Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-09-20
DEFENDERS Of THE CUP.
Races IN the Past in Which the
American Crews Have Proved
Their Superior Sea-
manship.
HAVE HELDIT 44YEARS.
FIRST WON BY THE YACHT AMERICA IN
1851, AND SUCCESSFULLY DT
TENDED IN MINI: CONTESTS.

lhe victory won by the De
lender over the speedy riva
Nalkyrle Ill, last week off Sand,
Hook, n. Y, is but a repetition
OF the many contests in the past
III which the gallant yankee
crews and yacht designers have
proved their superiority over the
British cup hunters.
The first cup race was on Aug
p, 1851, at Cowes, when the
America, boat built and oper>
ated by a syndicate, accepted the
profered hospitalities of the
Royal Yacht Squadron and went
across to England to try conclu-
s1ons. 1t entered all information
al regatta against fourteen COM
petltors and, though she started
last, won all easy victory.
The famous cup, now "the
blue ribbon of the ocean, was a
subscription tropy, contributed
to at a general meeting of the
Royal Yacht Squadron, and was
sailed Tor without allowance of
time for disparities or hull or
sail. The cup was not intended
as challenge cup, but was the
actual property of the owners of
the America; but in July 1857,
they decided to offer it to the
New York Yacht Club as a per
petual challenge cup, open on
specified conditions, to any or
ganized yacht club in any foreign
country for competition.
The first challenger was Mr..
James Ashbury, owner of the
schooner yacht Cambria, and
representing the Royal Thames
Yacht Club The challenge was
promptly accepted and On Aug.
8, 1870, the first race on this side
for the cup was sailed and the
Cambria competed with the New
York Yacht Clubs entire fleet of
schooners. Though the Canb
was cautiously given the best
STANDARDIZATION, she was
hopelessly beaten by the little
Magic
But Mr.. Ashbury was not sat
isfed. So he went back to Eng
land and ordered the schooner
Livonia built She was put to-
gether in great secrecy and
reached this side Oh September
?, 1871. Races were soon ar
ranged and the first one sailed
October I6, the Columbia being
her opponent. 1t was a snap
for the Columbia, she winning
the races on the I6 and 18th,
and losing the one On the 10TH
through an accident, having
parted her flying jib-stay. In
the next two races of the series
the Livonia confronted the glcr-
lous old Sappho and was beaten
both times.
For four years "the old mug"
lay unvexed by challenges, until
in April, 1876, the Royal Cana
dian Yacht Club challenged,
namins the schooner Countess of
Dufferin as their CHAMPION On !
August II, 1876, she tried con-
,lusions with the schooner
All three of the l
contests were won handilv bv t
he Madeleine. |
-Four more years of rest, and {
hen the Bay Of Quinte Yacht |
Club, of Belleville, Ontario, l
challenged Captain Cuthbert's I
modern sloop, Atalanta She q
net, at the hands of. the sloop,
Mischief, the same fate that had
,ome TO Ter predecessors. These
aces were sailed October 9th and
9th, 1881. L
The next four years Was an \
evolutionary period in the mat t
er of yacht construction. The ?
conventional types began to be e
and a gradual con- t
crying of ideas i'll modelling
vas observable on both sides of +,
he ocean. With the single ex- a
option of the Sappho, all the a
american victories had been t,
1on with center board boats.
ME construction of the "knife t,
II edge" "lead mine" cutter a
1adge and others of her kind a
larked a new era in cup COM o
ests. When Sir Richard Sutton -
hallenged in 1855, with the
we seemed helpless.
tut a Boston syndicate saw the
redicament in time, and were
1e preservers for the time of our "
prestige by building +<
1e wooden Puritan. The two y
achts met on September 7, &
+I,~oo ;,,,-o&o,,E a4ooto - a.