The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-25 00:00:00

MONDAY EVENING,

the world could exhibit, while it is confessed that
anyttiii,g like it was never s' en even here in the an-
nals of yachting. Soon after th:y started a steamer
went off froth the roads with the members of the sail-
ing committee, Sir B. Graham, Bart., Commodore,
Royal Yacht Squadron, and the following gentlemen :
—Lord Excnotuh, Captain Lyon, Mr. A. Fontaine,
Captain Ponsonby, Captain Corry, Messrs. Harvey,
Les,ie, Greg, and Reynolds. The American Minister,
Mr. A bbott Lawrence, and his son, Colonel Lawrence,
attachk to the American Legation, arrived too late for
the eluting of the America, but were accommodated
on board the steamer, and went round the island in
her, and several steamers, chartered by privare gen-
tlemen or for excursion trips, &so accompanied the
match.

The Gipsy Queen, with all her canvass set and in
the strength of the tide, took the lead after starting,
wi.h the Beatrice next, and then, with little difference
in order, the Volante, Constance, Arrow, and a flock
of others. 'Die America went easily for some time
under mainsail (with a small gaff topsail of a trian-
gular shape, braced up to the truck of the short and
se rider stick which serves as her matetopms.st), fore-
sail, fore-steysail, and jib, while her opponents had
every cloth set that the club regulations allow. She
soon began to creep upon them, passing some of the
cutters to windward. In a quarter of an hour she
had left them all behind, except the Constance, Bea-
trice, and Gipsy Queen, which were well together,
and went along smsrtly wish the light breeze. Once
or twice the wind freshened a little, and at once the
America gathered way, and passed ahead of the
Constance and Bea,rice. Another puff came, and she
made a dart to pass the Gipsy Queen, but the wind
left her sails, and the little V.l sate came skipping
past her with a stupendous jib, swallowing up all the
wind that was blowing. As the glorious pageant
passed under Osborne House the sight was
surpassingly floe, the whole expanse of sea
from shore to shore being filled as it were with
a countless fleet, while the dark hull of the
Vengeance, 84, in the distance at Spithead, towered
in fine relief above the tiny little craft that danced:
around her—the green hills of Hampshire, the white
batteries of Portsmouth, and the picturesque coast of
Wight, forming a fine framework for the picture.
As the Volante passed the America great was the
delight of the patriotic, but the nautical cognoscenti
shook their heads, and said the triumph we uld be,
shortlived; the breeze was freshening, and then the
sprightly cutter must give way, though she was
leading the whole squadron at the time. At 10 30
the Gipsy Queen caught a draught of wind and ran
past the Voiante, the Constance, America, Arrow,
and Alarm being nearly in a line. At 10 45 the
brfez.,. freshened again for a short time, and the Ame-
rica passed the Arrow, Constance, and Alarm, but
could not shake off the Volante nor come up to the
Gipsy Queen, and exclamations were beard of "Well,
Brother Jonathan is not going to have it all his own
way," &c. Passing Hyde the excitement on shore
was very great, and the great ichtliyoszturus-like
pier was much crowded ; but the America was
tiirging ahead, and less-ning the number of
her rivals every moment. Toe Sandheads
were rounded by the Volante, Gipsy Queen, and
America without any perceptible change in point of
time at 11 o'clock, the last being apparently to lee-
ward. Again, the wind freshened, and the fast yachts
came rushing up before ir, the run from the Sand-
heads bring most exciting and well contested. Here
one of the West India mail steamers was observed
paddling her best to come in for some of the fun, and
a slight roll of the sea inwards began to impart a live-
lier motion to the yachts, and to render amateurs,
whether male or female, ghastly-looking and uncom-
fortable. The yachts were timed off Noman's Land
buoy, and the character of the race at this moment
may be guessed from the result—

b. in. s.
... 11 7 0

Voliinte

Freak ••• ••• ••• • 11 8 20
Aurora 11 8 20
Gr.psy Queen ... 11 8. 45
America 11 9 0
Beatrice 11 9 15
Alarm ••• ••• ••• 11 9 20
Arrow ... 11 10 0
Bacchante ... 11 10 15
The other six were staggering about the rear, and the
IVyvern soon afterwards hauled her wind, and went
back towards Cowes. At this point the wind blew
somewhat more steadily, and the America began to
show a touch of her quality. Whenever the breeze
took the line of her hull all her sails set as flit as a
drumhead, and, without any careening or staggering,
she " walked along" past cutter and schemer, and,
when off Brading had left every vessel in the squadron
behind her—a mere ruck—with the exception of the
Volante, which she overtook at 11 30, when she very
quietly hauled down her jib, as much as to say she
would give her rival every odds, and laid herself out,
fur the race round the back of the island. The tikr
ther showed symptoms of improvement, so far as
yachting was concerned ; a few seahorses waved their
crests over the water, the high lands on shore put on
their fleecy "nightcaps" of cloud, and the horiz
looked delightfully threatening; and now "the
Yankee" flew like the wind, leaping over, not against,
the water, and increasing her distance from
the Gipsy Queen, Volante, and Alarm every
instant. The way her sails were set evinced
superiority in the cutting which our makers would
barely allow; but, certain it is, that while the jibs
And mainsails of her antagonists were "bellied out,"
her mauves was as flat as a sheet of paper. No foam,
hut rather a water-jer, rose from her bows; and the
greatest point of resistance—for resistance there must
ne somewhere—seemed about the beam, or just for.
ward of her mainmast., for the seas flashed off from
her sides at that point every time she met them.
While the cutters were thrashing through the water,
•ending the spray over their bows, and the schooners
were wet up to the foot of the foremast, the America
was as dry as a bone. She had twenty-one persons
on her deck, consisting of the owners, the crew, cook,
and steward, a Cowes pilot named Underwood, and
some seamen who had been lent her by the Sur
,rise, a London-built schooner yacht, now at Cowes
[toads. They nearly all sat att., and when the vessel
did not require any handling crouched down on the
deck by the weather bulwarks. The Girl Queen
when a little pas: Brading, seemed to have carried
away her foresail sheets, but even had it not been so
she bad lost all chance of success. The America, as
the wind increased, and it was now a six knot bret ze.
.at least, hauled down her wee gaffupsail,and vventeway
.ender mainsail, foresail, and forestaysail, so that it re
quired the utmost the steamer could do to keep alongside
ei her. This wrs her quickest bit of sailing, for on
rounding the east point of the island it was necessary
to beat to the westward, in order to get along the
hack of the Wight. At 11 37 the Arrow, Bacchante,
Constance, and Gipsy Queen stood away to the
north, to round the Nab, imagining, most probably,
that it was requisite to do so, us the usual course cer
~aioly is to go outside the lightship, though the cards
lid not specify it on this occasion. The America and
most of the other yachts kept their cour,e round the
Foreland and by Bembridge. She ran past the white
and black buoys at a tremendous rate, and at 11 47
tacked to the west, and stand in towards the Culver
cliffs, the nearest yacht being at least two miles to
leeward or astern of her. She was not very quick in
stays on this occasion, and it would seem she was not
very regular in that inacceuvre, sometimes takinw a
minute, sometimes 30 seconds, to perform it. At 11.58
she stood out again to the south-east, and, having
taken a stretch of a mile or so, went about, and ran
in towards Sandown. The breeze died off at this
point, and to keep the cutters and light craft off the
America hoisted her gaff topsail and jib once
more. Under Shanklin Chine the set of the
tide ran heavily against her, but still there was no-
thing to fear, for her rivals were miles away, some
almost hull down! While running under Dunnose
at 12.68 her jibboom broke short off. It may be re-
membered she procured the spar from Retsey, of Cowes,
but no blame attaches to him, for not only did he re-
commend Messrs. Stephens to take a yellow spar
instead of the white one they selected, but the boom
was broken by mismanagement on the part of the men
when straining on it with the windlass, and did not
snap from the action of the sail. This accident threw
her up in the wind, and gave the advantage of about a
quarter of an hour to her opponents, while she was
gathering in the wreck. But it was of little use to
them. Looking away to the east, they were visible at
great distances, standing in shore or running in and
out most helplessly astern, the Aurora, Freak, and Vo-
lante, in spite of light winds and small tonnage, being
two or three miles behind. The wind fell off very much
for more than an hour, and it was hut weary work
stretching along the coast against a balling tide, every
moment making the loss of her jib of greater conse-
quence to the America. Soon after three o'clock the
Arrow managed to run on the rocks to the east of Mill
Bay ; and the sailing committee's steamer the Queen,.
Her Majesty, an excursion boat, and the Alarm
yacht at once made in to her assistance. They
ran down to the ledge of rocks on which
she was fixed, between Ventnur and Bonchurch, and
'' Her IVlejesty," falling on her with a hawser, steamed
away as held as she could, tad, after some 20 or 30
reinutes, towed off the poor little Arrow, which won
but the other day at the Ryde Regatta, in such a
condition that " she never more was fit for sea." She
put about and went off towards the Nab, with the in-
tention of returning to Cowes; and the Alarm, which
might have lied a chance with Brother Jonathan in a
heavy seaway, kept her company in the same direc-
tion, having generously run down to aid the Arrow.
The America at this time was some miles ahead, and,
as the breeze freshened from W.S.W. W., slipped
along on her way, makine tacks with great velocity,
and stood well up to windward. Her superiority was
so decided that several of tba yachts wore, and went
back again to Cowes in despair; and, for about another
half-hour the New York boat increased her distance
every second, the Aurora, Freak, and Volante, keep-
ing id a little, squadron together—tack for tack—and
tuning along aloe law *lola 2141 was rate

unfortunate in one respect, for, in going about, the
Freak fouled the Vo;mite and carried away her jib-
boom ; and the boatmen's pet became thereby utterly
disabled, and lust the small glimpse of fortune which
the light winds might have given her. Meanwhile
minute after minute " the Yankee" was gaining
ground, and at 3.30 was flying past St. Lawrence
towards Old Castle, while the Bacchante and Eclipse,
which had been working along honestly and steadily,
were about 2f miles to leeward behind her. Fur her
away still were visible five or six yachts, some hull
down, some dipped further still, digging into the tide-
way as hard as they could, and lying into the wind
as well as their sails might stand it. The America
had by this time got the wind on her quarter, having
gone round Rocken-eud, and thus having a tolerably
fair course from the south to north-west up to the
Needles, the wind being light and the water some-
what broken. The persona on board the steamers
were greatly astonished at seeing ahead of the AMR..
rice, after the had rounded the Rocksre end, a fine
cutter with jib and foresail together—" two single
gentlemen rolled into one," bowling away with all
speed, as if racing away for her life, end it was some
time before they could be persuaded she was not the
Aurora; but she was in reality the Wildfire, 42 tons,
Mr. F. Thynne, of the Ro:} al Cork Club, which was
taking a little share in the match to herself, and had
passed the Eed 3.40. The America, however, bore
straight down for the cutter, which was thoroughly
well sailed, and passed her, of er a stern chase of
more than an hour, though the Wildfire, when fist
sighted, must have been two miles and a half ahead of
the schooner. At 540 the Aurora, the nearest y acht,
was fully seven miles and a half astern, the Freak
being about a mile more distant, and the rest being
" nowhere." The America was at this time close
to the Needles, upon which she was running with a
light breeze all in her favour. Two of the excursion
steamers ran into Alum Bay and anchored there to
see the race round the Needles. While waiting there
in intense anxiety for the first vessel that should shoot
round the immense pillars of chalk and limestone
which bear the name, the passengers were delighted
to behold the Victoria and Albert, with the royal
standard at the main, and the Lord Admiral's flag at
he fore, steaming round from N.W., followed by the
Fairy, and the little dockyard tender. Her Majesty,
the Prince, and the Royal Family, were visible by
the aid of a glass from the deck of the steamers. The
royal yacht went past the Needles, accompanied by
the Fairy, at 5.35, but quickly returned, and at 5.45
lay to off Alum Bay. Cite Fairy was signalled to
proceed round the Needles, to bring tidings of the
race, and at once started, Ariel-like, on her errand.
Sion after the royal yacht anchored a boat put off
from her, in the stern sheets of which were Prince
Albert and the Prince of Wales, who wore his white
sailor's dress and tarpaulin hat. They landed, at-
tended by two gentlemen, on the beach under the
cliff at Alum Bay, with the aid of the boatmen, and
it was some time before the saunterers from the steam-
boats, who were climbing up towards the heights were
aware of the presence of such distinguished visitors.
Tney proceeded a short way up the narrow winding
path which leads to the heights, but a wet drizzle
drifted before the wind, and rendered the walk un-
promising, and the Royal party soon returned to the
Deeds, the young Prince dancing round the shelving
road with b.,yish vivacity. After a stay of eight or
ten minutes, the Royal party returned to the yacht.
Tne Fairy, which had returned to signal, again stood
out past the Needles, but all doubt and speculation, if
any there could have been, was soon removed by the
appearance of the America hauling her wind round
the cliff at 5 50. The breeze fell dead under the
shore, and the America lowered out her foresail and
forestaysail so as to run before it. All the steamers
weighed and accompanied her, giving three cheers as
she passed, &compliment welch her owners and crew
acknowledged with uncovered heads and waving hats.
At 6e. 4in. the Wildfire rounded the Needles and bore
away after the schooner, which by this time had got
almost in a line with the Victoria and Albert. Though
it is not usual to recognise the presence of her Ma-
jesty on such occasions as a racing match, no more,
indeed, than a jockey would pull up his horse
to salute the Queen when in the middle of
his stride, the America instantly lowered her
ensign—blue with white stars—the Commo-
dore took off his hat, and all his crew,
following his order and example, remained with un-
covered heads for some minutes till they had passed
the yacht--a mark of respect to the Queen not the
less becoming because it was bestowed by Republi-
cans. The steamers, as she passed on, renewed their
cheering, and the private battery of some excellent
gentlemen at the " Crow's nest" opened fire with a
royal salute as the Victoria and Albert slowly
steamed alongside the America. On turning towards
the Needles, at 6.30, not a sail was in sight, but the
breeze was so very light that all sailing might be said
to have finished, and it was evident the America had
won the cup, unless some light cutter ran up with a
breeze in the dusk arid slipped past her. The
steamers, including the Tourist, which astonished the
natives by steaming through the still water at the
rate of some 15 or 16 miles an hour, returned towards
Cowes, and the royal yacht, having run close by the
America under half-steam for a short distance, went
on towards Osborne. Off Cowes were innumer-
able yachts, and on every side was heard the hail,
ols the America first ?" The answer " Yes."
" What's second ?" The reply, " Nothing."
As there was no wind, the time consumed
in getting up from Hurst Castle to the winning flag
was very considerable, the America's arrival first not
having been announced by gunfire till 8.37. The
Aurora, which slipped up very rapidly after rounding
the Needles, in consequence of her light tonnage and
a breath of wind, was signalled at 8.45; the Bac-
chante at 9.30; the Eelipse at 9.45 ; the Brilliant at
1.20 A.M. August 231. The rest were not timed.
[bus the America made good all her professions. It
is with great pleasure I have to state that a protest
which had been entered against her receiving the cup,
on the ground that she had not followed the course
marked out, was withdrawn, and that the Messrs.
Stephens were presented by the Royal Yacht Squad-
ron with the well-won cup. Oa the evening after
the race there was a very brilliant and effective dis•
play of fireworks by land and water alone tbe club-
house esplanade, at which 6,000 or 7,000 persons
were present. A reunion took pLice at the club-
house, and the occasion was taken of Mr. Abbott
Lawrence's presence to compliment him on the suc-
cees of his countrymen. His Excellency acknow-
ledged the kindness in suitable terms, and said that,
though he could not but be proud of the triu'np h of
his fellow-citizens, he still telt it was but the children
giving a lesson to the father. If the Adierica was
purchased here, they would nevertheless try to build
something better in New York, so as to boat even
her.

Tne last remark of his Excellency alluded to a
rumour that an offer had been made to buy the
A merle*, bat that the sum was not considered sufficient.
We have thus been undeniably beaten, but we have been
beaten with a good grace, and our conquerors are the
first to admit it. They speak in the highest terms of
the condescension and kindness of the aristocracy
they had been taught to believe arrogant and un-
bending, and acknowledge in the warmest way the
Affability and courtesy of the gentry of the various
clubs.
This evening the America sailed from Cowes to
Os-
borne, in consequence of an intimation that the Queen
wished to inspect her. The Victoria and Albert also
dropped down to Osborne. At a quarter to 6 the
Queen embarked in the state barge, accompanied by
hts Royal Highness Prince Albert and suite, and on
nearing the America the national colours of that
vessel were dipped, out of respect to her Majesty,
and raised again when her Majesty had proceeded
on board. Her Majesty made a close inspection of
the America, attended by Commodore Stephens,
Colonel Hamilton, and the officers of the yacht. The
Queen remained on board half an hour, and expressed
great admiration of the general arrangements and
character of this famous schooner. Ou her Majesty
leaving the American colours were again dipped, and
her Majesty proceeded in the barge to Osborne, where
she arrived et half-past six ololock.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
SECOND TRIAL OF THE AMERICAN YACHT.

COWES, AUG. 24.—Her Majesty's Cup, value 100
guineas, open to yachts of all nations, will be sailed
for to-morrow. Commodore Stephens has entered
the America, when he offered to sail her against any
of the yachts ; he stipulat&d that they should not
start unless there was at least a six-knot breeze."
We have at the least a " twelve• knot breeze" today,
which her crew says is just what suits her. We
shall be able to tell more about this to-morrow night.
Tne Constance, the Alarm, the Destiny, and the
whole fleet are determined to try her once more ; she
has beaten them handsomely in a light air and in a
stiff breeze; should to•m+,rrow be as to-day, and
there is every appearance of its being so, they will
have to try their powers in half a gale of wind—quite
enough for any of them at the back of the Wight,
and, we guess, a little more than some of our yachts-
men will like.
The Titania schooner, 100 tons, with which Mr.
Stephenson has accepted the American challenge, is
come into harbour to have her bottom cleaned ; she
is landing her guns and all her spare stores, intending
to do her best, but it is not thought that she will be
any use against the America.
THE ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON CUP GIVEN TO THE