enlarge Photograph courtesy/Penobscot Marine Museum

Members of the crew that sailed the Defender to victory in the 1895 America’s Cup race pose after the event. The crew, recruited from Deer Isle and known as the “Deer Isle boys,” all were accomplished sailors and captains.

Staff Writer

When the American racing yacht Defender beat a British challenger for the America's Cup in 1895, the wealthy amateur sportsmen of the New York Yacht Club lit up their victory cigars.

But the residents of Deer Isle, Maine, also celebrated. While the New Yorkers had supplied the capital, Deer Isle had supplied the men.

The entire 29-man crew was from Deer Isle.

In previous races, the Cup defenders had relied heavily on seaman from other countries, particularly Scandinavian nations. But for the 1895 race, they wanted an all-American crew.

Captain Harry Haff was dispatched to Maine to find some Yankee sailors. It's unclear why he ended up in Deer Isle, but it made sense to hire men from one community because they could more easily work as a team if they already knew one another, said Bill Whitman, a current member of the New York Yacht Club and a descendent of one of the Deer Isle crew members.

The ''Deer Isle boys,'' as they were called, were fierce competitors but also strong-minded, said Tom Duyn, who teaches marine trades at Deer Isle-Stonington High School.

The crewmen, Duyn said, considered an order to be more of a suggestion.

''These were accomplished sailors and captains in their own right,'' he said. ''These guys were used to making fast decisions on their own.''

To find crew members for the 1899 Cup defender, Columbia, the New Yorkers once again returned to Deer Isle.

According to a contemporary account, 231 men on the island applied for jobs.

Crew members were paid $45 to $60 a month plus $5 for each race.

The crew had trained for six months off the coast of New Jersey, said Alison Turner, 17, a descendent of a crew member and a junior at Deer Isle-Stonington High School.

''I think they basically did it for the adventure,'' she said. ''There's not much else to do around here.''

Turner and other students this year studied the Deer Isle boys as part of an ethnography project. They interviewed family members and examined letters and artifacts that island families have held on to for more than a century.

The students plan to put up a display case in the high school that includes a genealogical chart connecting crew members to current students.

Their enthusiasm for the project caught the attention of officials involved with American BMW Oracle, which was the U.S. entrant for the 32nd America's Cup this year.

The American team invited the students to Valencia, Spain, which is hosting the race. Five students and five teachers made the trip. Whitman, who had made a significant donation to help pay for the students' trip, joined them and brought his own son.

In Spain, the students were given VIP access and followed a race aboard a yacht. They were featured in sailing magazines and on Spanish television news programs.

The American team was knocked out of the race, though. The defending champion Swiss team and a New Zealand boat are this year's finalists - the Swiss yacht Alinghi defeated Emirates Team New Zealand on Saturday in the first race of the best of nine series. The two race again today.

Turner said there were only a couple of American crew members on the American team.

''I guess it's like the best sailors used to come from America,'' she said. ''Now they have to work hard to keep up with the Australians and the New Zealanders.''

For the Americans, the joy of victory is something mostly found in old magazine and newspaper clippings.

In 1899, Outing Magazine provided an account of one of the races off the New Jersey coast between Columbia and the British challenger, Shamrock.

''Sometimes the fog was so thick that the men on Columbia ... couldn't see the pursuing yacht,'' the magazine reported. ''At the speed of about seven knots, the Columbia ran home, crossing the line at least one nautical mile in the lead, to the ... lusty cheers from men and boys and fluttering of white handkerchiefs from the women.''

Staff writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at: tbell@pressherald.com