Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-03-12
THE BRITANNIA AND VALKYRlE.
Interesting Information Concerning the
Two Watson Cutters.

Tie Boston HerdidS Scottish CORE
spondent sends from Gourock some e1-
elusive information about the watson cut
ters Britannia and Valkyrle. He WRITES
among other things:
First and foremost the two cutters are
about "a length-that means. roughly,
eighty-six feet on load-water line. Their
overhanGs are not abnormal. and in their
aboye-body appearance they will IN eyerY
way resemble the Queen Nab and Naruna,
both having the Dora bow. Their DIS
placement will be much the same. although
their underwater bodies Will be very dis
similar. the Dunrayen boat beng rather
bulky and the Prince of Wales's boat lean
and finely tapered.
1.-The Dunreven boat is much heavier
than the Princes cutter. the former having
"a beam III excess of 20 8 feet and the latter
being about II feet 6 inches across. In the
matter of draught of water the America
Cup challenger Is reputed to have a grip
amounting to about II feet, and the
Princes beat ~ feet. The load line of the
royalty representative is about Sc feet.
These dimensions show generally that
the two new cutters are pretty much en-
largements OF the Queen Nab and Naruna
without the formers centreboard ar
engagements. That the latter Is no only
possible bat very probable is borne out by
q recent friendly communication / had
wit h Ben. Parker, who sailed the Queen
NAB. Parker gave 1t as his opinion .ha; the
Mab's centreboard was as much an en-
cumbrance and hindrance as an adj
vantage aud that he rarely ever usedIt.
SO that the likelihood is you Will have a
keel-bOat to meet the best Of your three
competitors in the international contests
ne xt utumn.
IN FRAME.
Tho cutters are now i'll frame and are
purely OF steel. no metal hitherto foreign
20 yacht construction being III use. The
Princes cutter IL now planked four strokes
from the keel, and this is OF elm 2 inches
thick. Both boats have two bilge string
ers aud O broad plate about 4 feet by 8 teet,
by way of stiffening in the wake of the
cham plates, from which galvanized diago-
nal ~stringers run the bilge stringers being
inside and the diagonal bapds outside OF
the broad plate. The latter being let into
the plans.
The spars Of the vessel are inn for
ward state, being wrought outin octagonal
form for drying, and the mainmasts and
main booms are both of rather abnormal
length, something short of the load water
line of the vessels being q fair approx
mate.
The Messrs. Henderson last week also
cast the keel of the tweuty-rater for Lord
Dunraven. and IL was taken from there to
James Reds yard, at Whiteneck, where
she is taking form. Mr. Reid has issued
an edict that nothing is TO be given out re-
garding the cutter, but you NAV take 1T
that she will be o miniature of the Prince
Of Wales's boat. aud will have a weight
of thirteen tons to steady her. She -
very deep al the heel and comes to nothing,
and. like the big boats. is a little more
rockered In the outline of the keel than
some of G.. l.. Watson's Older boats. Her
stern NAV be said To begin at the keel. and
TO ito forward termination is about rs feet.
She is not made ridiculous with a long
after overhang. and has no resemblance to
the Wenonah type. as was limited recently
in several directions on this side.
"Mr. +. q. HIPS twenty-rate also has
been laid down in the Fairlie yard, and ~
sufficiently in shape to show what type of
vessel she will.be. Her floor seems much the
same as the Watson boat. but both fore and
aft she has greater %overhangs than the lat
ter, her rake in the stern post and outer
after body being great. The Fife cutter
is much sbaliower from Feel TO deck
than the Watson representative IN the
class, and is broader TO q considerable ex-
tent. In the forcfoot, or rather the lower
end Of her forebody. the Fairlie BOAT is
slightly followed out. as IL her keel was to
be fixed on in the shape of q bulb. while
ia contrast TO the Fairiie designers last
years boat there is no hollow-out IN the
stern-post. this not having proved beneh-
ciai. Both boats are, OF course, composite
IN construction >