YACHTING DURING THE PAST 241 



tion of the sum of half-a-sovereign recovered the lost trophy, 

 with which, safely stowed away in her lockers, the Hornet got 

 up sail and made all haste towards Yarmouth. When the 

 crew of the Maria heard of this their anger rekindled, and 

 they also crowded on every stitch of canvas possible, with a 

 view to overtaking the Hornet and renewing hostilities, but the 

 latter boat had obtained such a good start that she was never 

 overtaken, although she received some little damage from a 

 few volleys of stones which the partizans of the Maria hurled 

 at her when passing Horning Village on Sir Jacob Preston's 

 estate. In those happy days of yore sport on the Broads 

 hardly seems to have been confined to yacht-racing pure and 

 simple. 



The chief antagonists of the Maria were the Red Rover 

 and the Pearl, both very much larger vessels; the smaller 

 boats refused to enter against her on the ground that it was 

 useless for them to do so. 



In 1839 the Maria beat the Red Rover at Oulton Broad, at 

 Wroxham in 1842 (including the Pearl), at Great Yarmouth in 

 1843, and ao'ain at Wroxham on a later date. The Red Rover 



C? 



was known throughout England as a racer. She was the winner 

 of over 120 cups, and will be more particularly referred to later. 



After 1850 the Maria was not regularly raced, but she 

 attended all regattas, and so good was the workmanship and 

 material expended on her that her only repairs worthy of the 

 name for fifty years consisted of a new stem, two or three 

 planks, and one new suite of sails. In 1897 her absence from 

 W T roxham Regatta was commented upon for the first time in 

 sixty years, yet in spite of all her wear and tear she was 

 considered as good and as sound as ever. 



The Maria being lateen - rigged, her mainmast was 

 stepped just abaft the midship section, and it is a fact well 

 worthy of notice that when her lines were taken off in 1885 

 her displacement was found to be in accordance with the then 

 latest theory of Mr Colin Archer as to what is the best form 

 for speed. 



It is remarkable to be able to record that in 1887 the 



Q 



