The tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton was only one of many British yachtsmen who became obsessed with winning back the so-called America's Cup. Between 1899 and 1930, he mounted five unsuccessful challenges for the trophy, each one with a new yacht and all of which were successively named Shamrock I-V. In 1901, Shamrock II faced Columbia; Shamrock was the larger by 20 tons and carried 800 more square feet of sail, but she was still defeated by Columbia in all three competition races the first of which was held on 28 September that year.