The Topeka state journal., 1899-10-12
CANADA'S CHALLENGE.

In 1876, the Centennial year, a, cha1-
1enge came from an unlooked-for quar-
ter. The yacht was the Countess
of Dufferin, modelled and built by Alex
ander Cuthbert, Canadian of cOnsid-
erable ability as a mOdeIer, but whose
experience was wholly in yachts OF the
ordinary American type.
The new yacht was built for the pur-
pose of challenging for the cup, being
owned by syndicate of Canadian
yachtsmen and enrolled in the Royal
Canadian Yacht Club, of Toronto, Can
ada. On her arrival in New York in
July, 1876, the New York Yacht Club
selected the schooner Madeline alone to
meet the challenger in every race.
She was the fastest of the centre
board division of the feet. The two
yachts We're nearly of a size, some 95
feet water line, and the difference in
point OF model was not very great. The
Canadian yacht, however, was very
much inferior in construction, finish
and rig. AS a matter of course the
Countess of Dufferin was defeated.
Five years later Captain Cuthbert
was ready to try again for the cup.
This time the challenge came from the
Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, of Belle
vile, Canada, and for the first time in
the history of the cup it was from a
single-stick vessel.
VICTORIOUS MISCHIEF.
But the Mischief defeated her She
was hauled out, and, under the foster
ing care of her skipper, old Captain
THAN" Clock, was put in as perfect
raced for the cup, her iron bottom
being scraped and sandpapered. Care
fully painted with red lead, and then
covered with successive coats of var
nish into which pot lead" of graphite
was rubbed with brushes until the
whole hull of the yacht from plank
sheer to keel shone like a mirror.
Above deck the Mischief was superior
in rigging and canvas to most of the
New York fleet of the time, and she
came to the line on November for the
first race in absolutely faultleSS racing
form. 1t was the same old story, the
Mischief won by half an hour in each
of the two races sailed, and the cup
was again secured. That was in 1881.
Four years elapsed without a chaI-
1 lenge. Then in 1885 the owners of the
Galatea challenged for the cup, and a
syndicate of Boston gentlemen built
the Puritan.
The first of the three cup races was
sailed on September IA, 1885, and it re-
I suited in a decided victory for the
American boat. It was over the inside
course on New York Bay.
After this race there was an agitation
for change of the measurement rule
of the Yacht Racing Association, which,
| toward the last of the year, reached a
successful result. After a very thor
ough inquiry, in the course of which
the leading British designers were
called on to give their opinions at
length, the old tonnage rule which had
done so much both to help and hurt
y
outside ballast, and then in compelling
the construction of extremely narrow
craft, was finally replaced by a length
and sail area rule very similar to that
used for three years by the Seawan-
haka COrinthian Yacht Club, and later
generally adopted by American Clubs.
The first to avail himself of the new
rule was G. L. Watson, of Glasgow,
and toward the end of the year the keel
of the Thistle was laid. The radical
difference between the Thistle and the
typical British cutter of the preceding
| decade was shown in her beam of 20
| feet inches, as compared with the Is
! feet of the Galatea, the length and
draft being the same, while the Thistle
| carried some 1000 feet more canvas.
Although the majority of American
yachtsmen were agreed that the new
/ Clyde boat was a far more dangerous
| antagonist than any that had yet chaI-
/ lenged, by common consent the defense
of the cup was Left to the Boston syn
dicate that had previously defended it.
In March, 1887, the challenge was
formally accepted, and the Keel of the
/ Volunteer laid
PLAN OF VOLUNTEER.
The new yacht differed from the May
flower mainly in added depth and draft,