The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-04

1El rect Long nMt the 1taAAAfu NAA
Mngnate is Having a Yacht $40 Feet
Long Built TO Beat Her-The Com
ing Test Between Our English and
American Built Pleasure Craft. J.
Astor's Experiments With Eleo-
trioitv as Motive Power for Yes
sels-His New 4o-foot Electric Boat
suooess-A Yacht With Speed of
Thirty Miles an Hour.
CCopyright)
New York. June 3-With men Of mill
ions there is always tho desire to set the
! pace for rival money kings whether it be
in building palace, private train Of
| cars or a steam yacht, The rivalry in
building mansions in this country has
sent the price of a multi-milhonaire's
homo up to $4,000, 900, and John D. Rock
| teller spent that amount, of his earnings
in oil, for his residence on the Hudson.
| AS the record stands now DIR. w
| Seward Webb, son-in-law of the Wander
bilts, possesses the costliest and fastest
private train, while William X Van
derbilt at the present time owns the
largest steam yacht in the world, the
] ' ulluubs JuSl lduANlCO 4tOlAl al l1AAE AAoAl
! shipyard. The Valiant is a steel boat
32O feet long and is expected to make
from eighteen to twenty knots an hour.
There is a story of interest in connec-
| ton with this palatial new craft for its
construction makes new era in steam
| yacht building. The rivalry in boat build
| ing for pleasure among quartet of the
| richest men in the world may revolutions
| ize the motive power of steamships, for it
| has caused one of the four gentlemen,
John jacob Astor, to become an eRthusi-
| asst on the subject of electricity, ana he is
! spending thousands of dollars to perfect
| his experiments il replacing steam with
| electricity for propelling water crafts of
| all sizes from the launch to the gigantic
| ocean greyhounds One of the most prom
! inent yacht designers in America told me
| that Mr.. Aston is likely to receive the
| credit of solving the problem that has
| puzzled men of science for years. But as
to the facts.
When William K Vanderbilt's yacht
| Alva was run into by schooner in New
| York harbor year or so ago, 1t was un-
| fortunate for Mr.. Vanderbilt but very
| fortunate for the builders of steam
! yachts. Failing in his attempt TO raise
| the Alva Mr.. Vanderbilt determined to
| build a new yacht that would eclipse any
thing of the class ahoat. The Alva,
which was 2S5 feet long and the largest
! private steam yacht in the world when
! she went down to the bottom was not a
! very fast craft 1t always annoyed Mr..
| Vanderbilt when reference was made to
| the fact that Jay Goulds ATLANTA beat
| the steam yacht record for boats of her
| size. So when the multi-miliOnaire de-
cided to build again one of the provisions
| in the contract with his builders was that
the Valiant should make at least IS knots
| l., ,Fs,I obi fI,saS
he owned the largest, costliest and most
| speedy steam yacht in the world, and
thus keep up the reputation of the family
| for being the leaders in palatial steamer
! building and also keep fresh the memory
| of Commodore Vanderbilt. The com
modore would have new boat built at
| once if an AstOr or a rival millionaire had
dared to take the leadership. His son
will have spent, am told, 1000 on the
| Valiant before she receives her finishing
| touches. When he built the Valiant 800
| long, 35 feet more than the Alva, Mr.,
| Vanderbilt believed that he had reached
the limit in the size of private steam
| yacht, and that none of the money kings
| who were aspiring to be c0mmodores of
the steam yachting seas would think of
building larger boat,
Not so, though.
His old rival in palace building, John d.
Rockefeller, after waiting TO get the beams
of Mr.. Vanderbilt's yacht, ordered one
for himself He has Just given the con-
tract for building steam yacht $40 feet
| long, capable of q knots an hour, to the
| Cramps of Philadelphia. Everything
about the boat will be of American make,
| and am informed ON good authority she
| will cost when completed, in ten months,
| about 100000. In point of palatial fit
tings, she will excel any craft of royalty
| or American money prince a1Oat This
l., 4,l ~.
! match for the English yacht Valiant
Now the cable tells US that William
| Waldorf Astor who took up his residence
! in England after the New York newspa-
| pers published his obituary recently, Is
also about to build a mammoth steam
| yacht some twenty feet or more greater
| in length than the Valiant But it is the
| plans of John Jacob Astor that interests
American yachtsmen the most for that
gentleman remains on this side of the big
pond.
AS books and literature were William
! Waldorf Astor's hobby, electricity is John
! Jacob Astor's Mr. Astor has been an en-
thusiastic devotee of the goddess of cleo
! tricity for a number of years, but il is
only recently that he expressed a desire
! to own yacht propelled by electricity.
! He is now having designed Yacht about
! 10 feet in length to be propelled by cleo
| tricity so great is his confidence in the ad-
| vancement of the mysterious power that
wizard Edison has done so much to chain.
At Mr.. Astor's private dock on the
| Hudson, just north of Rhinecliff, N. Y.
| there is now to be seen a 40-foot boat that
! can accommodate twenty-five persons
without crowding. This boat is propelled
| by electricity and it is because Mr. Astor
is said to be so well satisfied with her
| that he has decided to also experiment
with yacht more than four times her
! length which he expects will attain
! speed quite as great as the steam pro-
/ PEELED Valiant.
This new electric boat owned by Mr..
| Astor is Of more than passing interest to
| all interested in marine matters. II fore
shadows the development of this applica-
! ton of electricity under the patronage of
| a progressive gentleman of wealth
Although the use of electric launches is
well established abroad, where they can
be found on the Thames, they are a nov
| city in this country owing chiefly 10 the
! protracted litigation on the subject of
storage batteries This litigation has
extended over several years. but has re-
Gently terminated and Mr. Astorwa the
first to take advantage of that fact The
! Corcyra, the ancient title OF one Of the
Ionian Islands, is the euphonius name
| given by Mr.. Aston TO his handsome cleo
| trio craft j. G. Chamberlain, an cleo