Banneret

Description

Banneret was a keel sloop designed by G. P. McDonald and built by Keene & Caldwell in 1879. LOA 28.1ft. LWL 23.9ft. Beam 10.10ft. "CITY POINT YACHTING. ... When the Banneret came out, in '70, she was the fastest of them all. She was modelled by Macdonald, up to Washington village, and when the same man turned out the Nonpareil, the village owned three of the fastest keel boats in the fleet in the Banneret, Veronica and Non-pareil.
The first time the Banneret beat the Veronica Steve Chamberlain was wild. It was a Dorchester race, and in a nice easterly breeze the Banneret gained away from the Veronica over the whole course. But Steve protested her measurement, and the Banneret was found to be a quarter of an inch or so too long for the class.
The Banneret was one of the best shaped boats that ever raced in this class. She was a winner from the start, and she won the Fourth of July race in her class for six years in succession, from '81 to '86. If Daniels, her first owner, hadn't let her run down she would have won more races than she did ... Fred Brown took the Banneret and put her to the front again. A keel boat from Cape Cod, called the Transit, came up here. At first she was rigged jib and mainsail, with the mast well forward. She sailed very well, but was changed into a regular sloop rig, and the Dalys bought her and changed her name to the Lizzie Daly. It used to be close work between her and the Banneret, but on the whole the Banneret had the best of it. ... Water Line." (Source: Anon. ("Water Line.") "City Point Yachting." Boston Globe, March 16, 1890, p. 10.)