The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-30
MARK TWAIN HlJMOROUSLY EXPLAINS
DEFEAT OF THE SHAMROCK BY RELIANCE.

can't help yourself. Some times WISH
was dead
at does seem TO be sorrcwfui vocation
"Funerals Is hi!arity compaIed to 1t. Daliy
and hourly your feelings are hurt Hurt oy
disobedieuce: YES. and almost always ac-
compsu,ed by remarks w!lich-v'hy. let me
give you an instance. You remember that
first day when we were racing with those
steam ricketts,. the Corsair and the ReVolu-
ton and the Hauoii and Mr.. Leeds clipper
and hanging their scaips up there on the
nizzen foretopgallant halyards TO dry, one
by one I found the second mate off his
base and ordered him into irons as lesson
and he told me TO go-never mind where ne
told me to go to-but how would you ike
TO be- treated like that and you DONG the
best you coud?
"Ah. that gives me an idea. 1t would be
Just like such a man as that to keep cross
ing the Monmoth's bow, the way the Kan
awha did Saturday in the race home. 1t
was scandslous. Was he steering
Its getting late. let's talk about some
thing else. / was at the wheel myself. Are
you Incorporate? Would you like some
thing? So would 1. Push the button. What
were you saying about-about-
Il wasn't saying anything about any
thing, but now that ] think of ii, what
was the reason that. the Shamrock per
formed so indifferently in the first race
that one was failure?'
Left Anchor at Waldorf.
Well. ! know the reason, for l got it
from Clancy at the time. 1t is pretty
technical. but, barring that. it is easy to
understand. 1t was case of British easy
going carelessness on the part OF the shaih-
rock plant-good enough sailors. you Know
but needless. Oh. beyond imagination. Not
just one case of it. but two or three
Clancy explained the whole thing to me
In the first place, when they came to set
the anchor watch it was Waterbury and
they lost two minutes in the winding and
that took off the whole time allowance
and three seconds besides-ought TO have
been wound up before. of course
And then. when they got 1t set there
they were agan-an anchor watch. all right
enough, but they found they had rot any
anchor 1t had been left at the Waldorf
by some oversight. and they had to throw
over ballast to make UP for it Also. they
had to remeasure the boat and that short
but Clancy does. An inch is not much. but
IL you take 1t Off the front end that end
does not arrive at the home stake as early
as 1t would II it were an inch longer. and.
of course, as you can see yourself even
that little could lose a race. 1t ditr't in
this case. because there was a lot more
inches that did not arrive in time but the
principle is sound; you can gee it yourself -
Yes. 1t locke So But they lost the second
race. too-the fgrst real race. How does
Clancy account for that
Difference in seamanship he says That
and other things. Accidents and one thing
and another
Broke Out Her Spinnaker.
Did Shamrock have accidents?"
she had one that lost her the race. When
she turned the stake she broke out her spin
maker. She might as we'll have broken her
back, Clancy says. The spinnaker is sail,
you know. / don't know which one il Is.
but I think 1t Is the tall one that bows out
like shirt front and gives the yacht such
a dressy look. The other one is the balloon
jib. which connects the cardboard straka
with futtock shrouds and enables you to
point high on a wind when you couldn't
possible do it any other way. Clancy told
me these things
..Does Clancy charge YOU anything for
revealing these mysteries?'
NO, he does not really charge me, but
I make It I'D to him in other ways / let
him charge me s. for telling me how to
bet so as not to lose He told me to bet a
hundred on each boat. That was on the
first race-the one that went to a finish II
l won either bet was to give him another
five, and II / won both he was to get ten
So he got only ten altogether, because 1
only won one one of the bats. 1 lost on the
other, so he did not charge anything on
that one."
Always Intelligent.
"IIave vou ALWAYS been as inteIIirep, as
Won are now"
Yves, 1 think SO. but some times Mr..
Rogers thinks l am failing. He thinks its
On account OF age and decrepitude: others
think 1t is O naccount of mental disturb
ance; others think It is on account of the
company l keep; but that cannot be. be-
cause 1 was never particular about the
kind of people 1 went with, yet 1 was al
ways Just as intelligent as am now, per-
maps even more
You lose your way sometimes in long
sentence. Do you notice? You remem--"
Yes l know what you mean; it's when
I'm working UP to wind'ard on difficult
nronosttf,r CLANCY cave birnae,. tho, 7
don't point as high as used to- Rrt II &c
no matter: as long as nv teeth remain
good don't mind about nv intellect: don't
eat with nv intellect Rut On on ;n,ar