The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-22 00:00:00

M A RCII.

Irish Grand National (Open),
county Loutn
Ardrossan, Sharphill
South Lancashire (South-
port) Champion Mr. Wostropp l4, 15, &c
Leinster (Open) Courtown... Mr. H. Springall l9, 20
Scottish Open, Lanarkshire

6, 7
7, &c.

SEPTEMBER.
Brampton, Cumberland Mr. Warwick
OCTOBER.
Ancaster and Willoughby,
Lincolnshire Mr. Spafford

AQUATICS.

THE START FOR THE OCEAN YACHT-RACE.
(From Wilkes' Spirit of the Times, New York)
Very soon after this number of the Spirit reaches the
hands of our city readers the yachts Vesta, Fleetwing, and
Henrietta will sail on their racing voyage from Sandy
Hook to Isle of Wight. The race creates very great in-
terest, and there will be much anxiety to hear of the ar-
rival of the schooners in the English Channel. Some
seem to think that it will be a feat of great daring to make
the passage across the North Atlantic in these vessels at
this season of the year, but it will not be so considered by
seamen and those who are familiar with the history of
navigation. The chances for fair winds and a tolerably
good passage are much greater at this time of year than
they would be in February or March. Twenty years ago
next February the William J. Romer, a New York pilot-
boat, sailed to Cork and bask. She had very heavy wea-
ther. We had occasion to remember the gales of that
spring well, and have not often seen it blow harder than
it did at that time. But from the 11th of December to the
end of the month westerly winds will probably prevail,
and not in such force as to prevent the yachts from carry-
ing a fair amount of canvas. By the end of the month, if
all goes well, they ought to be in soundings, if not at
anchor in Cowes Roads.
The size of these schooners has made some people think
that it is a terrible undertaking to sail to England in them.
But the truth is.that the ocean traffic of the world was once
carried on in no larger vessels, and the most notable disco-
veries of the great navigators were made in craft not so large,
and not half as well fitted to resist the perils of the seas, as
these schooners. The big ships, except as men of war, are
things of comparatively modern date. The size and grandeur
of our steam and packet ships have made us forget the nature
of the craft in which our ancestors sailed to the uttermost
parts of the earth, and established theirdominlon on the seas.
Two out of the three vessels with which Columbus disco-
vered America were only half decked ; the Pinta and Nina
being quite open amidships. The ship with which Vasco
de Gama doubled the south part of Africa and defied the
dreaded Spectre of the Cape, was 120 tons burthen ; her
consort, commanded by his brother, was a hundred tons;
and the third vessel in that memorable expedition was only
50 tons. Jacques Cartier, sailing from St. Malos in France,
discovered the Straits of Belle Isle, the Gulf of St. Law-
reuse and Canada. His vessels were two, of 60 tons each.
In his next voyage he had three; one was 120, one 60,
and one 40 tons. The vessels with which Willoughby
sailed to navigate the frigid and stormy seas of Nova
Zembla, in quest of a north-east passage to the Indies,
were three in number : one was 180, one 160, and one 90
tons. Hawkins and Drake may be called the first yachts-
men, and their downright method of doing business has re-
cently been imitated by Brooke in the islands which Drake
visited. They prevailed a good deal more by valour and
daring than by size of ships. Drake's vessel, in his
cruise under his kinsman, Hawkins, was the Judith, of
50 tons. After returning to England in her, he sailed
with two vessels on his own hook. One of these was 70
tons. With these Drake crossed the Atlantic, took the
towns of Nombre de Dios and Vesta Cruz, on the Isth-
mus of Darien, and captured a convoy of gold, silver, and
pearls. He also beheld the Pacific Ocean from the top of
a high mountain, and this resolved him to return home and
fit out an expedition to cruise in that great sea. Queen
Elizabeth heard his plan, but determined to keep, techni-
cally, at least, on the windy side of the treaties and public
law; so Drake sailed again as a "yachtsman." He had
five vessels. The largest was his own, the Pelican, of 100
tons. The smallest was the Swan, of 50 tons. He went
west of Cape Horn ; took treasure and gems from one bhip
worth a million of dollars; sailed as high as the 48th de-
gree of north latitude in the Pacific ; dropped in at the bay
now called San Francisco, and took pcssession of Califor-
nia; sailed away for Java and the Moluccas; doubled the
Cape of Good Hope, and, returning to England, completed
the circumnavigation of the world. Drake was nut
two years and ten months in the Pelican. When he
got back, stout-hearted Elizabeth went aboard to see him,
and this first of yachtsmen, kneeling down on the dock,
plain Drake, rose up Sir Francis. Now, here was yacht-
ing to some purpose. Moreover, it appears that the
Mayflower, in which the Pilgrim Fathers, and mothers, to
the number of a hundred and one, men, women, and chil-
dren, took passage to Massachusetts, was only a hundred
and eighty tons. So the aboveraentioned vessels, whose
achievement aro for ever part of the grand history of
navigation and the world, were none of them as large as
the least of the schooners in this race. It follows that,
however we may look at it, our ancestors would not have
esteemed it a heroics thing to have made the passage
across the Atlantic in a schooner of above 200 tons, stoutly
built, well fitted, and furnished with spare spars, spare
sails, and preventer rigging. So far as danger is involved,
it is less than that incurred by the people in high pressure
steamboats from Cincinnati to Now Orleans in ordinary
passages, and nothing like as great as what happens when
two go puffing and belching, and snorting and throbbing,
with the furnaces red hot, in a race on the rolling river.
To bear, not to dare, must be the motto of those who
sail in the running schooners. In the Fleetwing the pas-
sengers will be Mr. Robert Center and Mr. Ernest Staples.
In the Vesta Mr. George Lorillard and Lieut.-Col. Stuart
M. Taylor will go. In the Henrietta, the owner, Mr.
Bennett, will be accompanied by Mr. L. Jerome, and Mr
M. Knapp. Bon voyage, say we l and Larry, when the
wind blows a screamer, and the waves run high, think of
Jacques Cartier, in his vessel of 60 tons on the Atlantic ;
and remember the mighty seas off Cape 'Horn, pitching
into the Pelican of a hundred, that bore the fortunes of
Francis Drake. Do this, as you "freshen the nip" on the
banks of Newfoundland, and in the frothy chops of the
Channel.
The Vesta is to be navigated by Capt. Johnson and sailed
by G. M. Dayton. Tho Henrietta will be navigated by
Capt. Samuels, and sailed by M. J. Lyons. The Fleet-
wing will be navigated by Captain Thomas. She was to
have been sailed by Richard Brown, who took the
America and the Sylvia to England, but ho has resigned
on soma matter of etiquette. This is to be regretted, be-
cause he is as good a man as ever trod a plank, and can
handle a yacht to perfection. Some of the most stupid
remarks that ever were penned and printed have appealed
in reference to this matter. After reciting the experience
of Capt. Thomas, in the ship City of New York, and that
of Captain Samuels, in the Dreadnought, the writer goes
on to say, "It is to such men as those, whose experience in
sailing fore-and-aft vessels admirably fits them for the
position, should be entrusted the charge of the yachts in
such an undertaking as the coming Atlantic match, and not
to the fresh water 'longshoremen." Now, this lubber
evidently thinks that a fore-and-aft vessel is one that
goes backwards and forwards across the Atlantic.
In a former disquisition about a yacht he spoke
of the beauty of her keel, not knowing the hull
from the keel. We submit to all concerned, that this is
a pretty fellow to abuse Dick Brown and the real nauti-
cal population of America. This stupid person is perhaps
unaware of the faot that the eeamen who go the long