New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-04
Fast Schooners
Try for Famed
Cape May Cup
Vanderbilt's Vagrant and
ShOnnard's Sonnica to
Meet in 2OO-Mile Struggle
BY Jack Lawrence

Two of the fastest schooner yachts
in American waters will meet in what
should be sensational duel when
H. S. Shonnard's black-hulled Sonnica
matches her speed on September 16
against Vice Commodore Harold S.
Vanderbilt's Vagrant for possession of
the historic Cape May Challenge Cup.
Other schooners may enter the con
test but in we'll informed yachting
circles it is regarded as certain that
the fight for the trophy will be be-
tween Sonnica and Vagrant, as few
schooners now in commission compare
with them in point Of speed.
The Cape May Challenge Cup was
offered in 1872 by the late Commodore
James Gordon Bennett and has not
been subject of competition since
1915, when one leg upon it was cap
tured by Elena, the property Of the
late Morton f. Plant.
BY the terms of the deed of gift the
Cape May Challenge Cup is offered to
"the yachts of all nations, to be raced
for in an ocean race from line off
Ambrose or Scotland light vessels to
and around Five Fathom Lightship, off
Cape May" The distance is approx
mately 200 nautical miles.
owner of any yacht winning it in three
successive, contests. This has never
been accomplished during the forty
nine years the trophy has been in COM
petition, although Wilson Marshall, in
the famed schooner yacht Atlantic, won
two legs on it in 1904 and 1911. In
1914, with the possibility of permanent
possession before him, Mr.. Marshall
forfeited the cup to Robert f. Tod's
Katoura.
Rivalry Between Schooners
According to very likely sounding
rumors that have been buzzing about
yachting circles, Mr.. Shonnard's chal-
lenge for the Cape May Cup, which has
resulted in the race to be held Septem
Der Is, was an outgrowth of the recent
cruise of the New York Yacht Club
squadron from Glen Cove to Newport.
in which Sonnica, with Mr.. Shonnard
at the wheel, was first in all of the
club runs. The first leg took the
yachts to New Haven, the second to
New London, the third to Block Island
and the last to Newport.
In these runs Sonnica appeared to
have little difficulty in outdistancing
derbilt at the wheel, Quee;, Nab and
other schooners. Despite her showing
in the runs, it was said frequently,
during the cruise and after it, that
Vagrant was the faster boat in wind
ward work and would have shown Son.
MICA the way if this point of sailing
had prevailed for any considerable dis
lance. There was no windward work,
however, and this disputed point has
never been settled, although Sonnica
seemed to prove that in running and
reaching she could outfoot her white
rival.
The respective ability Of the two
schocners in a beat was expected to
have been settled in the contest for
the Aston Cup, which was held off
Erenton's Reef, at the conclusion of
the New York Yacht Club cruise, but
for some reason that has never been
explained, Mr.. Shonnard failed to start
in this event, which was captured cas-
lily by Vagrant.
Boats Evenly Matched
Whether the interesting controversy
that has been simmering quietly since
the cruise had anything to- do with pre-
cipitating Mr.. Shonnard's challenge for
the Cape May trophy is largely mat
ter of conjecture, but if reports are to
be believed, a very considerable sum of
money has been wagered on the result
of the coming race.
Sonnica and Vagrant rate closely to-
gether. Mr.. Shonnnrd's challenger is
a two-masted schooner Of the center
board type, measuring ia feet over all
and eighty three feet on the waterline
Her beam is twenty three feet.
Commodore Vanderbilt's Vagrant is
of the keel type, 100 feet over all and
seventy eight feet six inches on the
waterline. In beam and draft she ex-
ceeds Sonnica trifle.
The first race for the Cape May
Challenger Cup was in 1872, when it was
won by A. B. StockwelPs Dreadnaught.
In the following year j. F. Loubat's
trophy, and after that there was no
contest until 1877, when the Idler,
owned by Samuel j. Colgate, was the
winner.
In 1885 Sir Richard Sutton, an Eng
fish yachtsman, sailed his schooner
Genesta to this country, lifted the
trophy and took it back to England.
Genesta lost the cup the following year
to 1rex and in 1889 it was taken by
Wendur, owned by T. B. c. West. In
1893 the Prince of Wales afterward
King Edward VII, won the cup with his
Britannia ard for eleven years it re-
manned in royal custody.
Wilson Marshall, in 1904, took the
famous schooner Atlantic, designed by
William Gardner. to England and
brought the Cape May cup back to the
United States, where it has remained
ever since