The New York Herald
April 24, 1861
We see that the members of the New York Yacht Club are to hold a meeting today for the purpose of considering what action they can take in conjunction with all the other classes of patriotic citizens to aid the government in this present crisis. It strikes us that the Yacht Club can be of infinite service by tendering their first class craft to act as despatch boats off the coast. Out of the fifty or sixty boats belonging to the club there are perhaps half a dozen fast sailing schooners which are just the thing for this work. In sailing this craft cannot be outdone by anything afloat, and are able for any weather; they can run into shallow waters, where our vessels of war cannot enter, and in case of a blockade of the Southern ports would be of great value in conveying information and instructions from point to point. They are capable of carrying an armament sufficient for their own defence, and in every respect are precisely the kind of vessel which the government needs at this moment. The Yacht Club, then, cannot do better than offer this class of yachts and their crews to the Secretary of the Navy for service as despatch boats.