Innovative hull design and construction
In 1876, the young Polish count Benoit Tyszkiewicz returned from a two-year trip to Boston, impressed by the American schooners he had discovered there. Back in France, he asked Jacques-Augustin Normand, owner of the Augustin Normand shipyards in Le Havre, to build a sailing ship for his travels.
The director of the shipyard himself designed the plans for this 42.27 m long schooner (overall) with particularly innovative lines for its time. Its innovative hull is a mix between the wide and flat hulls of American sailing ships and the narrow and heavily ballasted hulls of English designs. The triple planked hull construction is also a first for a yacht of this size, and gives her rigidity and stability.
The construction started in 1875 and was completed with the launching of the schooner then named Zemajteij euros after the birthplace of the young nobleman euros in 1876. Its sail plan of 690 m 2 euros and can exceed 1euros480 m 2 euros is its only means of propulsion, the schooner not being motorized.
Three successive owners
Her owner hired a crew from the Russian Imperial Navy and the yacht sailed from Le Havre to the Crimea. These navigations, punctuated by several stopovers, prove the excellent seafaring behavior of the boat and highlight its incredible performances, the yacht showing a top speed of 16.5 knots.
Unfortunately, a maneuvering error near the peninsula caused the schooner to run aground. The Count was then obliged to abandon his boat to return to his family in Russia and had the yacht convoyed to the shipyards of Le Havre, where it was disarmed and put up for sale in 1877.
Two years passed before Baron Eugène Roissart de Bellet acquired it in September 1879 and renamed it "Velox" (fast in Latin). During a stopover in Nice, he decided to have Velox participate in the 2nd edition of the International Regatta of Nice. The yachting world will finally be able to admire the schooner in action and validate its incredible performance against the competition. Unfortunately, the death of the Baron's mother put an end to his regatta desires.
Until 1883, the schooner took its owner on cruises from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. But the latter decided to sell her to devote himself to steamships.
It is again in Le Havre that it awaits its new owner, Auguste Henri Sieber, for two years. Son of a rich industrialist family, he acquired her in the spring of 1886. For 27 years, he sailed the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Sea, until his death in 1913. His family, having little interest in sailing, put Velox up for sale again. But 1914 marked the beginning of the First World War and the start of a dark period. For lack of buyers, the yacht was finally dismantled between 1914 and 1916 in the port of Le Havre.
A career in regattas by proxy
Today, several reproductions of this yacht ahead of its time remain, including a canvas painted in 1886 by the marine painter Édouard Adam. Commissioned by the last owner of Velox, it depicts the schooner taking the start of a regatta alongside other yachts, including Fiona, a famous Fife design, under the eyes of the race committee's paddlewheel boat. An imaginary scene since Velox sailed a lot, but only as a cruising yacht, and never had the opportunity to prove her performance in regattas.
The painting remained in the hands of Henri Augustin Sieber's family after his death and was never offered for sale. It is now on auction, with a price starting at 20 to 25,000 euros.
