Lost at Sea — The Last Voyage of The Cythera — In Surprise Nor’easter Blizzard of March 1888
My great, great-grandfather was the ship’s owner and captain — he went down with the ship along with all on board
In March 1888, William A.W. Stewart was one of the most noted yachtsmen in New York — or for that matter on the entire east coast. He belonged to several yacht clubs. He was among the founding members of one of them — the Corinthian Yacht Club on Staten Island, where he anchored his majestic yacht, the Cythera. As described by The New York Times,
The Cythera was a yawl-rigged yacht, built in Fairlee, Scotland, by W. Fife & Son in 1874. She was 104 feet in length overall, 17 feet beam, 12 feet depth, and of 117 tons. She was rebuilt in 1884, and in 1886 she was bought by William A.W. Stewart, an enthusiastic yachtsman of this city, who brought her across the Atlantic. Here he changed her from a sloop rig to a yawl.
On Saturday, March 10, 1888, my great, great-grandfather William A.W. Stewart, his companion Cornelius Smith Lee, the ship’s master, Joseph Phipps of Wivenhoe, England, and the ship’s mate, Charles Svenson and six other crew departed from Tompkinsville, Staten Island at 3 pm on board the Cythera.
