652 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



prise over prejudice, of American yachtsmen over those of Europe. 

 We have once again clone the thing that nobody else dared to do, 

 and have a right to throw up our hats in a modest way, and cheer 

 for the Stars and Stripes. Here are three little yachts of 200 

 tons burden, never before more than 200 or 300 miles from land, 

 which start out in mid-winter on a race of thousands of miles. 

 They make steamer time across the Atlantic. The western wind, 

 as if anxious for the honor of America, swelled their sails from 

 Sandy Hook to the Needles, and the Henrietta, weighing her 

 anchor at one o'clock p. m., December 11, let it go again off 

 Cowes at 5:45 p. m. on Christmas, winning the race in the unri- 

 valed time of thirteen days and twenty-two hours. This astonish- 

 ing speed of a sailing vessel may be measured by the fact that the 

 vovaae was actually one day and a half less than that of the last 

 but one Cunard steamer. More than this, the Henrietta, had she 

 not been obliged to heave to for twelve hours in a heavy storm, 

 would have so badly beaten the Java that, if steamers could blush, 

 she would henceforth be a Inight crimson color. The Fleetwing 

 and the Yesta did almost as well, the one being but eight hours 

 and a quarter, and the other but nine hours and three-quarters, 

 behind the successful yacht. In a race of three thousand miles 

 neither of the losing yachts can be said to have been distanced; if 

 the Henrietta has most of the glory, her rivals have no discredit, 

 and all well deserve the smiles of Royalty and the applause of the 

 E^public. It is too early, before we know the details of the race, 

 to speculate upon the causes of the defeat of the Fleetwing and 

 the Vesta, but w^e think it probable that the Hem-ietta won the 

 race on the day when she ran 280 miles. When the yachts disap- 

 peared off Sandy Hook they were close together, and the Vesta 

 had a slight advantage in the lead. The Vesta apparently erred 

 in choosing too southerly a course, the Fleetwing one too north- 

 erly. The Henrietta, keeping the regular steamer track, owed 

 something of her success to that. Of the respective merits of the 

 yachts we need not speak, except to say that the owner of the 

 Henrietta, in announcing that he is ready to accept a challenge 

 from any Iluropean yacht, is justified by her winning in this unpre- 

 cedented time. 



The general rejoicings are sa-ldened by the loss of four men 

 from the Fleetwing, an event common enough at sea, but made 

 more impressive by contrast with the brilliancy of the race. We 

 have no doubt that the New-York Yacht Club will provide for the 



