Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-09-12
DEFENDER A GOOD WINNER.

DEFENDER A GOOD WINNER.
vaikyrie Led at the start. in Saturdays
Cup Race, But Defender Soon Passed
Her and Won Elandily.
New York, Sept. S.-Defender won
her name in truly American fashion
yesterday finishing far ahead OF the
English challenger, Vallsyrie, and
giving every evidence Of outclassing the
Dunraven boat in almost any kind of
weather.
1t was nip and tuck from the first
gun signal until within short dis
lance Of the mark, and then Defender
caught the breeze, and TO the delight
of the thousands simply sailed away
from her rival. From that moment
she went on increasing her lead TO the
end, and winning by the surprising
margin Of minutes and seconds.
So easily did she overhaul the chal
lenger that more than one observer re
marked to his neighbor something to
the effect that old Hank Half had only
been iollying his competitor all the
time. 1t was =. SO when the Defender
was on even terms with the other.
Thence she gradually but positively
forged ahead. She rounded the stake
boat 3. 36.29. Valkyrie at 3. 1852.
The few champions Of Valkyrie who
were left said that their boat would
overhaul Defender on this broad reach
home. But she did not. The same
sails were held ON both ships all the
way to the finish line, while the wind
gradually dropped to its original
strength of about five miles an hour.
In all the reach the Defender continu-
ously increased her lead over Valkyrie,
and finished s minutes and 16 seconds
ahead of her.
When Defender crossed the finish
line she was greeted by cannons,
whistles, tin horns and the waving of
hendkerchiefs to an extent that en-
tirely fitted the victory Of yacht
which all experts agree is the fastest
machine for her purposes that the
world ever saw. The official time table
is as follows;
Start, Finish E ,,Ess o ,Ims
Defender. .i2.al50 b2i.i4 5002i '4.5a55
valkyrie,. 49,. 12,sGi6 h2aS0 50s44 5os4i
.valkyrie allows 30 seconds.
vALKyRIE WINS THE SECOND RACE.
Crippled, but still heeling far over
followed Valkyrie across the finish line
Tuesday. Less than half mile separ-
ated the two, and anxious eyes kept
pace, second by second, with the time
indicators as they move around, and
when it was seen that the American
defender had not only lost nothing in
the last 90 miles of the course, but had
actually gained, great shout went up
forf m eral nj or Ia a fraIl nj
had made.
There were cheers for the victors,
too, but although Valkyrie III was the
first challenger since 1871 to lead over
the home line, the honor of her per-
Torrance was lost sight OF for the time
in the grand effort of the American,
for if it were for nothing else, the
American heart loves the hard loser in
the fight, and loves him the more
when he loses through no fault of his
own. 1t was a grievous accident that
ruined the Yankee boats chances, an
accident which, under the hair-split-
ting circumstances Of iockeying at the
starting line, looked to be unavoidable.
Early in the morning the racers had
leisurely made their way down to the
Hook from Bay Ridge, white winged
and beautiful. They circled in great
rings about he light ship until the
signals went up for the course, and
then the shippers took tighter grip Of
the wheel Capt. Hank Half had made
a record in seamanship on Saturday,
and the English skipper prepared to
regain the fame which had preceded
him. They maneuvred swiftly after
the preparatory gun had been fred,
and with Valkyrie to the windward,
Capt. Half made every effort to gain
that position. just before reaching
the line, when Valkyrie was still to
windward and Defender to leeward a
length, astern, but still overhauling
her, the American boat was blanketed
SO much that her baby lib topsail and
iib shook. Capt. Half, seeing this,
luifed up a little, evidently intending
to let the other boat go ahead for the
purpose of enabling him to pass under
her stern and to windward. Capt.
Sycamore at Valkyrie's tiller noted this
move, and luffed up also.
1t was then that the thousands of
watchers on the surrounding boats
noticed how dangerously close to each
other the racers were. And just at that
moment, too, snap and rending
sound was heard, and it was seen that
Defenders jib topsail was flying loose
in the wind. Valkyrie's main boom
had swung around and fouled Defend
er's rigging. To those who hid wit
messed the accident and sprang forward
at the ominous sound, it seemed as
though Defender trembled with the
shock. They saw her topmast bend and
her topsail swing over as though it
would break away, and groan went
up as though the brave boat, which
had won SO noble victory few days
before was wholly debarred from even
an effort to secure a second.
Lightning action was necessary TO
save the topmast from breaking away
completely, for it was already sprung
from its fastenings, and Capt. Half
with master stroke, taking his boat
down to leeward soon man@uvred her
into a safe position and gave chase.
Valkyrie, which had crossed the line
first, had gained good lead by De-
fenders disasters, and had probably a
little more than half mile advantage
at the end of the first leg in the tri-
angular course over which they sailed.
Her gain was something less than four
minutes in that beat to windward.
From that on, however, Defender, while
not perceptibly closing the gap be-
tween them, lessened the time, and
they crossed the line not much more
than two minutes apart, Valkyrie, ac-
cording to corrected time, however,