Vamoose (yacht)
Negative image of Vamoose taken in 1891 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Vamoose |
| Owner | William Randolph Hearst |
| Ordered | Winter 1890 |
| Builder | Nathanael Greene Herreshoff |
| Cost | $65,250 (equivalent to $2,283,508 in 2024) |
| Yard number | 168 |
| Laid down | December 20, 1890 |
| Launched | August 29, 1891 |
| Completed | August 26, 1891 |
| Refit | April 1893 |
| Homeport | New York City |
| Fate | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | coastal steamship |
| Length | 112.5 feet (34.3 m) |
| Beam | 13 feet (4.0 m) |
| Draft | 4.9 feet (1.5 m) |
| Installed power | 875 horsepower (652 kW) quadruple expansion steam engine with Thornycraft boiler (1891), converted to Sterling 4-cyl gas engine (1910) |
| Propulsion | Single 57-inch (140 cm), three-bladed Zeise propeller |
| Speed | 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h) |
| Range | 2,800 nautical miles (3,200 mi) |
| Crew | 10 |
| Notes | Steel-framed wooden hull |
Vamoose was a fast steam-powered private yacht built for William Randolph Hearst by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, she was based on an earlier torpedo boat commissioned by the United States Navy. At one point, Vamoose was claimed to be the fastest boat in the world, and her exploits drew attention from newspapers and yachting enthusiasts of the day. The majority of her life was spent in New York metropolitan area; as a member of the American Yacht Club, she participated in regattas as both a competitor and a press boat. In 1896, Vamoose was outfitted as a private dispatch boat for the New York Evening Journal to cover the Cuban War of Independence.