Coronet Around Cape Horn, 1888

Cape Horn, looming in the background of this dramatic work by Russ Kramer, is one of the most dangerous places on Earth to sail. In 1888, without electronic navigation equipment or radio communications, it was even more so.

- Steve Knauth

The boat in Kramer’s 16-by-24-inch oil on panel is the schooner yacht Coronet — at 131 feet, one of the largest sailing yachts of the Gilded Age. It was a time when the Morgans, Astors, Vanderbilts and other pillars of wealth commissioned some of the grandest vessels in yachting history. Launched for oil tycoon Rufus T. Bush in 1885, Coronet began a round-the-world voyage in 1888 that made her the first U.S.-registered yacht to fly her country’s colors off the Horn sailing west-about.