The Saint Paul globe., 1903-07-26
Sir Thomas Upton Has Great
Cup Hunting Squadron


crew to volunteer to sail her back
England in the fall of 1901.
The most important change in the
method of taking care of the crews of
! the two racing yachts in the. absence
of the customary tender" In his two
previous attempts to win the cup Sir
Thomas adopted the American plan of
! chartering small steamer with COM
modious house accommodations and
| having the entire crew live on board
| Of this tender. The chief advantage
| of this is that it saves fitting up the
interior of the racing yachts, thus max
! ing them lighter in actual racing.
| Whatever advantage this practice has
| it is not without it's drawbacks, and
! therefore Sir Thomas has decided to
| abandon the use of a tender this year,
| the two crews sleeping on their re-
I spective yachts. They will take their
! meals, however on the big tug CruiZer,
! which therefore becomes the official
tender" of the fleet, and to carry the
! eighty-two men in the two yachts to
! and from their meals, Mr.. Davis, Sir
/ Thomas Lipton's American representa-
! tive, has bought big steam launch,
/ called Buttercup. There will be ample
! dining accommodations on the CruiZer,
/ for she is so large that she has accom-
| modations for sixteen passengers in
addition to her crew of fifteen men. The
other two boats, Smoky and the naphtha
| launch, are perfectly familiar to any
| one who was ever near the Erin, the
| Smoky being the boat that was caught
! out and nearly swamped in Sandy
Hook bay one night two years ago in a
fierce nor easter, when she was bring
ing party of Sir Thomas friends
from the boat landing at Atlantic High
lands to the Erin Smoky has carried
no less important parsonage than
King Edward VII. on her leather cush-
ioned seats, and therefore deserves to
be regarded with respect, even If she
isn't as big or as important looking as
the Cruizer.
Times are changed indeed from the
days of the Galatea, when Lieut.. Hem
sailed that yacht across the Atlantic
himself, picked a tug up off the Hook
and anchored off Tompkinsville. Even
the tug was used only when absolutely
necessary and was not chartered for
| the season. as has been Sir Thomas
custom in his two previous years here.
Now we have two yachts towed across
by one of the finest steam yachts afoat
| "a yacht for which e $4,000 was offer.
| ed month ago and refused-and big
ea-going tug; we have challenging
owner who will take eighty to 100
| guests day out to see the races in
his steam yacht and entertain them in
| the daily counsel of the designer of the
| challenger, who is retained at fee so
! large that persons who know WhiSpher
! the amount in awe. 1t is likely that
| Capt Matthews, the commander of the
| Erin, draws as large a salary as does
the captain of the Oceanic or the ST.
Paul. Of the eighty two men in the
crews of the two Shamrocks, sixty
| three will be picqed to sail the chal-
! lenger in the cup race, and, to add to
| his lavish expenditure of money, Sir
! Thomas has promised these sixty three
/ men that in case Shamrock III. wins
the cup he will pension them for life
In addition to all this there are thou
sand and one expenses which cannot
be computed but which go to swell the
total to an astonishing size.
In everything that has concerned his
three attempts to carry back to Eng
land the blue ribbon of the seas the eX-
penditures of Sir Thomas Upton have
been more lavish than those dreamed
of by any previous challenger. When
he began for the first try International
yacht racing was lying under a cloud
of disfaVor and scandal brought about
by the last of the Valkyrie races and
the conduct of the Earl of sDunraven.
BY the exercise of courtlinesS and tact
Sir Thomas speedily made yachtsmen
and the general public on both sides
of the water forget that unpleasant
incident, and, since every one admires
sportsman who backs his opinion
freely, he made additional hosts of
friends on that score. By the time the
deciding race was sailed with Sham
rock l. it was reckoned that he had
spent a million dollars. At the time
Columbia defeated Shamrock II. in
that last heartbreaking race he had
spent another million dollars And
with hn
years armada it is said by those who
ought to know that he will have spent
million and quarter dollars more
Three million and quarter of dollars
to try to take back to England home
ly little silver cup the intrinsic value
of which is $780,
And Sir Thomas is prepared to go
even to greater heights than this. He
has announced that in case of defeat
this time he is ready to build Sham
rock w, and in the event of victory
ready to build a new defender if need
be.
OF course, any sportsman would look
to some reward for all these efforts
and the expenditure of such extraor-
dinary sums of money. And Sir Thom-
as has had it given to him in even
greater measure than almost any liv-
ing man. Suffering as he did in the
beginning under the innuendoes con-
| cerning advertisement of his business,
he has wiped out that feeling, until
now, with the possible exception of
King Edward himself. he is the most
popular man in the British Isles. AS
lar as Americans are concerned, his
popularity is remarkable. His tact and
| hospitality have left their impression
on every one who has ever come in
contact with him.
In touching on the sportsmanlike
conduct of this Briton and the sums of
money he has spent in attempting to
bu1ld better boat than America can
produce. word must be said for the
native yachtsman. Year after year
little group of men made up of J.
Pierpont Morgan. August Belmont c.
Oliver Is1en and e. D. Morgan. have
contributed hundreds of thousands of
dollars and month after month of their
vaiuapIe time to the planning of cup
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