El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-10
SHE IS A GREAT.YACHT.
In Six Months the Defender Will Be
as Good as Ever.

With the coming of spring we will
have another international yacht race,
and in speaking of the boats that will
contest for the privilege of meeting the
foreigner, Shamrock, the Evening Tel
eRram of New York says of the old vic
torious Defender of the cup in '95:
No yacht built in the United States
in recent years has conferred upon it
more historical associations than the
Defender. She has repOsed snugly for
two long seasons in the quiet little
anchorage in Neptune bay, betw cen the
mainland of Westch ester county and
Glen island. Cut now, after a Ion g
holiday, the Defender once more
Is to become thing OF
life. She is to leave the
solitude OF Neptune bay for
the whirl and swirl of the pillows and
the shrieking of the winds as they.
scream through her rigging. Sir
Thomas LiptOn's challenge for a cup
race next year will bring the last sue
cessful defender of the trophy into pre- =
minent public notice. She is to be
thoroughly refitted.
During the time that the Defend er
has drowsed in her present anchorage
she has been noted idly by the passing
on the island resort opposite, have
looked half curiously at the boat and
turned away trifle disappointed be-
cause they saw nothing but dingy
hull, a stumpy Plsst reach
ing only to the cross-ties, and
a deck hidden by carefully
drawn covering. They knew her
as the worlds. champion, but in her
present condition they could not i'm
danced lightly from one wave to an
other. But in another six months tt .
Defender of today will again be the De-
fender of 1895 that doomed over the
finish line ahead of her glum rival to
the loud-mOuthed chorus of firing
cannon and screeching sirens and
steamwhistles. She Is to be
the trial horse for the new
Defender, which must guard the Amer
ica's cup against Sir Thomas Upton g
new Shamrock, Unless the Herreshoffs
can build us faster yacht than that
which has been out of com mission for
so long q time, it may be possible that
this historic craft will Yet be called
upon to sail against the Shamrock.
A diver has been at work upon the
hull of the Defender, under the direc-
ton of Mr.. G. Oliver Iselin, for some
time. Inch by inch he has made his
ing every thing pertaining to the sur
face and undsrstructuro. The result of
his observations is more than crafty
ing; it is an assurance that the boat is
everything ever claimed for her. He
declares that the aluminium
plates under water have not
been affected by any chemica
action and that the hull is as sound as
q dollar. So certain is Mr.. Iselin of
the good condition of the Defender that
he may sail her from Neptune bay to
the shops of the Herreshoffs instead Of
having her lowed there. She will be
taken to City island, not far from her
present anchorage, where her spare
spars will be taken on and her sails
bent. The crew will consist of a skip
per, mate, cook. and the necessary
sailors, and Mr.. Iselin will accompany
them on theboat.
Ways are being sbuilt at Bristol, r.
l., where Herreshotfs' yard is located,
and as soon as they are completed the
Defender will be taken there. BY her
eide during the winter the new yacht
to defend the cup will be in course of
construction. The latter is to be fin
ished about May 1. This will give
plenty of time for Mr.. Iselin to discover
all the fine points about. the craft. In
the meantime the Defender will be
quite as busy as the yacht that is to
supersede.