The age-herald., 1899-10-10

courteous greeting when they came up the
 gangway. He was expecting to attend
 private dinner to be given in his honor to-
 night at one of the big hotels in the city,
 but sent telegram to the gentleman who
 was to be his host, begging to be excused
 until after the races had been sailed, as
 he was centering all his efforts on the task
 before him and did not desire to leave
 Sandy Hook until after tomorrow's race,
 anyway.
 Sir Thomas has been the recipient of many hundreds of cablegrams from friends
 on the other side of the water, eongratu-
 lating him on the fine showing the Sham
 rock has made in the light weather, and
 every time big batch of dispatches was brought from tale shore those on board the Erin have good time reading them, for among dhem are many humorous ones. This morning the usual number came and by far the most amusing one from Eng land said
 cup"
 All Are Confident
 On both the Shamrock and Erin an air or confidence is noticeable, and the men waIl De greatly surprised if they do not cap- lure the cup. Sir Thomas himself is as certain of carrying the coveted silver cup over to the Royal Ulster Yacht club as fle IS that there are to be three more races,
 
 of any sort. His sole disire is for the bet ter boat to win, and if he cannot win with the Shamrock 1t is more than likely he will come again next year with another boat The owner of the challenger voiced the sentiments of those on the Erin that there would be no wind. He felt that the | log which hung heavily over the Horse | shoe today would not clear up for at least twenty-four hours, but expressed a wish
 that King Eolus would use his bellows wig
 orously tomorrow for the two races. for something besides drifting match. When
 asked what had been done aboard the Shamrock during today Sir Thomas re- l piled that the crew had not touched a
 piece of rigging or a sail since the green
 craft came into her moorings Saturday
 night, and that his boat was ready to sail 1 another race an hour after that of Saturday
 was declared off. The crew of the chal-
 lenger was as happy as clans at high wa l ter and have no fear of the outcome of the 1 series. The men are just as eager for a l race in breeze their employer. Sir Thomas expressed several times the wish that Designer Willie Fife would be
 able to see some of the races, not only be- i caused he knew that MT. Fife could ob- l tain valuable data for future reference from 1 watching the work of both boats, but be- 1 cause he knew Fife would be able to make l suggestions which would bring out the best points of the Shamrock. He felt that
 the illness of MT. Fife was serious ham, dicap to his chances of winning, but know ing that he had the three best shippers that ever trod a deck on the Shamrock he would depend upon them to get the best speed out of the boat that was possible.
 Interested in Columbia's MaInsaiI
 On the Erin considerable interest was l manifested in the Columbia's mainsail,
 which was hoisted and lowered several | times during the day. Every one knew it was not new sail and that several altera- 1 tions had been made in 1t. This recutting
 of the sail gave the Erin people more confi- l dence than ever and they felt that the 1 Columbia people were a bit worried as to l the outcome of the race. They felt that to | spread out the sail in such a fog pre- l vailed nearly all of today, allowed 1t to get | damp and shrink, unless there were fear l of being defeated such would not have been
 done They believe Shamrock stock is | going up. Sir Thomas reiterated his former 1 statement that his boat would be sailed to | win and there would be no holding up at | the wire. Sailmaker Ratszy watched the l tinkering on the Columbia's mainsail with ! a critical eye, but did not express any opin- 1 ion for publication. Herbert c. Leeds wis l tied Sir Thomas today and spent some time l with him. The best of feeling prevails be- 1 tween Columbia and Shamrock people, and | it seems to be the desire of both that the | better boat shall win. Sir Thomas will en- | tertain another large party on board the | Erin during tomorrow's race and hopes that | his guests will see finish this time.