The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-10-06
The :" AMERICA" CUP.

commodore, MI. JOnn Y. stevens,
in that year made up his mind that
he would have an American yacht
that could lick all creation. Mr..
George Seers, of the shipbuilding
firm of Seers Brothers, had devoted
himself to the study of marine archi-
lecture, and the clipper ships which
he had built had q deservedly great
reputation. 10 him was given the
task of designing and building Com
modore Stevens yacht, and the
America, in due time, took shape
and became q thing of beauty. She
was when built 95 feet on deck, 30
feet on water line, % feet wide and
drew IL feet 3 inches of water.
She had no centreboard, had flat
floor and drew twice as much water
aft rs forward. Her extreme width
was about one-third from her stern,
instead of, as was the case with all
other yachts, being one-third from
the bow, for in those days the old
rule of the Gods head and the
mackerel's tail, was supreme in the
ship-building yard. 1t was in her
rig, however, that the America diff
fered in the greatest degree from all
English yachts. She had two very
heavy solid pole-masts upheld by a
few wire shrouds, and her racing
canvas was tremendous iih lashed
to a boom, which could be pulled
down as fiat as board and two ire
mendously high fore and aft sails
also dashed to the boom, and lying
like boards. At that time all En-
glish racing canvas was cut to form
sort of picturesque wind bag, and
no material then in use would sit as
fiat as the cotton duck used by the
Americans. The contract upon
which the America had been built,
was that she should beat the Maria,
a big, awkward, centreboard sloop.
then the pride of the New York
Club, which subsequently foundered
in the Gulf Stream. This she failed
to do, as it was a centreboard boats
weather. Instead of becoming the
property of Commodore Stevens,
she was bought as a speculation by
five American gentlemen, among
them the commodore, who sent her
across the Atlantic. Her skipper
was Captain Dick Brown, and her
famous designer was on board.
When she ran into English waters,
she was met by a fast English cutter,
which she walked past as if, instead
of fast yacht, she was racing
buoy, and after this it was impossi-
BILE for the Americans to get Oh
match race with an English yacht
for long time. AS an incident of
the first Worlds Fair, f1OO cup
was offered as the Royal prize for
race around the Isle of Wight, and
upon the 22nd of August eighteen
yachts, varying in tonnage from
1872 to AZ tons, got under way. The
wind was light and only two yachts
finished the race, the America and
the Aurora, the smallest boat in the
feet, and the America was eight
miles ahead. There was no time
allowance in this race, and had there
been the America would only have
won by about two minutes. On the
28th August she sailed match race
of forty miles with one hundred
ton iron schooner yacht, the Titania,
owned by Robert Stephenson, and
won the match by an hour. No
other match race could be arranged,
and the yacht was sold to Lord De-
Blaquiere, and the successful yacht
ing syndicate brought their tremend-
Gus piece of plate home to New
York. In 1857 the cup was pre-
sented to the New York Yacht
Club, to be held by them as a per-
petual challenge cup to all the
world. In 1861 the America, then
masquerading under the title of the
Camilla, was purchased from her
English owner by an enthusiastic
Southerner, and equipped with one
heavy gun. She was sent off to
cruise the Spanish main as Il Con-
federate pirate called the Memphis.
Fast as she was the Federal gun
boats were faster, when there was
no wind, and she was scuttled in the
mud of the st. John river, Florida.
to save her from capture. An
American frigate crew dug her out
and she again made her appearance
in New York harbor as a training
ship for the students of Annapolis
Naval College. In 1868 Mr.. James
Ashbury, an English yachtsman,
and the owner of the Cambria,
fine schooner yacht, challenged the
New York Club. The Cambria sail
ed an ocean race from Cowes to New
York, with Mr.. James Gordon Ben
nett's yacht Dauntless, which she
beat by two hours, and was herself
well beaten by no less than nine of
the fleet of the New York Club. In
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