Sparkman & Stephens / Henry B. Nevins 48 ft Bermudan Sloop 1947

Olin J. Stephens is said to have described COURAGEOUS as a cross between a New York 32 and an International 8-Metre; who are we to argue. This entrancing and fabulously authentic yacht does indeed have all the good looks and attributes of the legendary NY32s - stretched to the length of an 8-Metre. Her large, exceptionally comfortable and deep (and therefore safe) cockpit confirms her origins as Arthur J. Iselin’s Long Island Sound daysailer, but her spacious yet intimate accommodation and undoubted sailing ability and provenance hint of more ambitious cruising possibilities. And COURAGEOUS’s offshore racing past and recent form in classic regattas confirms her as the most beautiful all-rounder.

"COURAGEOUS is a true classic sailing yacht, designed by Sparkman & Stephens of New York City and built by the Henry B. Nevins Inc. yacht builders on City Island in the Bronx. City Island was the apogee of fine yacht building in the United States in the days of wooden yacht construction. COURAGEOUS is a time capsule of the art form, with all of her hardware built in the US, and she has been maintained extremely well by the few owners she has had in her lifetime. With her classic hull lines and traditional layout of V-berth forward with head compartment to port and main salon amidships, she is elegantly finished in varnished hardwoods and white paint. COURAGEOUS is not only a fully functional sailing yacht, she is also in some respects a museum piece of fine American yacht design and building, meant to be passed on from the current knowledgeable and appreciative owner to the next; someone who will treat her with the same respect that has been shown her since she was first launched."

SPARKMAN & STEPHENS DESIGN No. 642

COURAGEOUS began life as Arthur J. Iselin’s Long Island Sound day/ weekend cruiser-racer out of New Rochelle, New York; one of the last yachts launched at Henry B. Nevis's famed City Island yard during his lifetime. Contrary to the days of his youth as a seat of the pants small boat racer, the 69-year-old Iselin specified the deep and secure cockpit that remains one of COURAGEOUS's endearing features.

The Iselins were highly successful New York textile merchants and bankers of Swiss origin. Arthur's father, William E. Iselin, had been one of the leading lights of the New York Yacht Club through the second half of the 19th Century, and the owner of some of the most fabulous large yachts of the time. And Arthur's uncle C. Oliver Iselin was among the most prominent backers of the the winning America's Cup defenders from the 1880s through early 1900s. Does the naming of the successful 1974 and 1977 12-Metre Cup defender COURAGEOUS suggest that Iselin descendants continue this trend? Certainly in her design, build and ownership lineage COURAGEOUS carries powerful American yachting provenance along with her undoubted good looks and ease of sailing.

After Arthur Iselin passed away in 1952, COURAGEOUS moved south to the Chesapeake in the ownership of Alexandria, Virginia, fertiliser manufacturer and property developer J.C. Herbert Bryant - to become used, at least initially, as rather more than a day racer.

In his youth Bryant had been one of the best all round sportsmen of his generation, selected for the USA - but declined to participate because of the Great Depression - in the boxing and discus events at the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games. With COURAGEOUS from early 1953, Herbert Bryant competed alongside the likes of Carlton Mitchell's CARIBEE, and the 72 ft L. Francis Herreshoff ketch TICONDEROGA on the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit, and in summer raced the 466 mile Newport to Annapolis race alongside such luminaries as ARGYLL, BARLOVENTO, BOLERO, CARIBEE, COTTON BLOSSOM IV (HALLOWE'EN), NIÑA, PALAWAN, ROYONO and WINDIGO.

But COURAGEOUS's offshore racing career seems to have been short-lived. At some point in the 1950s she moved far west to Puget Sound, Washington, and remained there in two careful ownerships, latterly by C. Bruce & Calvin Morser at Vashon, until returning back east in present ownership in 2017.

At the 2017 Mystic Seaport Museum Antique & Classic Boat Rendezvous, COURAGEOUS was presented with the Head Judge award as "A veritable time-capsule and incredible example of historical stewardship", and she is a regular sight for sore eyes on the greater Long Island Sound classic regatta circuit.

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- Single plank carvel Mahogany underbody
- Mahogany on Port Orford cedar topsides
- On white oak frame
- Silicon bronze re-fastened 1993
- Ballast Keel 11,000 lbs / 5 tonnes external lead
- Bronze keel bolts
- Bronze floors and mast step I-frame
- Painted canvas on plywood deck
- Mahogany deck superstructures
- Painted canvas on plywood coachroof

GENERAL
- Painted canvassed deck
- Varnished mahogany toerails and deck structures
- Bronze mostly original fittings
- Bronze stanchions
- Stainless steel pulpit, pushpit and lifelines

FROM AFT
- Mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Bronze upstand counter vent
- Lazarette hatch with solar vent
- Herreshoff pattern bronze mooring cleats port and starboard
- Stainless steel hinged boom crutch

DEEP COCKPIT
- Very comfortably angled coamings
- Varnished benches aft and port & starboard
- Bronze framed hatches to stowage lockers port and starboard
- 2 x Barient stainless steel sheet winches port and starboard
- 2 x Sheet winches aft
- Associated wooden cleats at outer coaming
- Traditional ship's wheel on bronze pedestal with glazed binnacle
- Painted sole
- Analog instruments in trunk bulkhead port and starboard

SIDE DECKS
- Bronze Highfield levers port and starboard
- Associated bronze hooks and sheaves
- Headsail track and lead blocks at rail port and starboard
- Bronze turnbuckles with lifeline support
- 2 x Bronze recessed in rail mooring fairleads port and starboard

TRUNK CABIN
- 3 x Port lights port and starboard
- 2 x Opening ports forward
- Nevins or Merriman bronze mainsheet winch to starboard aft
- Wooden cleat to port
- Grab rails port and starboard
- Additional grab rails port and starboard aft
- Sliding companionway hatch
- Butterfly skylight over saloon
- LPG Bottle vented locker
- Hatch with vent over galley
- Portlight over WC compartment
- Cabin heater flue

MAST POSITION

FOREDECK
- Forehatch
- Dorade box with vent cowl
- Herreshoff pattern bronze mooring cleat
- Nevins bronze manually operated windlass
- Bronze stemhead fitting incorporating mooring fairleads

GROUND TACKLE
- Bruce 15 kg bower anchor
- 30ft / 10 m ½ in chain & 250 ft / 76 m ¾ in rode
- Bruce 10 kg kedge/ spare anchor with chain and rode

ACCESS VIA COMPANIONWAY
- 3 x Steps down to cabin sole
- Access to engine space by lifting ladder
- Grab handles to port and starboard
- Lockers in aft bulkhead to port and starboard
- Ship's electrical panel on bulkhead to starboard
- Settee berths to port and starboard
- Stowage under
- Pilot berth outboard to port
- Stowage under
- 2 x Lockers and bookshelf outboard to starboard
- 2 x Reading lamps
- Full length carlin grab rails
- 3 x Bronze opening ports to port and starboard
- Gimballed oil lamp
- Barometer and clock
- Butterfly skylight in deck head with sliding bug screens
- Deckhead lamp

PASSAGE FORWARD - STARBOARD
- Pinth with locker under
- Hanging locker
- Sideboard with 4 x drawers and fiddled counter
- Custom bronze/slate wood burning stove
- Stove pipe flue through trunk roof

PASSAGE FORWARD - PORT
- WC Compartment
- Ceramic basin with chromed hand pump
- Mirror
- Locker with lift up fiddled top
- Lockers outboard
- Wilcox Crittenden “Skipper” marine toilet

FORWARD TO GALLEY PORT AND STARBOARD
- Under forward part of trunk cabin
- Hatch with vent in deckhead
- Luke Heritage 3 x-burner LPG stove with oven to port
- Stainless steel sink to starboard
- Stowage under
- Stainless steel ice box under drainer
- Chromed hand pump
- Shelves outboard

FORWARD PAST MAST TO FORECABIN
- Vee berths with infil to large double
- Stowage under
- Painted hull ceilings outboard
- Shelves outboard
- Forward to chain locker and stowage
- Forehatch with port light in deck head
- 2 x Deck head lights

RIG
- Fractional 2-spreader and jumpers rig
- Original hollow spruce mast and boom
- Bronze captive main halyard winch
- Bronze period halyard winches
- Bronze period winch on boom
- 1 x 19 Wire standing rigging
- Bronze running backstay levers

SAILS
- Mainsail (2017)
- Genoa (2017)
- Working jib (2017)
- Several older sails

CANVASWORK
- Full boat cover
- Awning
- Sail covers
- Cockpit cushions

MECHANICAL
- Westerbeke 4-107 4-cylinder 40 hp diesel
- Fresh water cooled
- 1 ¼ in / 32 mm stainless alloy propeller shaft
- 2 x Blade 15 x 15 bronze propeller
- Speed under power 6 knots

ELECTRICAL
- 12 V DC system
- 110 V AC Shore system
- West Marine 20 A Battery charger
- West Marine 400 W inverter
- 4 x 6 V DC House batteries
- 1 x 12 V DC Engine start battery

TANKAGE
- 1 x Tinned copper fuel tank aft of engine
- 1 x Stainless steel fuel tank aft of engine
- Total fuel capacity 60 Gal / 227 L
- 3 x Tinned copper water tanks
- Water capacity 100 Gals / 379 L
- LPG Bottle Storage on cabin top in dedicated, vented locker

NAVIGATION
- Wilfrid White 6” card steering compass in binnacle
- Hand held GPS
- Ken Speed analog log
- Standard depth sounder

COMMUNICATIONS
- Hand held VHF

BILGE PUMPING
- Jabsco Electric Bilge Pump, capacity 500 Gal/ h / 1893 L/ h
- Whale Gusher 25 double-diaphragm manual bilge pump

LIFE SAVING
- Life Jackets
- Emergency/General Boarding Ladder
- MOB/Lifesling/Ring Buoy Retrieval System
- Lifesling & horseshoe buoy
- Handheld & aerial flares

FIRE FIGHTING
- 3 x Portable Type ABC/BC
- Fixed System: FE 241 Clean Agent
- LPG Propane Safety Equipment: Electric solenoid shut off at tanks

OTHER
- Wooden Plugs Secured to Seacocks
- Carbon Monoxide Detector

Main image: Onne van der Wal
No 2: Billy Black

- Removable cockpit table
- Fenders
- Docklines