Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-07-09
AN OCEAN RACE.
Particulars Of the Aggie-
Lurline Contest.

Lurline Contest.
BAD WEATHER EXPERIENCED
The Aggie's Racing Gear Twice
Carried Away-Splendid Time
Made.
The interest taken By the residents of
Los Angeles in the recent great ocean
yacht race between the Aggie and Lur-
line, was to certain extent created by
the fact that the former boat is the prop
erty of Mr.. Dan Mcfarland, one of the
most prominent and popular citizens in
this community. Although the particu-
lars Of the contest have already been
givenin the telegraphic columns of the
HERALD, no details have yet been print
ed here of the race; SO a reporter was
dispatched yesterday afternoon to Nc
Farland's residence to obtain the story
OF the voyage from his own lips. The
scribe found the gentleman in question
enjoying a Sunday afternoon dolce far
niente, but on hearing OF his visitors
mission he at once graciously offered to
furnish all the information at his dis
posa.
The way in which the. race
was brought about" commenced Mr..
McF was as follows: 1 addressed
letter to the President of the Pacific
Yacht Club, asking for particulars about
the summer races, and in reply received
q communication stating that there would
be no racing until fall, but that Mr..
Spreckels was anxious to match the Lur-
line against the Aggie for trip from San
Francisco to San Diego, the start be made
on the Both of June. I suppose you are
aware that the two boats have frequently
raced before, the Aggie winning three
out of the four races which took place be-
tween San Francisco and the Farrallones,
and in consequence of this good deal of
rivalry has always been felt between the
masters of the two craft. / am always
ready for race, so telegraphed back
"all right" and telegraphed that
the flag of the vanquished ship was
to be the prize of the
victor. In the meantime the Aggie was
on the way to San Francisco where was
sending her for repairs, as she had been
in commission for about eighteen months
without being overhauled and she needed
a thorough look over. She met with
FAIR WEATHER
In her upward journey until she arrived
wit forkvy tIoc Af hn Co.
Francisco, and here she encountered a
disaster which was the cause Of her sub
sequen'ly losing the race. A heavy sea
and strong wind blew up and as her
fittings were of galvanized iron cable and
old and brittle they were not able to bear
the aVRain and the boat lost her foretop-
mast and staysail, while her mainmast
was badly split and her standing rig
ging and shrouds all broken. She
beat about in this storm for four days
and then put into San Simeon for tempo
rary repairs, as only her bowsprit and
helm were left in use. As soon as possi-
BILE she was sent on to San Francisco,
but on account of the delay caused by
the storm, she did not arrive until the
29th of June, and there was thus only
twenty-four hours in which to do repairs
that demanded at least ten days labor.
Had the race been for a money stake I
would have at once demanded an extern
sion of time or else have declined to run,
but as matters were, decided to fix
things up as well as could and start at
the time appointed. The dockmen en-
ployed worked like beavers, and al
though old salts who came down and
watched our preparations, said that we
would not be able to put to sea we came
up to line at the time set for the start
The Aggie was manned with six men
forwarl and a captain and mae, Mr..
White, formerly owner of the boat, be-
ing in charge. The Lurline was under
the control of Captain Swanson and was
handled by crew of picked men, Mr..
Spreckels having the advantage of select
ing his hands from the nineteen ships
engaged by him in the Honolulu trade.
THE AGaIE's GUESTS.
There were eight guests in the cabin of
the Aggie, whose names were a follows !:
Capt. White, Capt. Sam Staunton of the
Electra, Mr.. VIM. Hart of the Examiner,
Mr. Charles Cash of Philadelphia, and
Messrs. ]. w. HRverstick, Seward Cole,
]. J. Mellus, amt McCrea Of Los Angeles,
u WHICH roll lS 10 Dc auueQ my own
name, making total of nine passengers.
The Lurline carried Mr.. ]. d. Spreckels,
Capt. Swanson, Mr.. ]. v. Coleman. Mr..
Leon WE'LL and Mr.. Phil Caduc, COM
mander of the Pacific Yacht club. For
the first eighty miles it was ne rand
neck race, both going like greyl ,unds
and neither having an advantage OF ten
feet over the other. Then a calamity
occurred to the Aggie for the new foretop
mast which had been rugged up was car
ried away. The cause of this was after.
wards ascertained to be that one OF the
riggers had while working at night mad
vertently done some lashing with piece
of the old discarded rigging and this is
what cansedit to give way. We were
then leading the Lurline by about six
miles but Of course this practically brought
us to a standstill as far as racing was
concerned. Some on board were for
giving up the race, but my motto was
mil Desperandum,' and we went to work
to fix up as well as we could. We took
three light two-inch sticks and lashed
them together, and then sent two men
aloft with this jurymast, though we
could not venture on using any racing
sails. By this time the Lurline had