Wilmington journal., 1873-07-11

The Fourth at tWrightsville..AE Fine
Day and n Spirited IL lIace--TyVelve
Boats entered--The CarOlin a
Takes the first PriZe-.The Little
Sister comes I'm SecOnd-.The Qui
Vive gains the Club Prize.-Large
attendance of Ladies and Gentle-
men.
We all-at least all who were resi-
dents OF Wilmington previous to the
war-wlll remember the delightful re
gattas given at Wrightsville Sound du-
ring the summer season; how every
man, woman and child in the then
town who owned, or could beg or hire
horse, posted off to the Sound, many
of them going afoot to witness the
grand Fourth of July Regatta: and
how, with very slight beginning,
with few small boats, the club soon
came to own some of the swiftest lit
tie yachts on the Atlantic coast,
nearly all of which, we are proud to
say, were built and rugged at home,
and, of course, manned with our own
home sailors, many of whom, alas!
have not survived to see the reorgani-
zation of their happy pastime.
1t ls needless to say that the Regatta
everybody in this latitude. For weeks
previous to the day vehicles of al; de-
scriptions had been chartered by the
eager crowd of pleasure seekers. The
day opened beautifully, and certainly
Old Probs must have been in his
blandest humer to have smiled upon
us rs he did while fearful storm was
ravaging many portions of the North
and Northwestern States Early in
the forenoon Wrightsville was alive
with its happy crowd of men, women
and children. BY noon many sail
was spread to the breeze and more
than an hour was spent in transporting
both spectators and participants to the
Banks, the scene of the conflict Here
there was great hustle of active
preparation, but by half past two
o'clock everything was ready for the
start. At just five minutes before
three o'clock Commodore +. A. L. Cns-
sidey, with the Judges of the races,
Messrs. VIM. A. Wright and Jesse J.
Cassidey, and Capt. Henry Savage
near him, with watches in hand, gave
the signal and the start was begun.
The boats then sailed out in the fol-
lowing order, the smallest boat taking
the lead:
1st. Little Walter, sailed by John
FarrOw.
2d. Reb. by John J. Fowler.
Sd. Leiia, by 2. w. Cause.
4th. Little Sister. by Clayton Giles.
9TH. A'mic, by Charles Burkhimer.
9th. Cora and tli=a, 10y Geo. w.
Kidder.
7th. Lizzie, by Geo. A. Peck.
Sth. LIlic, by John l.. Maffitt.
9h. Tnline, by Benjamin Farrow.
10th. QM Iirc, by VIM. A. Wright,
Jr.
11th. Rhctta, by II. c. Cassidey.
10Th. CuyOlina, by L. NJ. Gardner.
The wind was from the Southwest
and was fine steady breeze at the out
set but freshened considerably during
the race, until there was almost too
much of it for the smaller boats. The
course was from the beach in front of
the Banks House, on the Sound front,
first up London Channel, III and around
buoy No. l, thence back towards the
Banks, thence down the Banks Chan
mel to buoy No. 2, placed near the in
let, thence back to buoy No. l, round
ing it and thence down the Channel
and around buoy No. 2 again, coming
up finally on the home course, the dis
tance, in all, aggregating about seven
miles.
The boats all led off in fine
order, but only five boats ran
the entire course and two of those,
the LiYic and the Tiidi,ac, arrived too
late to be timed by the Judges. The
Little Water soon dropped out !; the
jib of the Reb got loose, caught in
the mast and capsized her ; the Leila
capsized and was disabled the -innie
broke her rudder the Cora and Ellie
and the LiIie dropped out of the race
and the Rhetta was struck by sqnall
after the first round of buoy No. =,
her main sheet broke and she was dis
abled, and even the Cuy'Oii,i0, the first
in. made water so rapidly that she was
almost water-logged.
The successful boats were the caro-
! Hua, the little Sister and the Q't'
| IiCc. The CurOiiad came i'll in
hour, 33 minutes and 45 seconds the
| Little Sister in l hour, 81 minutes and
> seconds and the Qui TtrG in l hour,
80 minutes and 4 seconds.
/ The decision of the Judges was an
nounced and VIM. A. Wright, Esqr
was called upon to deliver the prizes
to the successful competitors. This
was done i'll Mr.. Wright's usua
happy manner, and the presen
tation remarks were responded
to appropriately, by the gentlemen
to whom they We're addressed. The
first prize, n large soup tureen, :
beautiful piece of silver, was presente,
to Mr. Z. f. Burruss, as owner of the
Carotno; very handsome silve1
ice pitcher, the second prize, was re
ceived by Mr.. Clayton Giles, for the
Little Sister, ana Mr.. VIM, A. Wright
Jr., of the Q"i IIre, as third best
holds, until the next regatta, the Clul
prlze, beautiful silver goblet.
1t was after five O'Clock when thes'
pleasant ceremonies had concluded
and when the last prize had been ten
dered and received the sails wer
again cast loose, the party all en-.
barked and a landing on the Soun'
beach was soon effected, with every
body and everything "as safe an'
sound as when they embarked d for IT,
Banks in the forenoon.