The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-15
& MORGAN'S.

be correct, the Jubilee nearly lost her
mast. 1t cannot be supposed that Gen.
Paine would use a turnbuckle that was
in any way inferior to those used on the
Defender, and the accident shows that in
spite of the greatest care in the selec-
tion or special make of these articles,
they cannot be relied upon with absolute
certainty.
Some alleged croaking IS only common
sense, and more efficacious before than
after the event. When that "ker-aack'
of the breaking timber comes, and the
canvas is all spread out on the water,
the time for advantageous conversation
has passed.
This applies also in regard to that val
liable collection of wheels and merry-go-
rounds which is expected to supply the
Defender with the means of controlling
the movements of her rudder. But when
the rudder takes entire charge Of these
mechanisms, the case is different. 1t has
always been considered to be a marked
INSTRUMENTATION on the part of the tail
when it undertook to wag the dog. These
caudal usurpatfons should not be encour-
aged. The Defender has already lost one
race when the rudder hove her up into
the wind and might have kept on spin
ming her ever since, only for the assist
ance of a timely steamer. An interesting
reporter on one of the papers said thai
the bearings got hot, and the apparatus
refused to work. but that it was all In
perfect condition again after the Defen~
der was towed into harbor and the wheels
taken apart and cooled and oiled.
Now, there is no provision for this in
the international contests for the cup,
though there is no saying what further
deed of gift might comprehend. Lord
Dunraven is a conscientious man, but
even the irmest believers in him refuse
to hot 10 al n
lead, she viii stop and wait while the
Defender cools and oils her swollen and
overexcited cogwheels.
The public does not contribute l cent
to the preparation of the Defender, but
it has a more than warm interest in her
as the protector of the national prestige,
and it naturally asks whether it be adj
visable to stake so much on the humor or
an intricate mechanism, which has as-
ready shown itself to be intractable when
inconsiderately disturbed in a seaway. 1t
was a tiller that steered the Vikings
across when America was first discovered
1t was said to be tiller that steered
the old America when she won this cup,
and all the descendants Of the Vikings,
with their Valkyries continually improv-
ing have found no better thing since.
The long-lined modern yacht, with it's
easy entrance and deep grip on the water,
steers easily 1t is very different In re-
gard to its guidance from the craft which
formerly, when careened, sank a wide,
stubby lee bow into the water that ran
her up into the wind so hard that she re-
Quired a whole barndoor of a rudder to
keep her out of 1t. With nearly four feet
greater beam than the Defender, the Val
klrie III. carries tiller; ii is absolutely
simple, and cannot get out of order. 1t
also provides for more than delicate steer
ing in variable light catspaw airs than is
possible with cogwheels, which deaden
all the little pressures. and vibrations that
a helmsman wants to feel when he Is at
this fine work. The pressure of his fin
ger of a tiller is affected by every alter
alton in the airs that breathe upon. a
yachts canvas as it eats up into the
fiukey catspaws. But the cogwheels of
patent apparatuses deaden all this, and
those who thoroughly know the advant-
age of both contrivances insist upon a
tiller for the finest steering in weather
of this kind.
1t is, therefore, to be hoped that the
Defender syndicate will retain and pay
for Mr.. Herreshoff's ingenious mechanism,
but that they WIFI not run any risk of
disordering it by taking 1t out at the time
of the races with vall1yrie III. After be-
ing cooled and oiled, IL should be care
fully left at home, packed in cotton wool,
while the Defender is being steered with
a tiller.