Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-22

taken part in twenty-three regatsas, Qua Of
"nich she captured nineteea prizes, eleven
hrsts. hve seconds. and three thirds Once
she was disqualified. once she met with an
accident, but it is conceded by all hands
that she is the best racer I'm England. ana
the worthy competitor Of the best racer in
America
The Voyages of Other ChaIlengers.
There have been seven races for the
Americas cup since It was won by her
from the crack British yachts at the Isle
OF Wight on August q, lga.
In 1870 James Ashburyss schooner-yacht
Cambria, which had challenged for the cup,
raced across the ocean with the Dauntless.
then owned by James Gordon Bennett She
won this race by a short time only, taking a
hstie over twenty-three days for the pas
sage from the Irish coast to Sandy Hook.
IN the race for the cup she was badly
beaten.
Inc nrst or the cutters was the GenestA,
which came over in August ,sss. taking
twenty-four days for the trip. In return
Ing to England after being defeated by the
Puritan she made the passage in the phe-
nomenai time Of twenty days and ten
hours.
In 1895 the Gelatea came over She left
southampton June 30 ana reached Boston
August 2 q voyage Of thirty-one days. The
total distance sailed was ssls miles
The Thistle visited the United States IN
1881. She came TO New York, reaching here
twenty-five days after leaving home The
whole distance sailed was asa miles, an
average speed OF less than six knots an
hour She left Plymouth July 26. and
reacted New York August n.
Other yachts OF about the same d,m~n-
sfons lave sometimes taken as long a.
forty-four days.
Capt. Crsnaeld.s story.
The Valkyrie had q dead beat TO wind
ward of nearly l,5oo miles, which explains
her long delay In arriving. The varkyrfe.
under command Of Capt Cranfeld. left
Cowes, Isle Of Wight. at SEQ am. August
e. There was a light westerly wind blow
Ing when she shaped her course for Amer
lea. Variable winds prevailed for fifteen
days during which time the voyage was
without mishap or incident From that
time on. however. the valkyrie encoun-
tered heavy winds and for the most part
they succeeded In rolling up some meuster
seas.
To reporter Capt. cranf,eid eaid: ~on
September le we were proceeding along
slowly bucking heavy seas. though making
fine weather Of IT, when at $50 am we
came across a wreck with her copper bot
tom skyward. We were In ltitude Il de-
grees and 30 minutes, longitude so degrees
and 10 minutes at the time. The seas were
so heavy that IL was impossible to make
any thorough examination. 30 simply not
ing the circumstances and the fact that
there was no life about the dereiict pro
ceeded on my way.
The seas, as evening drew on Increased
In volume. but the sturdy little boat made
great weather Of IT. She did not shin
enough water to wet a biscuit, The wind
was heavy. too. 50 heavy, in fact that the
storm jib was blown completely away ani
the forestaysail rent In a thoussnd pieces.
When our head sheets were thus siIsabled
we were for a moment In great danger,
but the good active work OF the crew soon
had storm foresail set and in a jiffy we
were proceeding on our conrse"
Capt. Cranfield then told Of the sighting
OF the Spain on September ls and thus con-
firmed what Capt. Griffiths had said con-
cerning a sloop which had kept him COM
pany all day. flying along at a ten knot
clip. The rest of the voyage was unevent.
ful. according to Capt Cranfeld-
In concluding. the captain said: Il have
only words OF praise and admiration for
the gallant craft She has shown herself
as stanch q boat ever left the ways OF
ship yard. When the wind blew the
hardest and when the seas rolled high she
held her pretty nose up like q thorough
bred. Her designer, Mr.. Watson. should
feel proud OF his creation. All on board
that is my crew of twenty-four. and Navi-
gator Harvey and myself. are well as could
be and have been so right through. There
are no damages Of consequence which Will
take any time to repair. In fact all I'm
all. We have come through with flying COL
ors, and in a very few days we VIII be
prepared TO do our best to carry back the
Americas cup"
When Capt cranfield was told that the
first race had been postponed TO the
original date. October 6. he said that the
time would suit him to T. We can Ret
ready easily" said he
This would seem to indicate that the
race will be a sure thing for October g.