The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-06 00:00:00

mainsail and foresail, yawls their mainsail and
wizen, and cutters their mainsail, so that whim at

24 minutes past 5 o'clock in the morning the signal
to start by hauling down a flag on the Kentish
shore, the headsaila were hauled home in a very
short time, and almost simultaneously the whole
of the beautiful squadron were under way for
Harwich Harbour. The Fleur de Lys schooner
failed to get off as timely as the rest, getting into
diffieulties with her mainsail, which was not pro-
perly adjust. For the first mile or so of the course
Glance and Volante were smartly handled among
the cutters, as also were Astarte and Whirlwind, the
yawl. It was evident, however, that unless the
wind freshened the large yachts had no chance, for,
though the Albertine, Zoe, Zoraide, and Water Lily
was) beautifully managed, and every yachting art
resorted to to enable them to thaw the wind, there
was not enough for them, and the smaller craft
began to forge ahead, the Glance leading the cutters
by a long stretch. Next to her, and evidently equal-
ling her in speed, came the Volante, which kept
well ahead of Surge, which in turn was just ahead of
the Vindex, the latter being to leeward. The yawls
Whirlwind and Water Lily, cutters Marina and As-
tarte, and the schooner Albertine followed in close
order, and then came the Zigan, Madcap, Amber-
witch, and the rest of the fleet well up. Off South-
end the wind began to rise and promise strength,
and, though its increased force lasted only a short
time, it was quite enough to show how vitally its
endurance would affect the result of the race. The
Albertine at once began to show ahead among the
schooners, pressed very closely by the Water Lily,
Madcap, Amberwitch,Fleur deLys, and others, while
the Astarte began to diminish the distance between
herself and the leading cutters. Marina also began
to show in the front, and for a few minutes, there
was no wind, and to spare. It did not last, how-
ever, and the Albatross lost her lead among the
schooners to the Whirlwind, which thenceforth kept
it to the end. The Volante made the first bound to
stretch out to sea, and her example was soon fola
lowed by all the vessels, and the rest of the race,
from this time out, became a mere slow beating up
haendtidwehat
there
tide, With scarcely any wind to help
was rather against them
than otherwise: The racing was very close indeed
againstthe craft,t
between the Volante and the Glance, and between
the Vindex and the Surge, till most unfortunately
the Glance and Surge hung on the sand, and both
the Volante and Vindex passed their opponents,
the Astarte creeping up again. Nothing of impor-
tance now occurred for some time, except that
Astarte and Vindex had a fine close race, and the
headmost vessels passed the Mouse at 9 o'clock, the
Glance trying repeatedly to go through the Vol ante's
lee, but being stopped. Vindex now began to show
in the front, and her chances seemed fast improving
till she went aground, and was thenceforward out
of the race. The Surge then became third boat,
but the Glance, which had quite recovered her slight
stoppage, came pressing up, throwing the spray
from her fine bows, and closing fast with the Vol-
ante, which was very slow in stays. The Maplin
Light was passed at 10.20, the cutters preserving
the same order, and Wnirlwind leading the schooner
division, with Madcap, Water Lily, Amberwitch,
and Albertine all of a cluster. At the S win Middle
the Volante increased her lead, Glance being a
quarter of a mile ahead of Surge, and Astarte and
Marina nearly the same distance apart. A capital
race between the Surge and Astarte was now made,
the latter ultimately passing her opponent, and
subsequently weathering on the Glance into first
place. It was not in Surge's power, however, to
retain her pre-eminence for long, and the wind be-
coming lighter Glance took the first place after the
Volante. From this time there was no change
worth recording, and in the end the boats passed
the winning post in the following order:—

H. M S. Jr. IL s.
Volante
Glance 3 19 5 Surge
I
Astarte ... 3 19 35 Madcap
The speed, as will be seen by the time, was not
great; in fact, the wind, as we have said, was at no
time—except for a very few minutes, when off
Southend—sufficient to enable any of the boats
to show their qualities, or to do justice to
the admirable manner in which they were all
handled. According to the order of passing the
post, the Volante won the prize for cutters,
and the Whirlwind yawl the prize for schooners.