Evening star., 1898-09-10
How a Swift Yankee Pilot Boat Won
the Trophy.
VAIN ATTEMPTS 10 GET IT BACK
The Shamrock Will Try, and VIII
Be Manned by Irish Crew.
REA.T SPORT IN 1 s 90

he would build a yacht to compete for the
Americas 5 cup in 1893 the declaration was
regarded by English sportsmen as bit o.
a bluff on the part of the eminent tea ner-
chant. who is an indefatigable and en-
thusiastic self-advertiser and is went to
occasionally indulge this habit on scale
worthy a man who raises tea in Ceylon,
kills hogs in Chicago, manufactures ginger
ale in Dublin, makes superior article of
candy in London and who pays wages to
some 10000 persons and has a fortune re-
puted to be in the neighborhood Of S5o,
coo, 900.
Cnheeding the sneerS Of the doubtful.
Sir Thomas went calmly and quietly ahead.
When he deposited a trifle of 10000
to the credit of the builders of the pro-
jected boat the idea that he was merely
indulging in a new dodge to exploit the
cup that cheers, but does not inebrate,
FADED entirely from the minds of his
countrymen Now the multi-milionaire is
being taken quite seriously, and the big
Gest International event of a sporting char
acter, which ended in bad feeling last
year on both sides of the Atlantic will not
be permitted to langush. And if Sir
Thomas is after advertising on a gigantic
scale he will unQuestonably get his mon
eys worth. dollar for dollar, as from this
Oh until the race is sailed he will be a
prominent figure before the English-speak-
ing world. to whom the Americas cup
is the one great trophy sport offers to
brains and seamanship
Sir Thomas LiDton'S whole attitude has
Ecen fair and manly. All he has stood for
is that the course be kept clear of excur-
SION boats-a matter vital to the chal-
ienged as the challenger-and it is probable
That before the race comes off special
law covering this point will be operative
In spite of hostile attacks of that power
in English sporting circles, the London
tleid. and its assertion that the challenge
tell stillborn on British yachtsmen. a live
ly interest is already manifest on the other
side. Early as it is, the Marquis of Duff
ferin, commodore of the Royal Ulster
Yacht Club, announced MS intention of
being present when the race is sailed, as
has also Lord Russell OF KilloNen.
A Real Irish Shamrock.
The name of the challenger will be the
ST amrock. She will be designed by Will
is m Fife, and Luilt by Harland & Wolff
of Belfast Thus she will bear the same
relation to the Emerald Isle that the This
lie did to Scotland, the Valkyrie to Eng
land and the Countess of Dufferin and At
al&nta to Canada, for her owner is of Irish
antecedents. and she will be sailed by an
Irish crew and will fly the flag of the Royal
Ulster Yacht Club.
1t is now definitely decided who will
build and own the cup defender. This
vas, of course a question of paramount
in TCrtance. The syndicate will be com
posed of C. Oliver Iselin and J. Pierpont
Morgan. The Herreshoffs will construct
the new boat. Already these famous build
ers of the speediest class Of craft afloat
know just what they will do. Fer the last
two years they have been considering the
new cup defender the ne9d for which they
were aware was bound to come sooner or
later They announce ttat she is to be a
Feel boat, and will differ in no great meas
IRE from the old Defender. Her displace-
ment viii likely be less, and she will carry
less lead on her keel Her beam will be
about twenty-threc feet, and a novel inno-
walton VIII be tried in the matter of her
mast, which will be of steel.
These changes are SO slight it would seem
to one not versed in yachting law that
real necessity existed for the new boat:
that the old one would do very well for the
contest. This, however. is not thu case.
The yacht of today wins loses by few
seconds only, and the slightest modification
or Improvement on the ex-defender may
mean the race. And it is worth every dol
lar of the quarter of a million Mr.. Morgan
and Mr.. Iselin will spend to gain those few
seconds of time.
The cup crossed the Atlantic where it
has since remlired. thanks to the science
of our dcsignecS ard builders, at a period
when yachting was in its infancy in the
United States. Indeed, the America was
nothing more than a New York pilot boat.
of exactly similar type to the stanch and
speedy craft that are stiil seen skmmina
the waters of the sound or buffeting the
big pillows off Sandy Hook. She carried
but Il single ji5 and no foretopsail. She
was owned by John c. Stevens, Hamilton
Weeks. George Schuyler, James Hamilton
ard j. Il. Finlay. George Steers was her
designer. On her initial voyage she crossed
over to Havrr, making the passage in
twenty-one days. From Havre she sailed
for COWes. EngfGnd's famous cruising and
racing grounds.
Cup Has Cost Millions.
1t was during her trip across the At
10 hot ha ir he Il
fense of which millions have been spent,
while millions more have gone in the vain
effort to restore it to the custody of the
English yachtsmen, was offered by the
Royal Yacht Club. Competition for this
trophy was open to all the world.
When the America arrived at Cowes her
owrers issued a general challenge to race
any English boat afCat. and for any sum
from fifty guineas to fifty thousand. This
defiance was received by the English
sportsmen a pleasant ebulition of
to it. Finally, however, a match
Iarged with the Titania, for $500. the
course to be seventy miles to Windward and
back. AT the same time the American
yachtsmen were officially informed that
they could if they so desired compete for
The cup, the race for which was to be
sailed August %. This they concluded to
do.
ject of much adverse criticism. Her sails,
which trimmed fiat in particular did Of
fense to the English idea of how canvas
should set. 1t was not for a moment al
lowed that she would be in the race The
contest lay between the home yachts. Her
owrers said nothing all this time. They
were willing to wait their opportunity.
On the 22d of August the America, in
company with some eight other schooners
and as many more cutters. cleared for the
historic race. The course lay around the
Isle of Wight.
The start was made promptly at 10
O'Clock in the morning. An hour and a
half later the America was good two
miles in the lead. AS she tore along with
refreshing wind, the Britishers took in
her performance in open-eyed astonish-
rnent. The race promised to be not at all
" hat had been anticipated. About o'clock
in the afternoon the surprising Yankee
craft rounded the Needles with the nearest
English boat, the schooner Aurora a good
eight miles astern. She finished at S35
pm, and when the queen. who had viewed
the start from the royal yacht asked.
Who was second?' the answer came:
There is second"
In this manner the Royal Yacht SQUAD
lon's trophy came to be known as the
Americas cup" and it is on this cup that
Sir Thomas JOhuStone Linton has daSigpS