The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-20
boats CRITICALLY COMPARED.
winner Can he Picked with Mnthe-
NAUTICAL Certainty.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
New York, Sept. 16.-Now that the
Columbia and the Shamrock III are be-
ing given their final cleaning land pol
ishing, preparatory to their first race
for the Americas Cup, it may be of
interest to compare the two yachts, as
far as a careful inspection will permit,
and draw certain conclusions there
from With exact lines, sail, plans.
weights, etc, and assuming equally
good handling, the winning boat could
be picked with mathematical certain
ty, as natures laws are immutable,
leaving nothing to mystery or chance,
but as such data very properly be-
longs to their designers, any forecast
at this time must rest upon the nicer
perception of the trained eye.
The Shamrock ii bears a close re-
semblance to the Columbia in a gen.
eral way but there are minor points
of difference. She is 5 feet longer over
all, about inches wider on deck and
draws a foot more water. She is not
fiat. as the Columbia, in fact there is
no distinct fiat of floor, but her mid
ship section is one sinuous curve, from
her gunwale to the turn of the floor
at the barboards, and then the fin
gradually turns outward over the lead,
which is rounded transversely on the
bottom. The dead rise on midship Sec
ton is between 2S and 80 degrees.
The bottom of the fin is q feet 4
inches in length, straight on the bot
tom, with a gradual rise of a foot at
forward end, then curves upward with
a sharp turn, after which the forward
edge of the fin runs up in a straight
line at an angle of 80 degrees, until IL
runs into the line of the forefoot with
a quick turn, then forward in a
straight line to the curve at the steam
head.
The stern post rakes at an angle of
As degrees, and is about the same dis
lance from the after end of the load
water line as in the Columbia. The
forward overhang is q feet s inches,
which with a load water line of prac
tically 80 feet, make the over all length
1877 feet. The width is about s feet 8
inches and the side deck lines are of a
circle, running in one continuous sweep
from taffrail to stem head.
Apparently there is very little differ
ence in the displacement of the Column
bia and Shamrock ii, and, as the rig
ging are about the same. it is fair to
assume the ballast to be also about
equal for. as the Shamrock II ballast
is inside of the plating, there is no ex-
ternal evidence upon which to base an
estimate of calculation.
The forward end of the fin. is notice.
ably blunt, the greatest thickness be-
ing about four feet from the forward
end, and then tapering to the thickness
of the rudderpost at the after end.
The rudder is longer and slightly mar
rover than in the Columbia, and like
all previous cup challengers, the yacht
is steered with a tiller. The freeboard
at bow and stern is within a narrow
margin the same as that of the De-
fender being about 6 feet inches at
the bow and feet inches at the taft
rail, while her least freeboard, about
80 feet forward of the after end of her
load water line, is 3 feet 3 inches,
against Columbia's feet 2 inches.
The hull plating is worked in and
out, and the work done on it is a
masterpiece of shipbuilders' art.
The plating is of immadium and al
10y of copper of tin, very similar to
the composition used in the Columbia,
the former probably having a slightly
larger proportion of tin than that of
the latter The longitudinal seams
are double riveted.
The deck is of steel, covered to pro-
tect it from the weather and to pro-
vide Arm footing for the crew. A
racing rail, from to S12 inches in
hight, is worked Is inches inboard. To
give a better understanding of the diff
ferences in the two yachts compare
tive table of their principal measure
mentS follows: