Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-10-26

New York, Oct. 21.-Through wind
and heavy seas, in a breeze that ap-
preached the dignity of gale, the gall
liant sloop Columbia Friday vanquished
the British challenger Shamrock by 6
minutes and Is seconds actual time,
thus completing the series for the
Americas cup with a magnificent
rough-weather duel and a glorious
yankee victory. For the eleventh time
the attempt of a foreigner to wrest
from America the yachting supremacy
of the world has failed. To Sir Thomas
Upton, whose name is now added to
the list of defeated aspirants for the
honor of carrying the cup back across
the Atlantic, the failure was a crush
ing blow but, like the true sportsman
that he is, the sting of defeat has left
no bitterness. With undaunted cour-
age he intimated that he may be back
with better boat to try again. Elk
cept for repeated flukes and
the unfortunate accident to the
challenger on Tuesday, this
; series of races has been unmarried
; by a single untoward incident. The
boats have had two fair, square races,
one in light airs and the other in
heavy blow. Sir Thomas is perfectly
satisfied that he was beaten by the bet
ter boat.
When the boats were approaching
the starting point, the Shamrock
reached the vicinity of the committee
boat a few seconds too soon, so Ho-
garth kept her broad off to use up time
and then luffed out across the commit
tee boats bow just as the gun was
fired, crossing the line at a 12-knOt clip
= with the Columbia several lengths
e astern on the weather quarter. Barr
S luffed the Columbia diagonally across
, the line The Shamrock had certainly
the better Of the start and with such a
= breeze blowing it seemed as if her
o chance had come to show she could
, run before the wind. For fifteen min
+ utes there was no noticeable difference
in the positions of the boats. When
O the yachts passed Long Branch pier at
n about so the Shamrock was leading
O by an eighth of mile. At 1915 the
Columbia, which had been steadily
! gaining on the Shamrock, passed her
to port, taking in her working topsail
+ as she did so, to be ready for the wind
6 ward work Official time at the outer
r mark: Columbia, 12:19:00; Shamrock,
n 12:19:17. The Columbia's elapsed time
from the start was one hour,
seventeen minutes and twenty
y five seconds and the Sham
y rocks one hour, eighteen minutes and
y three seconds, showing that, in the
y fifteen mile run before the wind, the
Columbia gained a minute and eigh-
e teen seconds Leaving the mark to
y the starboard, the Columbia luffed
j. widely around it while the crew hauled
: aft the main sheet. The Shamrock
S was forced to make a still wider turn.
: Then, luff1ng up sharply, she tried to
n cross the Colunbia's wake to capture
S the weather berth but Barr blocked her
|, neatly. The wind was now blowing at
r least twenty-five miles an hour. At
l. 1872 the Shamrock's topsail was taken
d in. She was then throwing spray in
: clouds across her deck, making, if any
: thing, worse weather of it than the
: Columbia, which was nearly half
|. mile to the windward, same distance
a ahead, and increasing her lead every
minute Several short tacks were
made during the next twenty minutes
e and at 1:40 when the Columbia tackled
g to port, the wind had fallen lighter for
. short time. The wind soon fresh
| ened, canting a couple Of points west
= erly The Shamrock then split tacks
with the Columbia and gained slightly,
chiefly because Of the shift of wind,
which she apparently got few min
utes before the Columbia. From here
on it was a succession of short tacks,
| the Columbia going about finally on
the last tack to starboard at 2:37:1O
and dashing across the finish line three
, minutes later The Shamrock finished
5 minutes and II seconds after the Col
umbia. She was defeated by min
utes and Is seconds actual time, and
by minutes, 81 seconds corrected
time.
For the first time in the the remem-
brance of yachtsmen who have seen all
international contests for the Ameri-
can cup, an American ensign was
hoisted at each masthead Of the yacht
Erin, property of the owner of the de-
feated sloop. AS the Shamrock, in
tow, passed the Columbia at her
moorings on the way into Sandy Hook
bay, the challenging yachts crew lined
up and gave three hearty British
cheers, to which the Columbia's men
answered promptly and with vigor.
Official summary: Start-COlumbia,
11:O1:35; Shamrock, 11:00:34. Outer
mark-Columbia 12:19:00; Shamrock,
I12:19:17 Finish-Columbia $4,000;
| Shamrock, 2:45:17. Elapsed time
Columbia, $685. Shamrock, 3:44:43.
Corrected time-Columbia, 3:38:09;
Shamrock 3:44:43.