New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-18
THE SWIFT STEAM YACHT.
u,oNDrRFyyI, FIGHTING QUALITIES THAT
THE WAR WITH SPAIN HAS
BROUGHT OUT.

ENORMOUS NUMBER OF PLEASURE VESSELS IN
AMERIcA-cRUIsEs MADE BY wELL~KNo"N
YACHTsMEy-soME OF THE SUPERB
CRAFT AND THEIR OwNERs-sPEEpf
RECREATION AFTER BUSINESS HOURS.
ANY article protesting 10 deal with the steam
yachting OF America should first deal win TIC
national uses TO which steam pleasure Vesseis MAJ
be put. The extraordinary qualities ana resources
OF these craft as shown in the late war with SPAIN
have been one OF the marvels OF the day' con :
think I exaggcrate when saying that the who'e
maritime world was surprised. Twelve non'hs
ago who would have guessed that a comparatively
small yacht like J. P!erDont Morgans Ola Co'sai'
could tackle modern torpedo-boat des'royers
and sink them In twenty minutes? Until the grea'
naval year 1873 the pleasure vessels or rich men
wero supposed be rather useless articles save TOT
luxurious fitting about: but now all that j.
changed. and the yacht has forced out a respect
for Itself in becoming an acknowledged pofuoh %
the coun:rys defensive equipment.
TWO curious things happened in the war with
Spain. The torpedo-boat and the torpedo-ooat ue-
stroyer according to many naval experts. became
practically shelved and the steam yacht came 10
the front In a remarkable manner The nations
which had spent millions on torpedo-boats ana
further millions on still faster craft that were sup
nosed 20 be able 10 catch and beat torpcdo-boats
q
that an ordinary yacht Of fair average speed could
be eou!pped with such formidable armament OF
rapid firing guns that the torpedo craft coud never
get within the range at which trey are aDie l"
work When they tried 10 come within ther neces-
sary zone they were simply riddled and either
ESCAPED in disabled condition. were sent
hurredIy TO the bottom or were blown up by their
own magazines.
VAIJIE OF THE LIGHT. RAPID-F1RE GUNS.
CHI further evidence
of the fact that 1t Is the gun that wins-no always
the boat not always the expensive boat nor 'he
armored boat but the craft that carries the Ki4ihs
armament, that fires so fast and so straight mat
the enemy cannot man his guns. or rather cannot
keen The gun crews at work through the havoc that
IS created among them. In itself that was no ne"
discovery but 1t was new discovery 'ha'
wooden yacht could in n few days be fitted out
with light armament OF this kind and be thus apie
10 project such terrible rain Of fire that craft IN
fnitely more valuable from the usual naval point
OF view were unable to face them
Another point for the yachts that was proven
in the war was In regard 10 their speed. AS fact
the speediest American yachts were not IN any
important part of the game. They did good WORK
as dispatch boats and In the blocKadlhg oi CiUeo
and in the capture of the enemys trading vessels,
but there were some. such as the Mayiower anu
the Sovereign, which better htted IN the matter
OF speed 10 keep up a running fight than the Cor
eair: and the point that home 10 the yachts
men was that the Corsar seemed able TO over
haul the best ships that Spain possessed "hen
the Vizcaya visited New-York. We were informed
that she could do twenty knots an hour ana
the Cristobal Colon and the Maria Teresa were
said TO enjoy a similar speed. but when 1t came
down 10 hard facts boiler pressures. fine modelling
and quick running the old Corsair seemed able to
travel about as we'll any of them. and even 10
hold her own with the best OF the American Navy.
Even before receiving her armament which would
not increase her speed the Corsair was never con-
sidered TO be than a siXteen-knot boat, IL
recollect rightly and after several months at sea-
growing sea growth on her bottom In warm wa
,ers her speed at the time Cerveras feet was de-
stroyed was probably not more than thirteen or
fourteen knots an hour and perhaps less. From
this fair guess may be made that statements III
regard to the speed OF the war vessels OF any ma
ton may properly be received with large pinches
of salt. The yacht Sovereign now called the
Vixen. which has done her twenty miles an hour.
or the Eleanor, at sixteen miles or the MayHo"er
at sixteen and three-Quarter knots, would nave
shown pretty we'll in that run. while the Htte
yamoose which can do her twenty-five miles an
hour long her coal lasts would have run
clean away from the entire gathering The yacht
Giralda lately bought BY Spain and turned into
gunboat: could that day have lost anything
on the sea- and In short time, as she Is able 10
do twenty-five knots an hour for. say, three hun
dred miles at stretch.
The experiences OF that DAY OF Victories lheieIoie
show the inestimable possibilities Of yachts in time
of war Their quick movement almost wholly pre-
vents the IL and 13 inch gCnners on the enemy
feet from getting their range in fact IT is thought
that for a l3-inch gun TO hit qlick-dartng yacht
would be chiefly a matter OF luck. On the other
hand the return from the yachts rapid-iire bat
teries would be accurate and effective
NEW YACHTS BUILDING
From the rate at which the Government was
IL. ,nnsh o n
war 1t looked II there might soon be few left
for the ordinary summer cruising. The purchases
were nearly all out of the fleets Of the New-York
Yacht Club but, subtractng the thirty or so craft
which were thus taken. there stu remain ABOUT
$50 under the same burgee. The total number Of
steam yachts possessed IN America is almost in
credible and the builders now hard al work
replacing the vessels that were taken for war
uses Mr.. Morgan is preparing a fire new Corsair
at Nyack-on-the-H Hudson. which will replace the
one that has now become historic. and VIII be 90
feet longer. This will be the flagship OF the New
York Yacht Club, and as she Will be nearly three
hundred feet long she will probably be a most
imposing vessel. built OF steel. and able to cross
the ocean in any weather
Probably the finest. and certainly the biggest
Yacht ever constructed in America will be launched
next spring at the yards OF the Bath Iron Works
a, Bath. Me. where Colonel o. II. Payne IS having
huge steel craft built for him that IS over three
hundred feet long. For this season and In 1897 Colo
mel Payne has chartered the large auxiliary three
masted Eleanor from William a. Slater, Of New
London. and last year he took a trip to Norway in
her Although he fell in love with the Eleanor. he
decided 10 have still larger craft 10 carry hin
his worldwide cruises, and the new boat from
Bath will be more than seventy feet longer thar
the Eleanor. His skipper. Captain Scott superviset
every part Of the work and Colonel Payne is going
TO have craft that VIII be as perfect as human
ingenuity can make her.
SOMETHING SAFE FROM SINKING.
All the navies in the world indebted TO the
discoveries made In yachting circles, and now
new departure has been, made in the building and
designing Of the steam yacht American. which has
been closely watched by naval officials. II this
craft proves success II is probable that she VIII Do
reproduced In principle by navies Her designer anC
owner. Archibald Watt. former commodore OF th'