Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-04-21

SHAMROCK II. SLIPPED INTO THE
WATER AT DEWEY,S YARDS
IN PRESENCE OF
MANY INVITED
JAMES GORDON BENNETT TO BUILD
A CHALLENGER IF THE CLIP
IS LOST TO AMERICA.

DUMBARTON, April 20.-Shamrock
IL. was successfully launched to-day at
Dennys yards in the presence of a good
crowd of invited guests, newspaper
men and employees. Lady Dufferin
christened the new challenger, which
|looked spick and span in it's coat OF
white paint trimmed with green, while
the Manganese bottom of the new boat
Shone like a mirror.
Lord and Lady Dufferin, Sir Thomas
Upton and others who came from Glas-
gov on a special train stood upon a
raised platform decorated with Union
Jacks, the stars and stripes and the
Irish flag and with venetian masts in
green and white, which were the pre-
vailing colors.
Throughout, the weather could not
have been better. The sun shone
brightly and overcoats had been dis
carded. The employees OF the Dennys
had a holiday and in fact all Dunbar
ton was Ell fete to see Lady Dufferin
break the bottle over the c~uriously
snub-nosed bow of the new boat.
British experts are very confident
about the new boat and think her the
best that ever challenged for the cup.
But if you don't win" said the cor
respondent of the Associated Press to
Sir Upton, will you try it again?'
L expect next year to build a de-
fender not a challenger" was the dip
lomatic answer.
In this connection the manager of
Dennys yard said:
When Mr.. James Gordon Bennett
saw the Shamrock II. here a few weeks
ago, he said:
We'll, if she wins l am prepared to
build a challenger"
At 11:45 a. m. to-day Sir Thomas
Upton personally conducted the CORES
pondent of the Associated Press over
and under the Shamrock II. She is
built to a general type but embodies
such novelties as prove her designer
pursued an independent line of devel-
opment, rather than followed yachting
conventions.
When the yacht is viewed in profile
the most striking feature is the ex-
IRENE fineness of her ends. The over
hangs fore and aft are drawn out to ex-
ceptional length, and the waite. line
uHuCl lACdbH HUNS Q6CSpllftEy Shut.
Her fin is of the medium length, prob
ably thirty feet at the extreme measur-
ment and is finished at the bottom
with a pronounced rocker. Without
doubt the chief characteristic o. the
yachts design is the manner in which
her beam IS thrown right for ward, al
most into the eyes of the boat. The
forward deck lines are carried out full
well into the o%verhang, and tie draw
ing in does not start until hall way
between the mast and the stern From
about the rcast it runs aft iii a long
easy curve Ii Poes out into the long
est and finest counter ever seen on a
cup challenger, the breadth at the taft
rail being only about seven feet.
The deck, with its fine lines forward and
exceptionally fine run, has the appearance
of having been suggested by towing ex-
periments. In the Shamrock I. the well
defined stem was carried from under the
bowsprit to the top edge of the fin, but
in the new BOA the stem stops short be-
fore it reaches the water line. Under this
the sections of the boat run in perfect
semi-circles and give this part of the hull
the exact shape of the forward end Of a
soup-spoon. Some danger of forming an
awkward shoulder might have been ex-
peeted in drawing the wide deck down to
the final lines of the underbody. But, the
problem appears to have been successfully
met. Every line runs true and sweep.
The general shape of the bows give the
impression of a boat which should be able
to keep her head well up, no matter how
hard she may be pressed. 1t was in this
ability to keep her head up that the Co
lumbia's chief superiority over the first
Shamrock lay. To take the first Shamrock
as a standard for comparison, it may be
said that the principle of making the
yacht sail over rather than through the
water will be pushed very much further
in the present yacht. There is none of
the fiat sides under the bow or big Shout
der seen in the Fife boat.
When the yacht is viewed end on. 1t is
seen that Mr.. Watson has departed great
ly from the midship section adopted by
Fife. The new challenger is immeas-
urably easier than the previous boat in
the turn of the bilge and garboards and
easier even than Columbia. The fin is
narrow. In the section where it joins the
hull. and spreads until it turns in the
round of the trough in which the lead is
carried. TIL same principle of skimming
water is seen in the after end. All the sec
tons are again in segnaents of a circle.
The total draught from the water line
to the bottom of the rockered curve of
the keel is only al inch or two over
eighteen feet, or two feet less than the
previous challenger.
In the measurement of the extreme
beam there is little difference, though the
point of this measurement falls much
further forward in the Fife boat.
Diamonds, our great specially, as
everybody knows.
DILL ON q co