Club

(Based mainly on "Early History of the Chelsea Yacht Club" by William Merritt)

The club was originally organized in January, 1881 as the Carthage Ice Yacht Association by eighteen men from the neighborhood. They worked on the river or in the nearby brickyards. Their names are given in the following table.

Charter Members
(Taken from the 1984 "History of Chelsea Yacht Club")
W. Bradbury	George W. Hunt
Frank F. Collyer	S.S. Meadee
Moses W. Collyer	B.B. Merritt
A. Constantine	Charles Merritt
Isaac DeGroff	William Merritt
W. Euchand	Joseph I. Montague
Ivan H. Flood	John Mullahy
P.O. Flood	Peter V. Robinson
Stephen M. Glass	H.S. Vermilyea

At about this time ice yacht clubs were also formed in Newburgh, New Hamburg, Poughkeepsie, and Hyde Park. The members of the various clubs raced for awards such as the "Challenge Pennant of America" and the "Captain William Drake Flag," which Frank Brockway won in the "Maud S." in 1912. Captain Moses W. Collyer's "Vision" covered the distance from Newburgh to Danskammer Point in seven minutes. A photograph shows him at the helm of his ice boat. (93F13)

The Merritt brothers were great enthusiasts of ice sailing, which has been described as "poetry in action." There are water colors by George Merritt which portray the intense feeling and excitement of ice sailing. The brothers built and experimented with ice boats. One design that boasted 1,000 square feet of sail started from Low Point, went out of control, and crashed into the New Hamburg dock, where it was completely demolished.

At first the new Carthage Ice Yacht Club met in a room in the old mill on "THE DOCK" as the North Point was called then. A little later Capt. John Pinckney built a two-story building and fitted up the upper story as a club room which he rented to the club. After a couple of years the club also rented the lower story as a place to store ice boats in the summer and to have entertainments in the winter.

Among the archives accumulated by club historian Norman Tardiff are photocopies of the "Constitution, By-Laws, Sailing Regulations, Etc. of the Carthage Ice Yacht Club" for 1890 and for 1903. Included in the "Etc." is a copy of the certificate of incorporation of the club. The certificate was attested to on January 11, 1890. Evidently it was at this point that "Association" was turned into "Club." The certificate says, "That the object and business of such society is the promotion of health and recreation among its members by ice-yachting and gymnastic exercises." The 1890 constitution states that "the officers shall be and rank as follows: Commodore, Treasurer, Vice-commodore, Measurer, and Secretary." The measurer's job was to determine the number of square feet of sail on each ice yacht because sail area was the criterion on which a yacht was placed in a given class. The constitution also established a regatta committee. The by-laws call for monthly meetings at 7:30 PM, a practice to which we still adhere. It also called for meetings on every Tuesday during the months of December, January, February, and March. The rules of order are given in detail so there was no need for a parliamentarian.

The astonishing thing from the point of view of the 1990s is the value of money in 1890. A proposer of a new member was required to pay the secretary $1.50. Presumably a new member repaid his proposer when he was elected. In any case his monthly dues were twenty-five cents or a total of $3.00 for the year. Chapter III, Section 9 reads, "At no time shall the Club be in debt exceeding $100 lawful currency of the U.S."

Chapter VIII of the 1898 By-Laws says, "The distinguishing Signal of the Club shall be a blue swallow-tail Burgee, with a red border, containing the letters C.I.Y.C. in white." The burgee in the 1990s is no longer swallow-tail and the "I." is gone, but it is still similar to the original.

The 1890 version lists 42 members, and the 1903 version 69 members. There were 14 ice yachts in 1890 and 19 in 1903. These yachts were divided into three classes: first class, sail area 400 square feet and over; second class, sail area under 400 square feet and over 300; third class, 300 square feet and under. The largest in 1903 was "Icicle" with sail area of 735 square feet. It was owned by John A. Roosevelt. In 1903 he also owned the smaller "Vixen" with 340 square feet of sail.

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