One of the Castle Films newsreels, “Windjammer Thrills” presents images of historic sailing ships including the USCG Eagle, and Germany’s Gorch Fock. There are also shots of the famed schooner Gertrude Thebaud, the American’s Cup and Sir Thomas Lipton as well as Britain’s newest 1937 America’s Cup challenger the Endeavour II. The race between it and the Ranger, a J-class racing yacht is seen with Ranger winning 4-0 at Newport, Rhode Island. It was the last time J-class yachts would race for the America’s Cup. Other forms of sailing are seen, including racing wind-powered ice boats.
Gertrude L. Thebaud was an American fishing and racing schooner built and launched in Essex, Massachusetts in 1930. A celebrated racing competitor of the Bluenose. The vessel was designed by Frank Paine and built by Arthur D. Story for Louis A. Thebaud, and named for his wife, Gertrude Thebaud. In their first meeting at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in October 1930, the Gertrude L. Thebaud bested the Bluenose 2-0 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup. However, in 1931, two races to none, and again in 1938, three races to two, the Bluenose would defeat the Gertrude L. Thebaud to remain the undefeated holder of the International Fisherman’s Trophy.
The Gorch Fock I (ex Tovarishch, ex Gorch Fock) is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933. She was taken as war reparations by the Soviet Union after World War II and renamed Tovarishch. After a short period under the Ukrainian flag in the 1990s and a prolonged stay in British ports due to lack of funds for necessary repairs, the ship was acquired by sponsors and sailed to her original home port of Stralsund, where her original name of Gorch Fock was restored on November 29, 2003. She is a museum ship, and extensive repairs were carried out in 2008.
The Federal German government built a replacement training ship, the Gorch Fock (1958), which is still in service.
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