America's Cup by Camper and Nicholson in Gosport, Portsmouth Harbour, England. She was built for Thomas Sopwith who used his aviation design expertise to ensure the yacht was the most advanced of its day with a steel hull and mast. She was launched in 1934 and won many races in her first season including against the J's Velsheda and Shamrock V. She failed in her America's Cup challenge against the American defender Rainbow but came closer than any other until Australia II succeeded in 1983.
 
 

 

Endeavour pioneered the Quadrilateral genoa a twin clewed headsail offering great sail area and consequent power. This design is still in use in the J's today. The boat also featured a larger and improved spinnaker. However the campaign was blighted by a strike of Sopwith's professional crew prior to departing for the USA. Forced to rely mainly on keen amateurs who lacked the necessary experience, the campaign failed. This was one of the most contentious of the America's cup battles and prompted the headline:"Britannia rules
the waves and America waives the rules"

Following the America's Cup she dominated the British sailing scene until whilst being towed across the Atlantic to Britain in September 1937 she broke loose from her tow and was feared lost.[1] She was however eventually found and returned to England where she was laid up. For 46 years Endeavour languished through a variety of owners, she was sold for scrap in 1947 being saved only a few hours before her demolition was due. In the 1970s she sank in the River Medina, Isle of Wight, she was rescued having been purchased for ten pounds and patched up to refloat her. Until the mid 1980s she was on shore at Calshot Spit an ex seaplane base on the edge of the New Forest, Southern England. By this time
she was in a desperate state, with only the hull remaining, lacking rudder, mast and keel.

FUENTES : Wikipedia