The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-07-23
The America Gun,


and this they may do by reading ''The Winning
and Keeping of the America Cup in Outing
for June 1885, and 1.-The Story of the America"
by Gen. B. f. Butler, in Harpers Magazine
for July 1885. The yacht America was built in
1850 by George Steers of New York, for Com
modore j. G. Stevens, of the New York
Yacht Club, and in 1851, the year that the first
"Words Fair'was held in England she crossed
the Atlantic to try conclusions with the Eng
fish yachts. On the 22ndo of August race for
t1OO cup, open to the yachts of all nations,
took place, and after most exciting contest
was won by the America, who beat all her
competitors with the greatest ease. She de-
cllntd to start in another race, owing to the al
most entire absence of wind on the day appoint
ed, but subsequently got underway and beat
the whole fleet nearly an hour. On the 2sth of
August she sailed Il match, forty miles out and
in, with the Titana, an English iron schooner,
and ran out of sight of her competitor. Her
subsequent history is of no interest in this con-
nection, but brief description of her dimen-
sions and rig will not be amiss The Americas
| main dimensions We're: length on deck, 81 feet
| by - feet inches breadth of beam; depth of
hold, feet inches; she drew II feet of water
aft. II feet amidships and j feet forward Length
of manmast, 81 feet; foremost, - feet inches:
maintopmast. 33 feet inches; manboom, 5s
feet; mangaf, IS feet; foregatf, n feet. She
carried no boom on her foresal. and no MAIN
topmast. Bowsprit out board, II feet. Custom
house tonnage, 40 tons. Her sails set flat as
boards when on the wind. while the English
sails of that day were all cut as TO set like
bags and hold the wind. Her maSts raked two
and half inches to the foot. Such was the
American clipper that outsailed the British
yacht fleet in 1851 and brought hone the piece
of silver known as the America cup.
After holding the prize wcn at CoweS for
| over six years the gentlemen owning the Amer
lea at the time of the victory offered the trophy
TO the New York Yacht Club on July 5, 1867,
AS an International Challenge Cup. subject TO
certain conditions. These were accepted with
the cup, which has since been in the possession
of the Club, but open to challenge from any
organized Yacht club of any foreign country.
the competing yachts to be not less than 30 or
more than 300 tons. Nineteen Years elapsed
before a challenge was received, and then the
gauntlet was thrown down by Mr.. James Ash
bury, owner of the schooner yacht Cambria
representing the Royal Thames Yacht Club
The challenge was accepted. the Cambria eros $
ed the Atlantic, and the race took p ace Aug s.
1870, resulting in the defeat of the English
yacht. nine of the American yachts. and among
them the old America, beating the challenger
either by actual or equated time or both. Mr.
Ashbury was not satisfied, and on his return
home had built the schooner Livona. and after
some negotiation arrangements Were made for
seven matches with representative yachts of
the New York Yacht Club, the winner of four
out of the seven to be awarded the cup The
first race of the series was sailed Oct. 16, 1871
over the New York Yacht Club course. and the
fifth, and last, Oct. 3D. the American yachts hay
iIg then scored four Victories Five wears lat
tr Il challenge was received from the owner of
the schooner yacht Countess of Dutttrin 13S
tons of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, and it
was agreed to sail a series of three races the
winner of two to be declared the winner of the
cup. The Madeline Q51 :on>) was selected to
defend the cup and won two races on Aug. H.
II, 1876, beating the Canadian easily. The
America. although not entered for the race,
sailed over the course in the last match and
beat the Countess of Dufferin by 10 m. 8 : The
last contest for the cup was with the >loop At
alanta of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, Cana
da, and three races We're arranged. as with the
Countess OF Dut1erin, but ii was only necessary
to sail two, the yachts of the New York Club
easily winning both.
None of these contests has excited 50 much
interest as the one soon to take Mace and
never before, i'll the opinion of experts, la, the
cup been in such jeopardy. A challenge was
given, and accepted. by one of the crack English
cutters, the Genesta and on the 10th she arrived
at New York having crossed the Atlantic from
Greenock Scotland in 80 days, under jury rig
! The Genesta was built at Patrick on the CLYDE
by Messrs. Henderson Brothers, with steel
| frame and pIanking of teak and elm. She is
80 feet over all, 81 feet water line, 10 feet
beam and II feet inches depth Of hold Her
draft of water is - feet 6 inches Originally
i she had sixty tons of lead outside, but in recent
preparation for this race ten tons additional
have been placed there. and she has been given
new and heavier sparS. She has also been
newly coppered. The Gene>ta has started
thirty-four times in races, and won seven frSts
and ten seconds. or seventeen in all. Those
who have seen the English yacht as She Laws at
anchor in New York bay are loud in her praise
1t Is said that there is artistic. Thoroughbred
look to her that captivates sailors eye i'm
mediately. The New York Herald says
| Most impressive perhaps in those of her
| distinctive features that strikes the expert eve
is her sheer-light and airy in its upward curry
ing, clear fore and aft-like the spring OF Il
Whaieboat from the water level. So different
| TOO, Is the GeneSta's sheer from that of the
cutters we have had with us that the contrast
is as striking as il is pleasing. She looks alive
| from stem TO stern. while the cutter crafts that
are knocking round in these waters appear as
dead to the eye as a meat block in Il butchers
shop, particularly about their sharp wedge
bows. Her long counter springs gracefully
from the water line, its depth being in correct
| proportion, and the light birdlike quarters of
her stern are turned with the skill of master
as neat and graceful AS If moulded by the deft
hand of woman, beautiful yet powerful i'll
theft length. Her gunwale sheer is shown by
Il gilt hollow. and above it the rail sheer is
defined in the bright color of the oak, and both
| curves being graduated with the incest care
rs viewed broadside on in her long. low living
length above the water, make her Il picture of
yacht-nava beauty.
Our yachtsmen have not been idle, but are
fully alive to the Importance of the coming
contest. Commodore Douglass and James Cor
| don Bennett, of the New York Yacht Club
have had built an iron centre-board soop.
called the Priscilla. and some Boston Yachts
men a sloop called the Puritan both of which
are in commission. There has been a good
deal of what appears to be unnecessary secresy
about the performances of the New York
yacht but the Boston craft, so far as she has
been tested, is an undoubted success. and has
easily outsaied her home competitors. How
she will come off in a contest with the Genesta
remains to be seen. There will be trial races
of the American yachts before the great event
with view to selecting the swiftest to defend
the cup. May the best yacht win, and if the
Genesta carries home the cup, rest assured it
will not long remain on that side of the At
lantic.
1t was the New York Evening Post once ed
tied by William Cullen Bryant that proclaimed
during the last Presidential campaign that chas-
tity is not one of the greatest virtues, and that
| SsOtfrupps have n