The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1903-03-20
THIRD LITTER.
Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock III.
Successfully Launched at
Dumbarton.
LADY SHAFTESDURY CHRISTENED IT.
IL the New Ideas Embodied In the
New Craft Prove ns Successful as
Her Designers Hope She VIII
he the Most Formidable Chal-
IenRer Yet.

IenRer Yet.
Glasgow, March 1s.-The Shamrock
III. was launched at lis p. IN. Tues
day.
Large crowds gathered at Denny's
yard at Dumbarton, in spite of the
drenching rain, which. however,
ceased before the arrival of the spe-
cial visitors train. Sir Thomas Lip
ton escorted Lady Shaftesbury to the
christening dais. Among others on
the platform were the earl and coun-
tess of Mar and Kellie, Lord Overtoun.
lord provost of Glasgow; Hon. Charles
Russell, Reginald Ward, VIM. Fife and
Captains Wringe and Bevis.
At lis p. m. Lady Shaftesbury
broke up the bottle, saying:
Il christen you, Shamrock; may
God bless you and may you bring us
back the cup"
Then, amid loud cheers, the Sham
rock III. slid easily into the water.
After more cheering the visitors
proceeded to luncheon.
In "A speech after the luncheon, Sir
Thomas said the Americas cup must
now be homesick. They had learned
lesson from the past, and they were
never more confident. They had so
years experience with American
yachts and yachtsmen, and none
would cheer a Shamrock victory more
heartily than the Americans.
The toast, king Edward and Presi-
dent Roosevelt" was drunk with mu-
steal honors.
The New Challenger.
An examination of Shamrock III.
as the yacht was revealed in the
launching shed confirmed the previous
dispatches on the subject, and showed
that Fife had struck out boldly on en-
tirely novel lines, instead of trying to
tinker or improve on either of the
previous Upton challengers. Like her
predecessors, however, Shamrock III.
is built close up to the 90-foot water
line limit. Her length over all is 140
feet. The striking feature of the
challenger is her extremely short fin.
1t is just 20 feet long. Her draught
is 10 feet, and the fin is almost level
along the bottom. The lead in the
hull is drawn we'll down to the fin,
suggesting the deep body typical of
the British cutter rather than the ex-
treme fiat foored type adapted from
the American centerboard yachts and
used in all the recent challengers.
borrowed an American Leaf.
American wheel steering for the
first time replaces the British tiller
and the lesson learned with Sham
head seas has led to a longer and
finer drawn bow, giving the chal-
lenger the appearance of being boat
capable Of negotiating comfortably
any modern sea. With lesser draught
and fiat fioored as the previous Sham
rocks, the challenger will not have
so much stability, so Fife has either
gone in for light weather boat or
he has cut down her sail area. There
are daring novel features in the de-
sign, the effect of which can not be
accurately gauged, except by actual
trial They suggest the possibility of
difficulty in getting the new boat to
trim, steer and carry her canvas. II,
however, she accomplishes these OBJ
iects well she will prove to be by far
the most formidable challenger ever
sent out The underbody of Sham
rock III. is painted with white anti
fouling composition. Her topsides
are white and she has broad bands of
green along the water line and rail.
Her hull, frames and plates are all OF
nickel steel. specially made. The
deck is of aluminium plates, covered
with wood fibre, which gives safe
foothold.
superb workmanship.
The workmanship of The yacht is
superb in every detail, no dent. rivet
or joint is visible under the polish of
her paint.
After the launching Sir Thomas
Upton said to press correspondents:
'My third, and perhaps my last, at
tempt at lifting the Americas cup
will be the most serious and | think
the most hopeful of my efforts. The
Reliance may beat-as, but it will not
be because l have not got the best
boat British brains and workmen can
produce.