High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Shamrock was the unsuccessful Irish challenger for the 10th America's Cup in 1899 against the United States defender, Columbia. Shamrock was designed by third-generation Scottish boatbuilder, William Fife III, Jr., and built in 1898 by J. Thorneycroft & Co., at Church Wharf, Chiswick, for owner Sir Thomas Lipton of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (and also of Lipton Tea fame).However her draft was too great for construction at Chiswick and she was built at Millwall. Shamrock was built of all-metal construction, with a steel frame and a pine deck. She was skippered by Captain Archibald "Archie" Hogarth.