The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-22 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING,

ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON REGATTA.
COWES, THURSDAY:
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDE/iT.)

FIFTY GUINEA. CUP.--MATCH BETWEEN THE SECRET,

THE PHANTO,II, AND THE BLONDE.

These little " uns" started this morning with a
splendid breeze front, the west by south, and the "Se-
cret" soon made her beating, the rest no secret at all,
the Phantom faded in the distance, the Monde
brought up the rear. The course was the old one;
and the best one round the Bramble buoys.
There is every appearance of a good day's sport to-
morrow ; there is a spanking breeze which is likely
to continue; the Roadstead is a forest of masts; we
scarcely ever saw so many yachts here. We have
the Royal yachts, the Royal Yacht Squadron yachts,
and, to all appearance, the yachts of all the other
yacht squadrons, not omitting that phantom ship the
" America," on which the eyes of all the world are
fixed, and will be to-morrow in the grand match.
HER MAJESTY'S CUP, GIVEN TO BE SAILED FOR ON

MONDAY NEXT BY YACHTS OF ALL NATIONS.
This cup, which was by some mistake sent to Ryde,
and is announced to be sailed for by the yachts of the
Ryde Club, is to be sailed for by the yachts of all
nations, round the Isle of Wight, on Monday next;
this will give the America a second trial. Doubtless
a whole fleet will start, as there are to be no restric-
tions as to size or rig.
While the yachts are contending to-morrow there
will be boat races, duck hunts, &c., and fireworks on
shore and afloat in the evening. A regular engage-
ment is to take place between the steamers and the
yachts, and again on Wednesday next, being the
town regatta.

(From the Times.).
COWES, THURSDAY AFTERNOON.—The challenge
of the Americans has at last been accepted. Mr.
Stephenson, M.P., has taken up their gage, and all
that remains is to sail the match as soon as the re-
gatta to-morrow is over. The conditions of the race
are not known, but the sum staked on the event by
Mr. Stephenson is 1001. The vessel which is opposed
to the America is an iron schooner of 100 tons called
the Titania. 'She was built by Messrs. Robinson and
Russell, and is said to be a fast vessel in smooth water;
but I must confess I share in the doubts expressed by
most people here as to her being a fit rival for the
America, and am inclined to think she will be beaten
band over hand, notwithstanding the high reputation
of her builders. However, Mr. Stephenson will have
the credit of taking up a challenge which could not
have been permitted to lie before us much longer
without some degree of discredit being attached to
the spirit of our yachtsmen, which hitherto has been
unquestioned. If he win, the America may pull
down her stars and stripes as soon as she likes. If
he be beaten, it will only be after a good race • and
no one can say he did not do his best for the credit of
the country, and that he did not lose 1001. with a
becoming grace honoris condi. It is a characteristic
trait that the Hon. Member puts his trust in iron, but
wonderful as are the capabilities of that universal
metal it is yet to be proved that it is a better material
than wood for the hulls of yachts.
Under the rays of a bright sun and a clear sky,
scarcely freckled with light patches of cloud, the ap-
pearance of Cowes to-day is very animated and pic-
turesque. The moorings in front of the esplanade
and before the Royal Yacht Squadron Clubhouse are
studded with yachts, which it may be fairly said are
innumerable, for the graceful confusion of hulls, sails,
and spars, and the shifting about of the various vessels
from place to place, render it impossible to count
them. The waters of the Solent in every direction
are studded with yachts careening over in a fine sail-
ing breeze, with every stitch set, leaving the roads
and beatiug up towards the Needles, or running up
to their anchorage from Southampton Water and the
Nab. In the middle of them all lies the America,
easily distinguished by the peculiar cut of her hull,
her bows and entry so fine and acute, and her stern
cocking up slightly at the end; by her tall raking
masts; but, above all, by a huge square eusign at
her main, of blue bunting, dotted with a whole
heaven of white stars and by her distinguishing
flag at the peak—white with red stripes, a square
blue patch in the upper quarter, with a circle of
white stars round a foul anchor—the flag of the
New York Yacht Club. Further out lies the trim
little Fairy, with her fiery-coloured funnel, and the
Royal yacht as bright as a new pin. Boats are pulling
to and fro in all directions. Every steamer from
Ryde, Southampton, and Portsmouth brings over a
full freight of gentlemen in yachting costume, and of
ladies in the peculiar attire devised at watering-
places to keep off the weather. Lucky is the man
who has a berth afloat, and is not forced to run up
and down the little mountainous streets of Cowes
looking for a bed with a heavy carpet •bag and the
thermometer at 90 degrees—and that, too, generally
without success. On the beach and esplanade pretty
little groups are strolling about and talking over the
great event of to-morrow, or criticising the various
yachts ; some of the ladies being greatly puzzled at
that " ugly looking America without any clean nice
ropes, or anything attractive like the vessels near
her, being able to sail so well," and a tremendous
traffic is going on in the transfer of hampers, bottle
cases, and joints of meat, fowl, and such creature
comforts from the shore to the men at sea. The
club-house is crammed with members, and altogether
there is more excitement than is usually visible on
such occasions among the easy-going yachtsmen.
It does one's heart good to see the Marquis of An-
glesey as full of life and fire as in his best days,
with a jaunty tarpaulin hat on his head, a pair
of flowing canvas trousers, and a dapper little
blue jacker, walking about in front of the club, with a
hearty shake of the hand for all his friends, and a
word for all around, and then getting into his boat
with a stout stiff stride, as though he never had left
a leg behind at Waterloo. But that the old Pearl had
no chance, I am certain that the Marquis would not
have allowed the Americans to have it to say that it
was weeks before any Englishman took up their chal-
lenge. Lord Jersey and a number of other members
of both Houses are also here, looking much better,
but very different as regards the outward man from
what they were a few weeks ago in London. About
one o'clock a fillip was given to the saunterers and
idlers by the America showing signs that she was
getting under weigh. She hoisted her mainsail,
then her fore and aft foresail, and when her prodigi-
ous foresail was up and filled, shot from her moorings
like an arrow towards the Needles, greatly to the
discomfiture of a little fleet of artists around, who
were busily engaged in taking her portrait. I had
a good opportunity of seeing how she was handled,
as I was close alongside at the time speaking to Mr.
Stephens, and I must say that, though her men were
smart, in that respect we have nothing to fear from her,
the start being made only in a fair average way. This
is no criterion, to be sure, of what she can do, as there
was no occasion for haste, the Commodore merely
wishing to have a sail in her; but it did not strike me
that her crew, undoubtedly fine, able-bodied young
men, were at all superior to our ordinary sailors. tier
exterior is so finely smoothed—l might say polished
—that it is difficult to believe till you touch her sides
that she is not made of iron, and I again observed the
curious way in which the water fizzed up from her
bows—it was not raised up in foam breaking away
before the prow as with our cutters, but started up in
thin little jets, and fell away under the bows just in
the same way that water spurts up before a knife
blade moved rapidly through it. Another peculiarity,
and one I think which it would be well if our yachts-
men copied, is that her sails are laced to the booms
and masts, so that not the slightest particle of wind
can escape the sails. Long as her masts seem she stands
remarkably well under canvas. Judging from her
course to-day she steers easily and is very manageable.
With all sail set she is not so handsome to our eyes
I As our own craft, mainly on account of the cut of her
main and fore and aftforesails, which are more in the
shape of lengthened, obtuse-angled' parallelograms
than our own, and have not near so great a difference
between the length at her boom and at the gaff.
Just as I am writing this the people are running
down to the piers and to the beach. It is nearly 3
o'clock, and the America is sailing back from the
Needles, past Cowes, with a flotilla of yachts around
her. She has foresail, fore and aft foresail, and
mainsail set (her new jib not being used), and goes
almost as softly, lightly, and quickly through the sea
as a swallow skims over a meadow. About twenty
cutters, schooners, and yawls are after her, most of
them with every sail they can set, but she shoots away
from them with,the greatest ease. Several yachts which
have been cruising about alter their course, and drop
in before her, but the America gains on the best of
them as if they were not moving at all, and before she
had passed the point which shuts out my view of the
Solent, just off the entrance to Cowes from the Ports-
mouth side, she had left them all hopelessly in the
rear, the work of about ten minutes.

SUPPRESSION OF DISORDERLY HOUSES IN TIIE
PARISH OF ST. CLEMENT DANES.—At a vestry meeting of
the inhabitants of the parish of St. Clement Danes, held
last night in the:Vestry-room, Strand—Mr. t. M. Bates in
the chair—Mr. Lewis called the attention of the vestry to
the statement made by Mr. Sergeant Adams on the bench,
which appeared in the public prints of the 10th instant, that
the authorities of this parish were unwilling and refused to
institute proceedings against disreputable houses, and in-
quired if such a statement was true, for a judge should not
go out of his way, as Sergeant Adams had done, to
asperse and throw odium on public bodies. The chairman
said that the statement of Mr. Sergeant Adams was utterly
unfounded, for the parochial authorities had never been un-
willing or refused to institute such prosecutions. Mr. Lewis
strongly condemned the conduct of the Learned Judge in
making extra-judicial statements from the bench, which
were uncalled for and unfounded, and did not come out in
evidence. Several speakers having addressed the meeting to
the same purport, the consideration of the question was ad-
journed for a fortnight.
TOLLS: FOR LIGHTHOUSES.—On Tuesday a return
to Parliament was printed, from which it appears that in the
year 1849 the gross amount of tolls on vessels for lighthouses
was 195,824/. ss. 4d. The Corporation of Deptford Strond,
in 1849, after all expenses, had a surplus of 98,6131. 2s. lid ,
which had been applied to the charitable and other purposes
(r which Vat cerpetaiieu Ire 4 eitalialltd dad iugutailad.