The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-06-29 00:00:00

THE ROYAL MERSEY YACHT CLUB.

GRAND SAILING MATCH' FOIL' A PRIZE OF FIFTY SOVE,

REIGNS' VALUE.

On Thursday last a sailing• match, by vessels belonging,
to this prosperous club, took place on the outward waters •
of the Mersey. The coming contest had excited much.
interest amongst yachtmen and lovers of aquatic sports,
the yachts being first-class, and the expectations of a
hard struggle being considerable. The anticipations
formed were fully realized. The vessels entered, six in
number, were—
The Sultan, 99 tons R. E. Naylor, Esq., owner.
The Queen of the Ocean,
49 tons
The Vision, 44 tons T. Birchen, Esq., owner.
The Gondola, 76 tons W.. H. Woodhouse, Esq., owner.
The Bacchante, 80tons; B. H. Jones, Esq., owner.
The Water Wyvern, 40 ts.. J. E. Stopford, Esq., owner.
The Vision and the Bacchante were built by Messrs.:
Wanhill, of Poole, who have turned out many successful•
yachts, of which the latter-named vessel is the largest.
The Sultana and the Gondola were constructed by Mr.
Ratsay, of Cowes, the celebrated builder of sea-going
cutter yachts. The Gondola is a beautiful and finely-
modelled specimen of' that gentleman's workmanship.
The Commodore, and mast of the officers of the club
and their friends (including a number of ladies), embarked
at the Prince's Pier, at ten o'clock, in the City of Dublin
Company's fine steam-ship Iron Duke, to follow and wit-
ness the race. Mr. Gribbins's excellent hand was on
board, and played (on both brass and stringed instru-
ments) a variety of airs and dances during the day. They
proceeded with the down-going tide to New Brighton,
from which the start was to take place, the competing
vessels having previously been placed in their respective
stations by Mr. Jonathan Grindrod, who kindly raider-
took the duty in the absence of Captain Holt, the Vice-
Commodore. The Gondola had the Cheshire, or most
westerly position, and others further out in line in the
stream. They presented a fine appearance, with their
distinguishing flags ;. and their crews seemed to.be ani-
matedby equal enthusiasm. Some little delay in start-
ing was occasioned by a heavy summer shower and squall.
The course was what is called " The Queen's Course,"
(in honour of her 'Majesty, who is patron of the club,)
and was down the channels to the Bell Beacon ' • within
the buoys, thence to the North-west Lightship ; back to
the Bell Beacon back again to the N. W. Lightship ;
and thence, by the Bell Beacon, home to New Brighton
—a straight distance, in all, of 38 nautical miles, but re-
quiring with any one wind a distance of about 50 miles to
--.4r.aawlisafo—lay-tlaa..nacessity dalf-ocaacklozable

beating, an opportunity of testing the best sailing princi-
ples of a yacht, the whole space being free seaward, and
unobstructed. The flag-vessel for the day (anchored off
New Brighton) was the beautiful fairy-looking yacht in
miniature, " The Gem," one of those belonging to the
Honorary Secretary.
At about half-past eleven o'clock the signal given was
fired by order of the Commodore, and the race com-
menced. The Gondola was first off, the Vision close upon
her. The Sultana was third, the Bacchante fourth, and
the Water Wyvern. The Queen of the Ocean, by some
accident, made an unfortunate start, and could not after-
wards recover her proper position. The wind, at first
from S.W., changed to W. and W.S.W., at times rather
fresh. The sailing down channel past the two first light-
ships was interesting, the Vision taking the lead. In ap-
proaching the Bell Beacon, the Vision, Sultana, and Gon-
dola steered on the port tack to get to windward of that
point. The Bacchante, which was fourth ahead, cleverly
tacked close to windward of the Bell, and stood on the
starboard tack, passing it first smartly and unexpectedly,
—a piece of seamanship which elicited hearty cheers from
the steamship. Shortly before, the Water Wyvern car-
ried away her cross-trees, and could not afterwards set her
gaff-topsail to advantage.
The yachts, in rounding the N.W. light-ship, the
first time appeared to great advantage. The Vision
first at about 12 hours 5 minutes. The sailing back
to the Bell Beacon was equal or more interesting, the
four headmost of the fleet, the Vision first. In ap-
proaching the Beacon the four boats were so close together
that they might almost have been covered with a fishing
net, and the race had to be commenced afresh between
them, each seeming again to challenge the other. They
had temporally failed at the Beacon, and the vessels had
great difficulty in doubling it. The Vision, which had
also hung fire, at last got round and stood out. The
others could not accomplish it for some little time, and as
the tide was making up, the Vision got well ahead, and
still maintained her head, though the other three craft
had before gained considerably upon her. While the latter
were hanging in stays at the Buoy, the Water Wyvern,
which was considerably astern of them, brought up the
renovated breeze with her, and by clever management cut
off the whole three, io the admiration of all in the steamer.
In making the N.W. Lightship the second time several
attempts were made to weather her without another tack.
The Vision succeeded, and bore away, homeward bound,
with a flowing sheet. The Water Wyvern and Sultana
then got close up to the Lightship. The latter, after a
tack, had to shake up in the wind, and before filling to
put the helm, a starboard, when the way she had on her
carried her clear and away. This successful tnanoeuvre
was due to her superior weight and power. The Water
Wyvern and Gondola had each to make an additional
short-board to weather the Lightship. These four head-
most vessels then all went off with flowing sheets, some
of them setting awfully large balloon jibs. The time. of
rounding the N.W. Lightship the last time (which consti-
tuted the outward point of the race) was—
Vision, at..
Bacchante.. 3 ~ 26 „ 45 „
Sultana
Water Wyvern
Gondola ......
The Queen of the Ocean considerably in the rear.

The run home was fine and extremely rapid, wind and
tide being both favourable. The yachts looked beautiful
under a full press of canvas, and the Sultana especially,
with her tremendous gaff-topsail and jib, loomed like a
seventy-four amongst a fleet of craft of humbler stature.
The company on board the steamer partook, in three
relays in the saloon, of a sumptuous collation, wines, &c.,
provided by Mr. Gough, of the Woodside Hotel.
The coming in at the flag-vessel at New Brighton was
as follows :-
1. Vision

2. Bacchante...
3. Sultana
4. Gondola 5 ~ 17 „ 30 7,
5. Water Wyvern
The Queen of the Ocean was not placed.
The Water Wyvern, though fifth in coming in, was
third in placing, on account of the time allowed her for
smaller tonnage; and when all is right with her, she will
no doubt be a speedy vessel. The Bacchanite is also a
new yacht, and her trim not yet found out, but from her
performance this day she will probably be a first-rater.
Had the breeze been a little heavier, she would have
beaten the Vision ; and had it blown hard, the Sultana
would have shown her power, and probably been first in
by along distance. Th eVisi on, it will be seen, won the prize,
without reference to the allowance made for her tonnage.
On Mr. Birchall, the successful competitor, coming on
board the steamer, the COMMODORE, in presenting him
with the prise—a arge and massive silver tea-kettle and
stand—said he had great pleasure in presenting it, and
complimenting the receiver on the admirable manner in
which he had sailed his yacht, thus proving himself vic-
torious a second time. (The same gentleman obtained
possession of the challenge cup last year.) •
Mr. BURCHALL, in a modest address, returned thanks,
stating that, although he could not but be proud of such a
prize, he could not attribute his success to any merit of his
own, but solely to the good q alities of the vessel herself.
He expressed his good wishes for the Club, and proposed
the health of her most gracious Majesty the Queen, patron
of the institution, which was drunk in wine from the piece
of plate, followed by repeated cheers. Three cheers were
also given for the ladies, and three for the Commodore and
the Club. We should have stated that, before reaching
the winning-post, waltzes, &c., were danced on the quarter
deck of the steamer—the commander of which; Captain
Williams, was most polite to all on board, and so navigated
his ship that the whole race could be distinctly seen by
those on board. The company were afterwards landed on
the Prince's Pier. highly delighted with the race (which
was one of the best that was ever witnessed), and with the
whole of the day's proceedings.

THE CORPORATION WATER BILL AND THE
AVERAGE FALLS OF RAIN.
Mr. Hawlcsley calculates that he will be enabled to im-
_

allowing 14 inches, for absorption and evaporatiOn,Other
engineers consider this estimate too high by at least one-
sixth, and that 30 inches would be a large estimate. But
in estimating undertakings of this description, nothing can
be more delusive than taking the average rain fall as our
guide : it is not the average supply that we ought to pro-
vide tor, but the minimum. The fall of rain is so exceed-
ingly variable that no reliance whatever can be placed on
any computation based solely on the average fall of a given
number of years, for purposes similar to this, as we shall
endeavour to show.

We are not h possession of any authentic information
as to the rainfall of the Rivington district. We have,
however, before us a carefully compiled table, exhibiting
the results of the rain guage, kept in a district somewhat
similar, at the Edinburgh Water Company's Works at
Glencorse. And to this document we would earnestly call
the attention of all our readers who feel an interest in this
important subject. Glencorse, or Crawley as it is called,
is situated in the midst of the Pentland hills, an extensive
mountain range about eight miles south-east of the city.
and is admirably adapted by nature for raising and storing
a large supply of water for a city like Edinburgh. The
table shows the quantity of rain which fell each month
during a period of fifteen years. For the sake of brevity,
however, we only give the yearly results, omitting at the
same time the fractional parts, in order that this document
may be the more readily understood :

co. 4-irt M 17012
oo
It 'OD 2121MGC171212 CI CO; Cirek:
1i36 36.38'25 33 30 39

Rainfall in vrtcl. inchesl3l

Now the works in question were constructed on the as-
sumption that an average rainfall of 37 inches could be
safely depended upon, (a moderate computation certainly
when compared with Mr. Hawksley's 50 inches.) And as
14 inches were allowed for absorption and evaporation, it
was concluded that 23 inches, or 2 feet, could be impound-
ed in the reservoirs, thus enabling the company to supply
the wants of the town adequately, and give compensation
in water to the various millers whose mills were likely to
be affected by the construction of their works.
For some time this was the case, and all appeared right,
until the year 1842, when, as will be seen on reference to
the table, the rainfall was only 25 inches ; in the three
preceding years, 1839-40-41, there had been rather less
than the estimated average ; but the drought of 1842,
although not to be compared with some seasons which bad
preceeded it-1826, for instance—was yet severely felt.
The reservoir, although constructed on a most exten-
sive scale,. was completely emptied; the whole of the