28S 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 21, 1805. 



west by north, making it necessary to start to leeward, and the signal 

 for the course was set on the committee boat long before 11 o'clock. 



The hour for the preparatory signal, 10:50, passed, but as it appeared 

 the committee had decided to postpone the start until the course 

 was perfectly clear. At 10:55 the yacht ensign was set, indicating 

 that, the start having been postponed from the set time, the prepara- 

 tory gun would be fired in 15m. At 11:10 tbe preparatory gun was 

 fired and the firs; red ball set, but. strange to say, in place of the blue 

 peter, there flew out from the staff the code letter J. That this was an 

 error on the part of the signal man was apparent when the Signal was 

 hauled down and replaced by the blue peter, but it was none the less 

 odd that the letter J stands in the yacht code for "Leave of absence 

 granted." 



With 10m. to go, the two yachts approached the line. Defender with 

 her spinaker boom lowered to starboard, and Valkyrie slowly coming 

 up and setting her staysail. That she had no intention of racing was 

 very evident, but beyond this all was mystery, no one outside of those 

 on the committee boat having heard of the last letter. Defender 

 crossed at 11:20:24 and set her spinaker promptly. Valkyrie was 

 timed so as to cross just ahead of the 2m. handicap gun, once over the 

 line she went about, a hand went aloft and took down her racing flag, 

 and the burgee of the New York Yacht Club waR run up in its place 

 as she headed in for Sandy Hook. Soon she took a line from her tug 

 and was towed up to Bay Ridge. Oucb over the line Dafender sailed 

 away In the light air with the fleet well clear of her, though as she was 

 really not racing some curious craft ran up to have a nearer look. 

 After a time the wind shifted to the south and the spinaker came in , 

 she made the outer mark at 1:26:58 and started home on a reach, the, 

 •wind heading and finally making a beat in. Her finish was tbe signal 

 for the usual barbarous din of guns and whistles, while the attendant 

 steam yachts dressed ship. She crossed the line at 4:04:36, her elapsed 

 time being 4:43:11, and stood up for the Hook, setting a new yacht 

 ensign at her truck and another at each of her spreaders. When tbe 

 fleet passed in Valkyrie was found at anchor off Bay Ridge, apparently 

 deserted by all her crew. 



On Friday the two committees and the officers of the New York Y. 

 C.j with Mr. Iselin, were in conference through the day and evening, 

 Mr, Iselin first proposing to call off the two races of Sept. 10 and 12 

 and to resail both, and, on this proposition being rejected, proposing 

 to call off all three races and begin the contest for the Oup auew , 

 This also was rejected by the two committees as beyond their powers 

 without a meeting of the club. 



The following letter was sent to the Cup committee on Saturday, 

 and was also, with Mr. Iselin's and Lord Dunraven'B reply, and the 

 letter of Mr. Oanfleld on Sept. 12, cabled by Lord Dunraven to Sec'y 

 Grant, of the R. Y. S. 



"439 Fifth Avenue, Sept. 13.— Gentlemen: I have tbe honor to 

 acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th inst. You say my 

 letter of Wednesday night to Mr. Canfield was not handed in the New 

 York Y. C. until 1 A. M. on Thursday and was not in your hands until 

 8 A. M. of the same morning. There must, I think, be some mistake. 

 I received Mr. Canfleld's letter at 10:30 P. M. Wednesday, and my reply 

 was delivered by my own servant at the New York Club at 12:15 A. M. 

 to the club clerk. The steward or clerk in charge was called on the 

 telephone at 12:30 and was requested to find if Mr. Canfield was at the 

 Knickerbocker Club, and, if so. to deliver the letter at once. The 

 reply was that he would endeavor to find Mr. Canfield; that he had a 

 short time before left the New York Knickerbocker Club and had left 

 word that he would call at 8 A. M. to see if there was any message for 

 him. 



"The request that Mr. Canfield should not open my letter of the 10th 

 until the protest was decided was unnecessary, as the Cup committee 

 was not hearing the protest, but whether my letter of Wednesday 

 night was delivered at the New York Y. C. at 12:15 or 1 A. M , whether 

 it was in the bands of the committee at 7 or 8, and whether my letter 

 of the 10th was read at 12:30 or 2:30 P. M. appears to me to be a mat- 

 ter of minor importance. 



"What is of importance to me is to allay the unjustifiable opinion 

 implied in your letter of the 12th, that in coming to the decision con- 

 veyed to you in my letter of the 10th I went back on the agreement 

 signed by Mr. Smith and myself. You say: 



"We can only regret that the conditions that you named therein— 

 that ia, in your letter of the 10th— as absolutely necessary, should 

 not have been so presented when the agreement of terms was formu- 

 lated. 



"Permit me to observe that I named no particular conditions as in- 

 dispensable, as you will perceive on referring to my letter. I hold 

 that in any match a fair field and no favor is a condition precedent to 

 any agreement as to terms, and that failing, that any party has a per- 

 fect right to withdraw absolutely or conditionally. Articles of agree- 

 ment cannot and are not intended to lay down fixed rulete to meet 

 every imaginable contingency. Certain contingencies have arisen, as 

 you are aware. 



"Confining myself to the subject of my letter, the overcrowding, as far 

 back as last October I wrote concerning the difficulty of insuring a 

 clear course, but did not insist upon my views, because I thought the 

 persons responsible should be free to take what steps they thought 

 best. In view of the failure In that respect it might have been better 

 if, in my letter of the 10th, I had absolutely withdrawn, but my desire 

 to sail off the races was great, and I withdrew conditionally, and sug- 

 gested steps which I thought would remove the difficulty. 



"These steps were not taken and I held to my determination to sail 

 no more, ana in so acting I emphatically deny that I went back in any 

 way on the agreement as to terms. I did not know whether Messrs, 

 Canfield and Busk were officially representing the committee when 

 they came to see me at the Waldorf. 



•'I judged by their conversation that they were not, and I under- 

 stood from them that the committee had not come to definite conclu- 

 sions upon my letter. 



"I now conclude from your communication that they were officially 

 representing the committee. In that case the proposal made to me by 

 the committee was that I should withdraw from my determination ex- 

 pressed in my letter of the 10th. and should sail the third, possibly the 

 final, race on condition that sufficient room was secured at the start, 

 and that in any further races my suggestion that the dates of the 

 races and the times of starting should not be made public should be 

 carried out. 



"That proposition did not commend itself to me. Nobody has de- 

 nied the overcrowding, of course, but in any case either my complaint 

 was, in the opinion of the committee, unjustifiable, in which case I 

 could not tave agreed with them and should have withdrawn, being 

 fully convinced of the necessity, and prepared to take the full respon- 

 sibility for doing so; or it was justifiable, in which latter case the 

 committee was, I think, bound to give redress before the next race 

 was sailed. 



"I so far withdrew my letter of the 10th as to say 1 would sail the 

 third race if the committee would undertake to declare the race void 

 if in their judgment either vessel was interfered with by steamers, the 

 committee putting anybody they liked on board the yachts. I was 

 willing to leave the matter in t heir hands, stipulating only that they 

 put experienced and practical yachtsmen on Valkyrie III. 



"As far as I am concerned I have no wish to continue the discussion, 

 which you accurately describe as superfluous, and will conclude by 

 expressing regret that if any desire to resail Tuesday's race was known 

 to exist the regatta committee did not order it resailed under Article 

 10 of the New York Y. C. regulations, in which case, whatever my 

 opinion as to the cause of the foul may be, I should have been at the 

 disposal of the committee, and that the Cup committee could not see 

 its way to adopting what appears to us the simpler course of hoisting 

 the letter 'G' yesterday, and postponing the race to such time as they 

 had arrived at a definite conclusion upon my letter of the 10th inst. 



"I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, Dunraven." 



On Saturday Lord Dunraven and Mr. Kersey went to New London 

 by rail and tnere boarded Mr. F. W. Vanderbilt's steam yacht Con- 

 queror, going to Newport, where they were the guests of Mr. Vander- 

 bilt. Messrs, Oantieln and Busk were on the same train, going by rail 

 to Newport. All of the Cup committee left town on Saturday, The 

 following uotice was posted at the club house on Saturday morning: 

 "To the New York Y. C: 



"Having filed with the America's Cup committee our report on the 

 international races, we take this opportunity to state in case of in 

 quiry why the last two races were not ordered to be resailed. 



"Your committee, before taking evidence on the protest, made an 

 unsuccessful endeavor to bring about a settlement by mutual agree- 

 ment; but each contestant preferred that the protest should take its 

 course. Ttie protest filed and insisted upon must be adjudged, and a 

 decision once rendered the contest is closed. 



"As regards the resailing of the third race the regatta committee 

 had no latitude, since the new conditions demanded by Lord Dunraven 

 had been decided by the Cup committee, and therefore the race had 

 to be sailed under the original terms. 



"Respectfully The Regatta Committee.'" 



Defender waH towed to New Rochelle on Friday, gaily decorated with 

 bunting and saluted by every passing vessel. Her sails were unbent 

 and her boom unshipped. Valkyrie was towed to the Erie Basin, her 

 spars unshipped ana the work of shipping her sea rig was pushed as 

 rapidly as possible on Friday and Saturday, the intention being to sail 

 about Sept. 23 for Southampton. On Sunday her crew went up the 

 Sound as far as Oyster Bay on the City of Bridgeport. 



Returning now to the race of Tuesday, the contributory cause was 

 the ignorance of those in charge of tbe steamship Yorktown in not 

 allowing room for tbe necessary maneuvering at the line. This, in the 

 first place, compelled Defender to go to leeward, while Valkyrie was 

 able to hold her course to windward of the offending vessel. Being on 

 a vessel which was handled by yachtsmen with a due regard for the 

 rights of racing yachts, we were not in a position to see the collision, 

 being to leeward of both yachts, consequently on the wrong side; nor 



could we judge of the distance between Valkyrie and the committee 

 boat— a very important matter. It would be both unfair and foolish 

 to pass u Don the decision of the committee without knowledge of the 

 evidence before them on which they acted, and we hope that such evi- 

 dence will be made public in the report of the club. From all that we 

 have been able to learn, however, the fault lay with Valkyrie. There 

 can be no question that the fouling was unintentional on the part of 

 Captain Sycamore, who held the stick. Either he miscalculated the 

 distance by a few inches or the main sheet was not hauled in quite 

 rapidly enough; but the facts seem incontestable that while the 

 leeward vessel was closehauled, the weather one was partly free and 

 bearing down on her; and also that the weather one had room to 

 windward to clear the mark boat. The members of the two commit- 

 tees, some ten or a dozen experienced yachtsmen, were on the mark 

 boat and with a clear view of the entire maneuver; and In a most 

 favorable position to judge of the space between Valkyrie and the 

 mark boat. Their personal observation was supplemented by the 

 testimony of the principals on both yachts. 



No doubt, the collision having occurred, each party honestly believed 

 that be was in the right, and Mr. Iselin was fully justified in at once 

 setting a protest flag. Why Lord Dunraven did not also set one does 

 not appear, as it was the proper thing for him to do if he Believed that 

 Valkyrie had been fouled by Defender. 



The race having been finished, Mr. Iselin was perfectly justified in 

 demanding a judgment on his protest, as was Lord Dunraven; the 

 good intentions of the regatta committee are plainly evident, but, 

 under that strict construction of the rules which is the soul of match 

 sailing, they had no course open to them but to decide Mr. Iselin's 

 protest immediately on the evidence obtainable. This they did, and 

 as we believe justly, and with every wish to give a favorable decision 

 to Valkyrie if such could be justified in any way. Following the deci- 

 sion which exonerated him from even a technical charge of unfair 

 sailing, Mr. Iselin very generously offered to call the race off and re- 

 sail it in place of going on with tne third race of the series; but this 

 offer was declined by Lord Dunraven. 



The whole occasion has been a godsend to the writers of doggerel 

 poetry, fool lettevs and partisan comments, and much that has ap- 

 peared on both sides, especially in some of the British papers, is based 

 on a profound ignorance of yachting rules and racing usages, the few 

 and simple technical points of the case being beyond the knowledge of 

 the various writers. A collision having occurred, as alt concede, there 

 could hardly be a question that one or the other yacht was to blame; a 

 protest from one or both was perfectly proper, and one or both pro- 

 testing the issue could only be decided by the regatta committee. All 

 talk about Valkyrie having acted wrongly in crossing t he line and con- 

 tinuing the race after Defender was disabled, or of Defender haviog 

 protested after Valkyrie won, is at the best but sentimental bosh and 

 not worthy of notice. 



The following from two London papers are samples of a certain 

 class of comment which show the ignorance of the average sporting 

 writer in yachting matters: 



"The committee has not only taken Tuesday *s supposed victory from 

 the British yacht, but has given it to the American. This seems to be 

 rather sharp practice. It may be the rigor of racing law, but it is 

 hardly sport. If the umpire had done his duty he would have recalled 

 the yachts and had a fresh start. The committee's severe award 

 makes poor reciprocity for the generous treatment of the Cornell 

 crew at Henley," 



"We confess we see no reason in the decision of the committee 

 awarding the race to Defender. The foul occurred before the start- 

 ing gun was fired and before the line was crossed. Defender might 

 have backed out, but she elected to race. Had Valkyrie willfully 

 fouled Defender during the race the penalty could not have been 

 greater. The committee's explanation does not improve matters. 

 We should not be surprised if Lord Dunraven declares the rest of the 

 races off and refuses to compete again; but if he consents to con- 

 tinue, as we hope he will, Thursday's race will probably settle the 

 matter, as there Is not much doubt now that Defender is the faster 

 yacht." 



Most of the commentators assume that as the yachts had not crossed 

 the starting line, the race had not yet begun. 



The episode of the foul and protest may be considered closed with 

 Lord Dunraven's statement that he would abide by the decision of the 

 committee, whether favorable or adverse, and by his declination, after 

 the decision was made, of Mr. Iselin's offer to resail the race. 



The final act of the farce begins with Lord Dunraven's first letter, 

 which was written to the Cup committee, but sent with the proviso 

 that it was not to be opened until the protest had been decided, Lord 

 Dunraven, in spite of his experience aB yachtsman, not knowing that 

 a protest must be made to a regatta committee and no other, and de- 

 cided by the same committee. The delay with this letter— for which 

 he alone was responsible— amounted to nothing, as he was in personal 

 communication with the Cup committee as late as Wednesday even- 

 ing. The gentlemen of the two committees, who have of necessity 

 neglected their private affairs entirely for the past two weeks, were 

 engaged all of Tuesday evening and until late at night in the discus- 

 sion of the foul and protest, all of Wednesday and late into Wednesday 

 night; their main efforts being devoted to an amicable agreement be 

 which the second race could be called off and resailed. When two 

 members of the committee— one, by the way, an Englishman— finally 

 found his Lordship late on Wednesday evening, he was, by his own 

 admission, too much engaged to give attention to the very important 

 business brought up by his own letter. If, as it now appears, he had 

 already made up his mind not to sail again off New York in default of 

 pledges he knew no power on earth could give, it was his duty to have 

 notified the committee at once, whilein conference with them, in order 

 that all the arrangements for the morrow's race might be cancelled. 

 Instead of this, an hour later, just before midnight on the eve of the 

 third race, he wrote his second letter, which reached the club at 12:15 

 on Thursday morning, but was not read by the committee until 8 A.M. 



The sailing of these matches is no child's play for those concerned. 

 The Cup and regatta committees and the officers of the club are all in 

 attendance, no matter what other interests must be neglected; the ex- 

 penses of mark boats, three big and fast tugs, with attendants and 

 incidentals, cover about $1,000 per race, and the arrangements for the 

 club steamer call for much work on the part of officers and com- 

 mittees. There have been in town since the first race thousands of 

 spectators, among them yachtsmen from distant points, all eager to 

 witness the races. A few words from Lord Dunraven when the repre- 

 sentatives of the committee called on him at 9 P. M„ a positive state- 

 ment that he had no intention of starting next morning, though they 

 would have disappointed thousands, would have saved endless ex- 

 pense and annoyance to the club which has treated him so hospitably 

 and to many who have sympathized with his ill-luck even though they 

 did not wish him to win the Cup. 



There was no necessity whatever for sailing a third race after the 

 challenger had withdrawn from the contest for the Cup. The New 

 York Y. C. already holds the trophy and mast do so until it is won by 

 a challenging club; whither Defender sailed one or three races could 

 make no possible difference provided that Valkyrie did notwin three 

 races. There is something intensely Hibernian in Lord Dunraven's 

 statements that he considered it particularly civil, courageous and 

 sportsmanlike to make fools of the club, the defending yacht 

 and the spectators, by taking them out to Sandy Hook to witness such 

 a disgusting exhibition of British pluck; a racing yacht in perfect 

 trim, with flag aloft, a keen skipper at her helm and a ready crew on 

 deck, a clear course ahead of her and a worthy opponent beside her, 

 and then to see her turn tail and sail away. Even though bis griev- 

 ance had been a just one and his reasons good, no man with the in- 

 stincts of a true yachtsman would abandon such a course and such 

 an opponent, with the very conditions of smooth water and light 

 winds for which his own yacht wsb built, Had there been any sem- 

 blance of crowding at the line, or had Valkyrie started and been in any 

 way interfered witn, there would have been some excuse for abandon- 

 ing the race; but under existing circumstances there was none what- 

 ever. The Royal Yacht Squadron may thank Lord Dunraven for one 

 thing, that when ha hauled down his private signal on the line he set 

 the burgee of the New York Y. O. instead of that of the Squadron, 



No possible excuse can be made for the conduct of the attendant 

 vessels. It wa3 bad throughout, from the Yorktown down to the 

 many tugs, such as the "Official Photographers" snrt some of the 

 newspaper boats; but in this respect. Defender suffered quite as badly 

 as Valkyrie. The evil is a serious one, and Impossible of remedy, but 

 nothing new; Lord Dunraven was perfectly familiar with it la 1803 

 when it was worse, if possible, than this year, as every effort has been 

 made in the present case to exercise some control. So much was 

 Baid, however, over Tuesday's race, and the vessels were so far from 

 the line on Thursday, that there i3 every probability that there would 

 have been no interference whatever had Valkyrie started. 



So far as appears from the two letters, Lord Dunraven's demands 

 were in the first place a transferral of tbe races to some other place, 

 preferably Marblehead; and secondly, a guarautee from the committee 

 that the race should be called off should either vessel be interfered 

 with. The second proposal is hardly worthy of serious consideration; 

 no committee would accept such a responsibility; as, after a race had 

 been fairly won by one vessel, it mighr, be compelled to declare it off 

 on account of some immaterial interference witn the other. The pro- 

 posal is only on a par with others made by Lord Dunraven at various 

 times since 1880. 



After agreeing long ago to the refusal of the Cup committee to 

 remove tbe races from New York and coming here to sail, the insist- 

 ence on Marblehead is in rather questionable taste; but, apart from 

 that, the question is important enough to discuss on its merits, as it 

 has engaged the attention of the British papers. For the benefit of 

 those who are as unfamiliar with the geography of the Atlantic coast 

 as Lord Dunraven appears to be, we would state in the first place that 

 he Cup races of 1895, like those of 1893, have not been sailed on New 



York Bay, as is intimated in Lord Dunraven's first letter, but on the 

 broad Atlantic, starting from a point seven miles offshore and in deep 

 water, the course itself being unexceptionable. The distance from 

 New York city is twenty-two nautical miles, and as the tides are 

 strong in the channels about the Hook, and there are no available har- 

 bors near, very few small yachts venture outside of Sandy Hook. 

 With all the immense fleet of vessels there were but one or two as 

 small as 30ft. and none smaller. The yachts were described by some 

 papers as sailing In the second race through an immense fleet of cat- 

 boats, but they were only some fishing skiffs anchored off Galilee, too 

 few to interfere with the racing. 



The much-vaunted Marblehead course is a very fine one, on Massa- 

 chusetts Bay, practically the open sea— as a sailing ground neither 

 better nor worse than off the Hook. The starting point of the East- 

 ern Y. C. course, Half -Way Rock, is within twenty-one nautical miles 

 of the city of Boston; not so large a town as New York, it is true, but 

 still quite a place, and with several railways joining it to other parts 

 of the country. The yachtsman from Chicago, Minneapolis, Buffalo, 

 Cleveland, Toronto or Montreal who starts to see the Cup races can 

 reach Boston as quickly and as cheaply as New York, and when he 

 arrives there will find some of the SBme steamers awaiting his three or 

 five dollars, with many of the Eastern coasting and local passenger 

 fleet. If international races are sailed, Americans are going to see 

 them, whatever the cost; and where passengers are to be had at good 

 prices there will the steamers be, whether at Marblehead, Newport or 

 New York. 



The Bteamer and tug evil would be quite as bad at Marblehead as at 

 New York, but it would be nothing to another disadvantage which 

 does not exist at the latter port. Massachusetts Bay is the center 

 of the largest fleet of small yachts in American waters. The com- 

 bined fleets of the Hudson River, New York Bay and the Sound 

 cannot compare in numbers, in the sizes below 30ft., with the 

 many clubs between Provincetown and Gloucester. Marble- 

 head is the favorite rendezvous of this multitude of small sloops 

 and catboats, and on the occasion of a big regatta they may 

 be counted by hundreds. We have seen them in such crowds on the 

 occasion of Mayflower's first race in 1886, and again when Bhe met 

 Galatea off Marblehead a year later, that it was dangerous and almost 

 impossible for the racing craft to cross the line. These small craft are 

 in the main staunch and sturdy little fellows, manned by experienced 

 yachtsmen and quite capable of going a dozen miles or so offshore if 

 necessary to follow a race. With them are fishermen , small and large, 

 and other working craft. In the event of a great international race off 

 Marblehead the crush of vessels, small and large, would be infinitely 

 worse than anything yet seen outside of Sandy Hook. Lord Dunraven 

 has never been to Marblehead, and in particular has never witnessed a 

 race there; his knowledge of the place is derived from one or two Bos- 

 ton papers which have been anxious to take the Cup races from New 

 York, and there is no possible reason why his demand for the change 

 should have been acceded to by the committee either last week or last 

 winter. What ia true of Marblehead is equally true of Newport, ex- 

 cept that the Newport course is inferior; there would still be crowds 

 of small boats and all the New York steamers and tugs. If there were 

 any reason to believe that these important matches could be sailed 

 without interference off Marblehead or Newport, or Norfolk or Port- 

 land, we should be glad to see the change made, but no such reason 

 has yet been given. If the races are to be sailed without a large at- 

 tendant fleet, but two courses are possible, to go to some distant point 

 such as the Labrador coast, in which case probably a few large ocean 

 steamers would follow, or to he off Sandy Hook and go out unawares 

 with no previous notice. Even in this latter case there would be the 

 newspaper tugs and the steam yachts. 



Lord Dunraven's refusal to sail more races over the New York 

 course is the less reasonable from the fact that he has been here before 

 and knew exactly what to expect, and also that he has sailed at home 

 under conditions slightly different, but no less dangerous and trying. 

 Only last year his yacht was sunk under him through the crowding of 

 outside vessels about the starting line in the Clyde, and in the regu- 

 lar matches at Cowes, Torquay and on the C^yde the racers are com- 

 pelled to sail not once but several times in each race through large 

 fleets of yachts and vessels at anchor, something absolutely unknown 

 In this country. 



The preliminaries to the present rapes were arranged long ago, 

 almost all possible points requested by Lord Dunraven being agreed 

 to by the New York Y. 0. Knowing well the waters and conditions 

 about New York, his lordship entered into an agreement to sail a 

 series of races there under fixed conditions. This agreement, as he 

 himself has testified, has been fully carried out on its side by the New 

 York Y. O, and yet he has broken it and attempted to make entirely 

 new conditions, withdrawing in a pique because they have not been 

 acceded to almost before they were known to the committee. Had he 

 taken the trouble to meet the committee personally on Wednesday 

 and submitted his ultimatum to them in time for the stoppage of 

 Thursday's race, or, failing this, had he crossed the line on Thursday 

 and sailed until some grounds were given for his withdrawal, he might 

 have made out a case; but his unbusinesslike and vacillating conduct, 

 and the manner in which his various communications have been 

 dispatched to the committee, have placed him in a very bad position. 



From the time of the withdrawal of Valkyrie on Thursday morning, 

 many offers have been made of valuable prizes for special races 

 between her and Defender, or even with Vigilant. Col. Chas. H. 

 Taylor, of Boston, at once telegraphed to Messrs. Iselin and Dunraven: 



'•Owing to the unsatisfactory conditions which seem to exist off 

 New York for a contest of such magnitude as you are engaged in, I 

 hereby offer a §5,000 international challenge cup to be sailed for by the 

 Defender and Valkyrie in. off Marblehead; cup to be called the 

 'Massachusetts Bay Cup.' In case of acceptance, conditions can be 

 arranged at once." 



The replies were: 



Charles E. Taylor, Editor Globe, Boston: 



Many thanks for generous offer. I must decline at present to sail 

 Valkyrie. C. Oliver Iselin. 



Brooklyn, Sept. 13. 



Gen, Chas. H. Taylor: 



Mr. Kersey telephoned that the Valkyrie is being dismantled and 

 that Lord Dunraven has made no formal reply to the proposition. 



The Atlantic Y. C. at once took up the question of arranging a race 

 for a $5,000 prize, and a cup of $1,000 was offered by the Roberts 

 Safety Watertube Boiler Co. Other offers have been made of liberal 

 prizes for races over any course, but Lord Dunraven ordered the yacht 

 stripped and refitted for sea at once. 



James D. Smith, chairman, and J. Fred. Tarns, secretary of the 

 America's Cup committee, met on Tuesday and with the authority of 

 the other members of the committee made public the letters which 

 passed between Lord Dunraven and Mr. Iselin in regard to resailing 

 the America's Cup races between Defender and Valkyrie IH, 



After the meeting Com. Smith said to an Evening Post reporter: 

 "The letter first submitted from Mr. Iselin explains itself. I do not 

 know where to apply to Lord Dunraven to get a copy of Mr. Iselin's 

 letter offering to resail the protested race of Sept. 10, but the follow- 

 ing correspondence shows the facts, as his (Mr. Iselin's) letter of 

 Sept. IS also Bhows the fact of his desire to resail the last two races, 

 Sept. 10 aud 12, or failing in this, to sail the whole match over, which 

 was surely most magnanimous and liberal on Mr. Iselin's part: 



Sept. 16, 1895 —Dear Mr. Smith: I inclose copies of Dunraven's two 

 letters to me; unfortunately I did not keep a copy of the short note I 

 sent him about resailing Tuesday's race, but as he has my permission 

 to publish it you can of course obtain a copy from him. 



I consider it most unfortunate that we could not have devised some 

 way whereby the last two races could have been resailed. I still hold 

 that if Dunraven and myself had both consented to have those races 

 resailed, the committee could have bo ordered without in any way af- 

 fecting their position. Now, of course, it is too late to do anything, 

 and all that I ask is that my offers be fully set forth in the report of 

 your committee— namely, my hailitig at tne time of the start and the 

 finish of last race; my asking for a meeting of the committee the next 

 day ; my offer to resail both races, and my willingness to begin the 

 whole matter over under any conditions and at any place and time 

 agreeable to Dunraven. Very truly yours, C. Oliver Iselin. 



[Inclosures.] 



439 Fifth Avenue, Sept. 11, 1895.— Dear Mr. Iselin: I have received 

 your note in which you express a wish that yesterday's race should be 

 resailed. 



That is a proposition to which, of course, I cannot agree. You 

 would not have protested had you not believed that Valkyrie had 

 caused a foul by committing a breach of the rules. 



If she did she must take the consequences. 



The regatta committee has decided, for reasons according to their 

 best judgment, but which, I confess, are beyond my comprehension, 

 that Bhe did break the rules. I made noprotest, and beoause I thought 

 the foul was probably accidental, but I consider that Defender caused 

 it. You consider that Valkyrie was to blame. The committee have 

 decided that you are right and I am wrong, and there the matter ends. 



Yours very truly, Dunraven, 

 Thursday, Bay Ridge. 



Dear Mr. Iselin: I certainly could not entertain your suggestion. 



Had the committee ordered the race to be resailed that would have 

 been a different matter, but how could I possibly agree to resail a 

 race decided and given against me by the decision of the committee y 



I wrote you last night to thiB effect, and am sorry you did not re- 

 ceive my letter. I had no opportunity of communicating with you 

 this morning, but Mr. Duryea will, I dare say, have informed you as 

 to my views. Thanking you for your suggestion, I remain, 



Yours vary truly, Ddnjuvkn, 



t 



