YACHTING IN 1901. 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOC. 803 



first laurels in British waters, while Capt. 

 Rhodes, who commanded the Constitution, is a 

 native-born American. There was wide-spread 

 patriotic dissatisfaction over the selection of 

 Capt. Barr to defend the cup in 1899, and many 

 Americans still feel that they would rather suffer 

 defeat with a Yankee skipper at the helm than 

 win the day with a foreigner. The sentiment is 

 not altogether to be deprecated, considering the 

 peculiar international rivalries inseparable from 

 the contest, but Capt. Barr has certainly justi- 

 fied the confidence that was placed in his profes- 

 sional skill, and a great many competent judges 

 are disposed to rank him as really the most skil- 

 ful sailing-master alive for craft of this particular 

 character. 



During their preliminary trial both the Sham- 

 rock and the Constitution were totally dismasted 

 under weather conditions that should not have 

 troubled vessels of their class, and the race had 

 to be postponed in consequence. A further post- 

 ponement followed the assassination of President 

 McKinley out of consideration for the period of 

 national mourning that followed. It was not 

 until Sept. 28 that the first race was sailed. As 

 has always been the case in cup races, there was 

 but little wind on some of the specified days, so 

 that the course could not be covered within the 

 prescribed time. The conditions called for the 

 best three races out of five, and the Columbia, as 

 stated in the above table, won three of them. 

 In the third and last race the Shamrock was 

 actually in the lead at the finish, but by so nar- 

 row a margin that her rival, the Columbia, won 

 on time allowance, a fact that can not but de- 

 tract from the triumph of the victory in popular 

 esteem, though the technical justice of the de- 

 cision is unquestionable. It would certainly seem 

 that in a contest of such importance modern sci- 

 ence should be able so to match the boats that 

 they might at least be in one class together, and 

 might race on equal terms. 



Upon the whole, the cup was retained in 1901 

 by a margin so very narrow that the anticipated 

 repetition of the contest in 1903 is looked forward 

 to with increased interest. Sir Thomas Lipton 

 has formally challenged for the third time, and as 

 a last resort has engaged the services of the two 

 most brilliant and experienced builders in the 

 British Islands Messrs. Watson and Fife who, 

 though they are traditional rivals, are apparently 

 on sufficiently good terms to work together where 

 they consider that the honor of British yachting 

 is at stake. 



It was announced early in the summer that the 

 Emperor of Germany had ordered designs for a 

 large schooner-yacht from A. Gary Smith, a naval 

 architect of proved ability and a painter of marine 

 subjects, well known among the older generation 

 of New York artists. In due time the plans 

 received the Emperor's approval, and the order 

 to build was placed with the Townsend-Downey 

 Ship-Building Company, of Shooters Island, near 

 Elizabethport, N. J. The Emperor has long been 

 known as an enthusiastic sailing yachtsman, 

 having owned several of the best English-built 

 craft, and having taken part personally in many 

 famous regattas. That he should have chosen 

 American designers and builders is certainly a 

 very high compliment, and shows that he has 

 intelligently watched the performances of our 

 cruising yachts. If he had wanted a racing- 

 machine like the cup contestants, he might, not 

 unnaturally, have placed his order in England, 

 but he appears to have an innate love for true 

 seamanship and cruising for its own sake. The 

 reputation of American seagoing schooners was 



well known to him, arid is a sufficient explana- 

 tion of his choice without socking for an ulterior 

 political motive. The Emperor's brother, Prince 

 Henry, was present at the launching of the yacht, 

 and at the Emperor's request President Roosevelt 

 permitted his daughter Alice to name the vessel 

 with due ceremony, following the traditional 

 practise on such occasions. 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 

 TION. The English Year-Book, Of All the Na- 

 tions, published by the National Council, eon- 

 tains a comprehensive survey of the Young Men's 

 Christian Association in all countries. The re- 

 turns for Great Britain show 1,471 centers of 

 work, with 103,420 members, and property in 

 buildings owned to the value of 626,495. In 

 1890 the numbers were: 609 centers, 76,161 mem- 

 bers, and buildings valued at 326,746. The num- 

 bers for the whole world were 7,207 centers, 536,- 

 916 enrolled members, and buildings estimated 

 at 5,000,000 in value. These figures show an 

 increase since the publication of the last previous 

 Year-Book of 509 centers and more than 30,000 

 members. For several years past more than 100 

 young men encouraged and primarily trained 

 by the associations of the English union alone 

 had each year entered the Christian ministry or 

 the foreign mission field. 



The International Convention of the Young 

 Men's Christian Association, being the fiftieth or 

 " Jubilee " convention for the United States, was 

 held in Boston, Mass.,. June 11 to 17. The pro- 

 ceedings partook largely of the character of a re- 

 view of the history of the association from its 

 foundation in London by Mr., now Sir George, 

 Williams, in 1844, and especially from its institu- 

 tion in the United States, and of its work to the 

 present time. The first Young Men's Christian 

 Associations in North America were organized in 

 Montreal, Canada, Dec. 9, and in Boston, Mass., 

 Dec. 29, 1851, independently and without the 

 participants of either having knowledge of what 

 the others were doing, upon the suggestion of 

 information of the work of the association 

 abroad. The idea was quickly taken up in other 

 cities, and associations were rapidly formed in 

 the United States as well as in foreign coun- 

 tries. The first International Conference of As- 

 sociations of all lands was held in Paris, France, 

 in 1855, when the basis of the organization was 

 defined in the v following terms: "The Young 

 Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those 

 young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as 

 their God and Saviour, according to the Holy 

 Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their doc- 

 trine and in their life, and to associate their efforts 

 for the extension of his kingdom among men." 

 The work of the American associations was at 

 first not well defined, and included much that was 

 done by other well-organized societies, till at the 

 convention held in Albany, N. Y., in June, 1866, 

 the principle was laid down as governing their 

 operations of work " by young men for young 

 men" primarily religious work, but to which 

 other forms of work have been added from time to 

 time as accessory to it. Of these are libraries and 

 reading-rooms, social privileges, gymnasia, with 

 provisions often for systematic physical culture, 

 harmless games, and free instruction in various 

 branches of learning, chiefly with practical ends 

 in view; in short, the culture of the whole man 

 with the main end always in sight of promoting 

 his religious and moral development. The whole 

 American work has now been placed under the 

 supervision of an international committee, with 

 State committees organized under the resolution 

 of the Albany Convention of 1866, and district 



