"Columbia" Winning the Cup

(1899) kinetoscope clip

This short, silent, black-and-white clip from the Edison Manufacturing Company shows the USA's Columbia beating Ireland's Shamrock during the 1899 America's Cup competition. Columbia was designed and built by Bristol's Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.

From the Edison catalog: "The decisive moment in the great International Yacht Races is shown in this picture. Against a background of well defined clouds, the Light Boat is seen marking the finishing line in this great aquatic struggle. As the Columbia crosses the line, followed closely by the Shamrock, we see the steam from the whistle of the Light Ship announcing the well earned victory of the American yacht."

The races took place October 16 to 20, 1899, not in Rhode Island, but off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.