Reclusive and work obsessed though Lipton may have been in his earlier life, his knighthood made him very much persona grata in the best of England’s drawing rooms. At leisure, Sir Thomas had a quick wit and was an excellent raconteur. Introduced through his charity contact with Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, his natural charm endeared him to Queen Victoria’s wayward son, Bertie. Soon his life was transformed: from diligent daily toil at the office, to high society parties, ocean going yachts, and endless newspaper gossip columns. To appreciate how a working man, even a recently knighted one, could metamorphose into the friend of princes and the nobility one must first know that, after a lifetime of building and running his grocery empire as a sole proprietor, in 1898 Lipton unaccountably floated his company. The flotation was accomplished in typical Lipton style: the resultant frenzied buying of shares was dubbed by the London Evening News ‘The Lipton Scramble.’ Cleverly managed publicity and the choice of the eccentric dandy but brilliant broker Panmure Gordon resulted in the sale of the business for two and a half million pounds. Equal today to a fortune of £150 million.

While he retained nominal control of Thomas J Lipton Ltd., the transition from sole personal ownership to working on behalf of shareholders through the medium of a board of directors was an uneasy one for Lipton the entrepreneur. Now however, on his own merit he was fabulously rich, and had no pressing need to continually plough his hard won profits back into the business. Who could be surprised that, like many a lottery jackpot winner, his new found wealth would bring about a profound change in behaviour? Perhaps today we might say a ‘mid-life crisis.’ Sir Thomas was 50 years old and had built his business for 33 years – long years where his sole concern was to promote his company. Now that it was publicly owned and managed by his fellow directors, his skills turned to publicising Sir Thomas Lipton the man.

Lipton’s first foray into well-heeled society was to enter a yacht in competition for the America’s Cup. This had been contended since 1851 when a US built yacht, the America, sailed to England and challenged fifteen British yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes for a prize of 110 guineas and a cup. The America thrashed the British boats, sailing 8 miles ahead at one stage, and finally winning by 24 minutes with only three British yachts completing the course. Taking home the prize money and the cup, the latter was presented to the New York Yacht Club as a challenge trophy – the America’s Cup.

The green hulled Shamrock, Sir Thomas’s first America’s Cup challenger, was built on the Thames at Millwall by Scottish yacht builder William Fife. Ever the patriot, Lipton had wanted her to be built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast but their expertise was with steel hulled steam ships. The guideline budget was agreed at £100,000 – this would be £10 million today – and ultimately she would cost Sir Thomas double this price before she crossed the Atlantic. Fife designed a boat that pushed hull and sail design to the limits of contemporary technology. A gaff-rigged cutter, she had a 130 foot steel mast and was 190 feet from bowsprit to stern. While she displaced only 156 tonnes her sail area was 14,000 square feet – compare that to the 6,000 that the original America carried – and her main sails were woven from Egyptian cotton and silk, with a massive pure silk spinnaker.

Edward, Prince of Wales, who was commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron and owner of the sleek royal yacht Britannia, took a keen interest in Lipton’s project and had undoubtedly backed his challenge which had to be formally issued through the Royal Yacht Squadron. Just two weeks after the American boat Columbia was launched, Prince Edward visited the Thames side shipyard to urge the builders to hasten completion. Columbia was owned by Nathanael Herreshoff, the designer of the previous Valkyrie defenders, but he was a dour, difficult man and no hero for the US press who went overboard in enthusiasm for Sir Thomas. His rags to riches history, his Irish forbears, even the simple patriotic name of his boat, after the difficult classical names of previous English contenders – Valkyrie, Galatea, Livonia and Atalanta – all endeared him to the common man on both sides of the pond.

Of course, none of this publicity did any harm to the grocery sales of Thomas J Lipton, Ltd., and for the while shareholders were content with the new hobby of their managing director. Come October 4th, 1899 and Shamrock was sailing well ahead when the first heat ran out of time in a flat calm, four miles from the finish. The second heat too was abandoned for lack of wind. The next attempt coincided with a thick fog shrouding the 30 mile course off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and was again abandoned. Lipton declared encouragingly to the despairing press: ‘I can only say, that either boat may win.’ When the weather broke unexpectedly the second heat was run in a stiff breeze and Columbia finished a clear two miles ahead of Shamrock. The third race commenced next day in a bitter 15 to 20 knot north wind and just five minutes after the starting gun Shamrock’s topmast failed, bringing down spars, rigging and sail. Columbia sailed ahead and was declared the winner. In the next race the two boats were evenly matched but Columbia once more came in ahead of Shamrock and Lipton conceded defeat. ‘The better boat has won, but I have in mind to challenge again.’ Thus the yachting obsession of recently wealthy Sir Thomas Lipton commenced. Around eighty years later another notable ocean racer, British Prime Minister Ted Heath, neatly summed up the sport: ‘It’s like standing under a cold shower tearing up five-pound notes.’

Next Part – Celebrity intensifies at home and abroad; some Royal intrigue; and another three Shamrocks are launched as Lipton’s America’s Cup contenders.