The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-16
WHAT IT COST
SIR THOMAS LIPToN TO THx TO LIFT AMERICAN CUP.
His Total Expenses, Including tho Cost of the Yacht, is Estimated at $4o2, ,9s5-The Expensss
 of the Columbia

| VI tuS 6VAuANkH What did 1t cost Sir Thomas Lipton to race for the Americas cup?
 That Is question that has been asked | many times. The average man does not | even know the actual cost of Shamrock | H.. and guesses have run all the way from one hundred to five hundred thou- sand dollars. The New York Sun has published some estimates which will serve to settle the question. They arc at least approximately correct The following ex- tracts are from The Sun:
 'fTo begin with, the cost of Shamrock | II. in the water and ready for business was close to $325,000 Her sails, of which she has i've complete suits of ten sails to suit, cost s60,00o Her mast, which is one piece of hollow steel 15s feet long, cost about 5000. But the bulk of the expense was in her costly hull of im- madinm. in alloy of tin and copper, which combines to the highest degree at present known the qualities of strength and ueht- ness in a vessels body. In this enormous cost of Shamrock II. there is very strik- ingly illustrated the difference in the cost of racing yachts today'as compared with those of even eight years ago. For in- stance. the Vigilance, which defeated Valkyrie II. in 1883. cost $s0,000, The cost
 
 two years later. was sS00O0. The cost of the Columbia was somewhere in the neighborhood of $120,00O while. the Consti- tution's was probably in the neighborhood of s150ooo."
 The Pay of the Men.
 But the cost ofsthe racing machine it. self Is only detail in the list of the racing expenses the challenger this year has to meet. Including the sixty men on the Erin Sir Thomas has with him here a crew of 220. Eliminating the Erin men there rerRain 160 men who were engaged Tor six month at an average of $ss a month. and their board. For their board SIT Thomas makes an allowance of 50 cents day to each man. the men buy- ing their own provisions and arranging their own messes. In addition to their regular pay of ss5 a month. to each of the Ioriy-seven men who. compose the crew oI the Shamrock, there is an allowance of So in prize money. The usual rate of prize money to a racing yachts crew Is so a man in case of victory, and S2.50 a man In case of defeat. This is the rule tnat holds on the Columbia. In the case or the Shamrock's men, however. m extra allowance. win or lose, was mad, because the men had to leave fin the height of the racing in England, thereby losing the chancegsto pick up more or less money in the many races in which presumably, they would have taken part
 The Entertaining.
 Sir Thomas L:ptcn, as Is well known is Very hospitable man snd a lavish ent.r. salner' The number of his guests on board the Erin during his stay here has peen as mgr as A0 on racing day, while iess company. Probably $7.b00 woIitd De conservative estimate for thes coat ssf Snsfftaining his friends during his stay nsrs. ,,s HIS expenses for the race. then. may te ta5ulated, approximately as fai- Cost of yacht. :. .. ssss mo Dock expenses. ..........l.... &5ao Pay of yachting crew. :..''.....,...... ss S Srews prize money. .. ........ 3hss sorto Rice 0endsr) ..F.,.. ........ e,60p p. er Vlctdr.' s-s ss..'............. 3,o2a Two captains and mate. ........ 7.5o0 watson and Ratsey.. .. ........... 10000 Board Of yacht ere crew. six months oSg% Ss, Board Of l6O men, two months.... 4SO0 Fay Of lh0 men, two months. . 5.o0O Launch Dufferin.... ..........,..... 4,00O
 Total. :. :. :. ................... .;lsa 9s5
 The accident loss to the Shamrock, like that to the Constitution; was fully cov- cred by insurance so 1t need not be counted In the bill of expenses
 The Defense.
 Tho outlay for defending the cup nat urally Is much sm aller than that which falls upon the challenger. Probably in round numbers the cost of meeting Sir ThomasS attack this year will De in the neighborhoo6 of $250O0O. making a total expenditure for both challenger and de- fender of S12,OO0, or say $13oOO9, every thing included, for in the above table of Sir Thomas's expenses there is omitted an item of several thousand dollars, pre- sumably over S3.0O0, for uniforms for his large force of men. and there are doubt ay Qf4z amount still further.
 Ths cup defenders this year had an ex- tra expense in the failure of the Consti- neighborhood of $150,0OO, and the Columbia which cost about $l20,O0O, had to have con siderable money put into her to ft her iginal cost should not be included in this years defense of the cup. Both Captain Rhodes of the Constitution and Captain Barr of the Columbia have been under son. The, pay of the American crew Is somewhat higher than that of the Eng fish. the Americans getting $50 a month as against the S35 to the English crew. The docking and tender expenses of the Americans have been less than those of the challenger, and. O. course, there is eliminated from the American total the big item the Erin puts into Sir Thomasa bill The Americans are boarded outright on their tender instead of having the 50 cents per diem allowance. The total pay OI lHc OulCcES dilo ulSl IbF tHc SiA months they will have been engaged amounts to a trifie more than $20,000.
 The Races of 1899.
 Sir Thomas estimated the expense of his effort to get the cup in 1900 at SSO0.00o. That, however. included s400.0O0 which he paid to Count Florio of Italy for the fine yacht which the Count called the Aegusa, and which is now known as the Erin. This would leave his actual racing ex- penses in 1899 at $4o0.0o0. It Is probable that the cost of the present races to him will be little oyer that figure. but still within $500, 900. In other words, including the sum of $590.000 or thereabouts for the purchase and refitting of the Erin, the total cost to the challenger in the last two series of races will be somewhere In the neighborhood of $1, 1,300000. But the cost of the Erin is not of course. legit- innate factor in the estimate of the actual racing expenses Probably these last for both setfes will hardly exceed SS50,00O.
 NEED or TWO PARTIES.