Collection: Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Building

Beyster Impact/J. Robert Beyster Collections at the University of Michigan/Collection: Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Building
  • Framed America's Cup Pictures in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

The University of Michigan
Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
222 NAME Building
2600 Draper Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2145

About this Collection

Throughout his life, Dr. Beyster developed a love of sailing and a fondness for the America’s Cup match race. This collection features personal memorabilia demonstrating Dr. Beyster’s passion for and investment in United States‘ competition for the America’s Cup. After the United States experienced its first loss in the America’s Cup race of 1983, to Australia, Dr. Beyster passed an SAIC board resolution to develop technology that would recapture the Cup for the US. Using SAIC’s innovations, the US yacht “Stars & Stripes” won the Cup in 1987, and SAIC continued to develop sailing technology for the America’s Cup races into the next millennium. The U-M Tow Tank, now known as the Aaron Friedman Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory, was one of the seakeeping testing sites for the winning 1992 and 1995 America’s Cup vessels in partnership with SAIC.

Collection Memorabilia Includes:

  • Historical Overview: SAIC and the America’s Cup (plaque)
  • Half Hull Boat Model: Stars and Stripes, 1987 America’s Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model: Stars and Stripes, 1992 America’s Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model: Stars and Stripes, 1995 America’s Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model: Young America, 1995 Citizen Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model: Stars and Stripes, 2000 America’s Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model: One World, 2002 America’s Cup
  • Half Hull Boat Model with Masts and Sails: Stars and Stripes, 1987 America’s Cup
  • Schooner America (1851 America’s Cup Winner)
    • Lannan Ship Gallery, Boston, MA
      The two-masted schooner America was designed and built as a fast sailboat by George Steers in 1850.  It was the New York Yacht Club’s contender at the Royal Squadron’s “All Nations Race,” a 74-mile race around the Isle of Wight, starting and ending in Cowes.  The prize for the winner of this race was the 100 Guineas Cup, a silver ewer, which was won by the America on August 22, 1851, and renamed the America’s Cup after the winning yacht.
  • Serigraph: Hauling the Mail, Stars & Stripes, America’s Cup Defense 1992 by Dennis Conner
  • Serigraph: In Command, Stars & Stripes, America’s Cup Defense 1992 by Dennis Conner
  • Serigraph: Rounding the Mark, Stars & Stripes, America’s Cup Defense 1992 by Dennis Conner
  • Scientific American
    Framed cover and content featuring Stars and Stripes and the role of computers
  • Stars & Stripes print with inlay of crew by Thomas Darling