Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-11

Captain Cranfield could not call for room nd there was but one thing he could do to save himself-that was to stop head way on Valkyrie. The orders were given and all her sheets were slacked away at ] nee to ease her sails and stop her head way; hence came the foul and its result ing trouble. The long boom of the Val kyrie reaching out to leeward, raked across the deck of the Defender, only IS or 70 feet away and striking the topmast shroud on the starboard side. carried 1t away, breaking the jaw of the spreader and pulling the bolt out Of the brass spreader's trap. The Defenders lofty topmast immediately buckled under the strain of her jib topsail with loud crack and at this moment the starting gun was fired a- exactly II o'clock. The De- fender crew was ordered forward to take in her jib topsail, in order to save the topmast from further damage, and in that condition she crossed the line at Il :01 IS. The Valkyrie had preceded her at 1l:O013. AS she crossed the line the Defender hoisted a protest flag and an answering pennant on the judges boat showed it had been seen and would be considered. There Is. of course. no doubt that the responsibility for the accident rests entirely with the Valkyrie. Her skipper allowed her to get into a very tight place, where there was every pros pect of his crossing before the gun fired, and so having to return and recross. In his anxiety to avoid this he ran down too close upon boat which he was bound to look out for as she was sailing closer hauled on the same tack, and so had the right Of way, and so caused an accident, which practically ended the other boats chance in the race. It is hard to see but that the blame is wholly his.
 The boat crossed upon the starboard tack, but immediately afterward the Defender went about on the port tack in tn hrin ftn ct,. Hfh hO,, on the uninjured side. and the Valkyrie followed on the same tack. An attempt to replace the broken shroud was imme- diately made upon the Defender, and a makeshift which partially answered the purpose was devised.
 At 11:24 the Defender went about upon the starboard tack and ten seconds later the Valkyrie followed her. It was then seen that Valkyrie was about a quarter of mile ahead of the Defender and was fully 100 yards to the winward. This showed that the American boat even in her crippled condition was doing we'll
 At II 30 the two racers went about on the port tack again and.~,ve minutes later, at 11:35 o'clock, Defender broke out her jib topsail again. She took it in again very quickly as her weakened top mast could not stand the strain.
 The wind continued to freshen and hauled little to the westward At 11:54
 
 followed a few seconds later, both stand ing off shore on the starboard tack again. Valkyrie was still about quarter of mile ahead.
 At 12:10 both tackled to port again, the condition remaining unchanged, and at 1219 another tack to starbOard was made. By this time Valkyrie was not three-eighths of a mile ahead of the De fender, but was quarter of a mile to windward also.
 The wind had now freshened to twelve or fourteen miles an hour and the water became much more rougher Valkyrie now began to make considerable disturb ance in the water, rolling up quite wave under her bow, and slowly, but surely the crippled Defender began to smoothly though the wateff, but began to oatpoint the English boat as well. The wind had hauled a little to the westward long starboard tack. The Valkyrle rounded at 12:5743, and easing off her sheets started for the second mark. AS soon as the Valkyrie rounded the mark she hauled down her jib topsail, and two minutes later took her staysail, prepara- tory to setting her balloon jib instops. She broke 1t, together with a huge bal loon staysail at 1:02:00. .a.s-..
 The Defender rounded the first mark at 1 :01 35, having been beaten just three minutes and fifty-two seconds in the ten miles. This, of course, did not include the difference of time at the start. I'm mediately after rounding the Defender broke out baby jib topsail and took In her staysail. A few minutes later she too set balloon staysail.
 The run to the second mark was broad reach with the wind over the star board quarters and the sails set to port. The wind kept on increasing, reaching At.rl,t loo, 1t tfxNaa on this leg, and the yachts dashed on at a good pace.
 Nobly as the Defender had done on the first leg, it was nevertheless hopeless race for the yankee yacht Being unable on account of the weakness of her top mast to set her balloon jib, she could not, of course, carry anywhere near as much sail as the Englishman The little baby jib topsail and balloon staysail offered but a poor substitute for a balloon jib. In spite of this handicap, however, she held her own much better than could have been expected, and actually gained seventeen seconds on the ten miles. Much of this gain was due to the difference in the behavior of the boats in a rather stiff seaway The Valkyrie, as is her custom, made much more fuss in her work. At times clouds of water were thrown out from under her bows and the wake which she left behind her became very marked. The Defender, on the other hand, though she was going at nearly as fast a pace as the Britisher, took matters comparatively quietly, ere ating but little fuss in connection with either her entrance or leaving the water.
 At 1:1S:0O the Valkyrie took in her bal loon jib topsail, and at 1:5S:10 she turned the second mark, sending up No. jib topsail set At :59 p. m. the Defender, which had by that time reached the mark, took in her baby Jib topsail and Hbed and rounded the mark at 2:01 :45. She broke out a No. 2 jib topsail which in size was about the same as that which the Valkyrie had. Just as the boats were rounding the mark the breeze took an other squirt and before 1t settled down again 1t had reached a velocity of twelve or thirteen miles an hour.
 The leg was reach, closed hauled, with booms to starboard. This brought the strain of the Defenders sails on her port shrouds, which were uninjured, and for the first time during the race 1t was possible to sail her to the best of her ability, and how good that was she showed by the way she overhauled the ValkSrie.
 She was half mile behind the Val yx..,,;o x,bo,, cba rorrphod fba ctaka hnat