18 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



tJAN. S3, 1891. 



successful in the 24ft. Swordflsb and the 20ft. Hornet, and she 

 would doubtless enliven the racing if built. Gossoon may be ex- 

 pected to go a little faster in her second season than in her first, 

 while Minerva is not yet beaten off the field. Hor old skippsr, 

 Capt. Chas. Barr, has found a new berth, and she herself is for 

 sale, 80 it is uncertain whether she will be raced at all, and if so, 

 how well she will be sailed. The only new boat thus far is the 

 Paine crafr, Mr. Burgess having orders for 46ft. and 30 racers, 

 but no forties, while JS'ew Yorli is building notniag at all. 



FOREIGN YACHTS IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



FOR ten years after the first races for the America's Cup, in 

 18V0-71, British yachts were unknown in American waters; 

 now and again a large steamer or schooner called at a few ports 

 in cruising, but racing yachts, and especially small craft, were 

 unknown. In 1881 Madge wa^ sent out here by Mr. Jas. Coats to 

 race with Araprican yachts, the result being now a matter of his- 

 tory. Madpe was followed by Maggie, Stranger, Ulidia, Q-enesta, 

 Clara, Galatea, Shona, Delvin, Thistle, and later by Minerva and 

 Jessica. 



Under a provision of the Revised Statutes of the Uuited States, 

 Section No. 4316, all of these yachts have been allowed the same 

 privileges as American-built craft. Including an immunity from 

 tonnage cha'-ges, whether used about the coa^tonly or on the seas. 

 In the cases of Madge and others that have been imported by 

 steamer, import duties have been collected, but in all other re- 

 spects they have been as tree as American yachts, their owners 

 in some cases flying the American yacht ensign. The exact status 

 of these vessels has never been clearly defined, but as a matter of 

 courtesy that is common among nations they have been accorded 

 the usual privileges of pleasure vessels. 



Within the past two weeks a very important bill has been intro- 

 duced in the Senate by Senator Frye, of Miine, which reads as 

 foUows: 



"A bill to regulate the rights and privilege^ of pleasure vessels 

 and yachts of foreign build and ownership.— Be it enacted by the 

 Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 

 America in Congress assembled, Tnet Section 4316 of the Revised 

 Statutes is hereoy amended by ttie addition after the word 'tax' 

 of certain provisions contained in the words following, to wit: 

 Any such vessel, however, remaining in the United States a 

 longer period than six months in any one year, or sold to or be- 

 coming the property of a citizen of the United States, or char- 

 tered from the owner, shall become subject to duties at the rate 

 of twenty dollars per gross ton, aad if navigated in the United 

 States shall become subject to a tonnage tax of one dollar per ton 

 at every port at which she may arrive. Any vessel, whether used 

 as a pleasure vessel, yacht or othervcise, and whether of foreign 

 or domestic build or ownership, not documented by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States and not otherwise provided for by law, 

 found navigating between district and district, or between diller- 

 ent places in the same district, shaU be liable to a fine of $100. 

 Any vessel not documented as a yacht of the United States, dis- 

 playing the yacht ensign prescribed by law. shall be liable to a 

 fine of $30." 



The provisions of the proposed law are plainly expressed and 

 easily understood; in the case of visiting yachts, such as Genesta, 

 Galatea and Thistle, they will be allowed to sail in American 

 waters for six months in any year, but no longer; for instance, if 

 Lieut. Henn should pay another friendly visit in Galatea, as he 

 did in 1886-7, arriving in August of the former year and staying 

 unt'l October of the latter, he would be compelled to pay duty on 

 his yacht about $1,800, and beside this a tax of $89 to $90 at every 

 port at which he called, besides being liable to a fine of $100 every 

 time he got under way. 



In the case of such yachts as Minerva, Clara and Jessica, owned 

 by Americars, not even the six months grace is allowed, but if 

 the proposed bill becomes a law these yachts will be compelled to 

 pay duty, and after that will be unable to leave their moorings. 

 Their owners will have the choice of breaking them up fortlie 

 lead and copper, or of making house-boats of them. 



The hot competition which has been carried on for years be- 



tween American and British designers will be very quickly 

 ended, not by honest victories over the British craft on the race 

 courses, but. by the cheaper and simpler process of prohibiting 

 them from sailing at fill. With Clara out of the way Anoconda, 

 though she has never beaten the cutter, can claim to be the 

 fastest of her class. In the same way anv possible danger of a 

 defeat of t^e new Burgess 46.footer by Jessica, will l>e removed. 

 Jn the 40ft. clas». as we show elsewhere tbis week, 1 he honors of 

 the year go to Mmerva, she and Goss-on being even in the races 

 in which they have met, while she has beaten all the rest of the 

 class easily. With her out of the way Mr. Bureess can safely 

 claim the supremacy in the 40ft. as well as the 46ft. class. 



The proposed bill is an admirable complement to the new deed 

 of gift; that document virtually stops racing in the larger classes 

 but stiU fails to reach the case of small yachts like Clara and 

 Minerva, which have crossed the ocean and beaten the home 

 craft. All of this is remedied by the new bill; it will still be pos- 

 sible for British yachtsmen to send their yachts over here for a 

 short time, but why should they trouble themselves to do so 

 when it is evident that Americans do not want international 

 races and have taken all possible means to protect themselves 

 from challengers in any class? 



Should the bill become a law foreign yachtsmen can place but 

 one interpretation upon it and its fellow, the new deed of gift; 

 that they are not wanted on this side and, though there are cer- 

 tain conditions under which they may come, their absence will 

 be much more precious 1 ban their presence. 



The great factor in the advance of American yachting since 

 1880 has been the continual presence and competition, often with 

 success, of the British yachts. Madge and her sisters, down to 

 Minerva, have served as models, their good points have been 

 closely copied, their bad ones have shown us what to avoid; now 

 that we have presumably learned aU that is possible from them, 

 it IS proposed to remove any danger of further defeat by prohioit- 

 mg them from racing. 



The proposed bill is an excellent one— for the pockets of Ameri- 

 can designers and builders-but it is a most unjust one to the 

 many American owners of imported yachts, who are robbed of 

 ul "Property without redress. We do not know who are behind 

 the bill, but we look for its condemnation at the hands of every 

 American yachtsman who values fairplay before any false claims 

 for national supremacy gained by barring out all rivals. 



The greatest nope for Americiin designing lies in free and un- 

 restricted competition with all nations, and not in a system of 

 protection which handicap? all rivals and restricts competition to 

 American craft alone. 



BAY OF QUINTE. 



THE alteration in the ballasting of the sloop Norah, which I 

 foreshadowed in a former letter, has been made. Seven 

 thousand pounds of lead have been taken from under the floor, 

 cast luto a keel and placed on the outside A good job has been 

 done by Mr. John Allen, our local shipwright, who has. by various 

 devices, niost sensibly strengthened the backbone of the yacht 

 and ntted it for the burden which has thus been imposed upon it. 

 This work has been done in anticipation of a challenge from the 

 Atalanta for the Fisher cup. which Mr. Bell has seeming good 

 reason tor believing that his fine craft can successfully defend. 



Nothing has as yet been done to the Atalanta; indeed, it is ques- 

 tionable it they have as yet matured their plans. Let me tell 

 them, that to have a chance of winning the Fisher cup they must 

 put their craft in better trim tt an she has ever been. 



Thus, you see, we will have some interesting races between our 

 two big ones, which are certainly the fastest yachts on fresh 

 water. 



.Apropos to the proposal at the L. Y. R. A. meeting to expel 

 the B. Q. Y.C., it seems to have been made with the object of 

 arousing to action the old standbys of our once-famous and pow- 

 erful organization, which a few years ago had the best racing 

 record of any club in the world. This once splendid organization, 

 which was the means of reviving genuine vachting on Lake On- 

 tario, was unfortunate in losing by removal some of its most use- 

 ful members; gradually dry rot set in. and now the association is, 

 It not dead, at least moribtmd. I have, however, hopes that a 

 better spirit will prevail during tlie coming season. As to the 

 indebtedness to the L. Y. R. A. the money conld be raised in half 

 an hour to-morrow morning if only some one would undertake to 

 do so— but there' s the rub. Port Tack. 



« ICE YACHTING.- On Jan. 16 the race for the Van Nostrand 

 Challenge Championship Cup of America was sailed on Orange 

 Lake, the course being 20 miles, 10 rounds of a 3 mile course. Tue 

 wind from the north, light to moderate. The starters were : 



Scud, J. Darby 1 22 43 



Windward, Chas. H'gginson i 37 28 



Lady of the Lake, Wm. Pinkney 1 28 22 



Dragon, Chas. Merritt Disabled 



Dragon led for the first 4 miles, when the clew of her mainsail 

 carried away, and she withdrew, after which Scud, the famous 

 Shrewsbury boat, won easily, as above. The judges were : Judge 

 Charles F. Brown, of the Second Division Court of Appeals ; Dr. 

 A. A. Waldron, Gardner Tan Nostrand, ex- Alderman B. B. 

 Moore and Vice Commodore Willett Kidd. 



Hufnagle : Trustees, W. L. Brigham. B. Alexander, J. Stilger, A. 

 A. Buoholz and Conrad Roth; Finance Committee, J. Langer- 

 fleld, Frank Dreschler and Rufus Darrow, Jr. ; Representatives 

 to the New York Y. R. A., R. V. Freeman, J. Stilger, and H. F. 

 Allen. 



NEW Y'ACHTS. -Mr- Burgess has an order for a 26ft. l.w.l. 

 boat for Holland. Lawley & Sou have an order for a 51ft. steam 

 launch. They have in frame the Belmont and Vanderbilt boats, 

 and will soon have the Thayer boat timbered. 



Meas., Howard Whitcomb. Executive Committee, Wm. S. Eaton, 

 Jr.. F. E. Peabody. Regatta Committee, Geo. C. Adams, W. W. 

 Keith, Geo. A. Stewart, Geo. W. Mansfield, Wm. P. Fowle Mem- 

 bership Committee, Arthur Binney, W. A. Harvey, S. W. Sleeper, 

 W. N. Merriam, J. W. Hodgkins. House Committee, P. A. Sea- 

 mans, P. M. Wood, Henry Taggard. Board of Judges, Daniel 

 Applet^n, W. N. Merriam, Fred L. Rhodes, Lawrence Whitcomb, 

 G. W. Mansfield. 



,A?9,9.^'"XN Y. C.-Offlcers 1891: Com., R. F. Sutton, sloop. 

 Mull; Vice-Com., Chas. E. Simmons, White Wings; Rear-Com., 

 9^'^: P- Lyons, Grace; Meas.. H. W. Kilbourne; Pres.. D. Reilly; 

 Sec'y, Wm. Cagger; Treas., W. H. Buck; Membership Committee, 

 A. G. Walden. Wm. Dodman and W. A. Tavlor; Regatta Com- 

 mittee, G. W. Hume, A. S. Rischofler and J.'V. P. Shields; Trus- 

 tees, E. H. Chandler. Albert Clunan, .lohn Cottier, P. H. J. Geau- 

 not, George P. Foote, E. C. Fitzgerald, Claude Berrard and R. O. 

 Hopkins. 



LYNN Y. C.-Offlcers, 1891: <^m., P. E. Baker; Vice-Com., S. L. 

 Saunders: Sec'y. P. B. NewhuU; Treas., J. W. Altwill; Meas., A. 

 W\J^^^- Directors, E. B. NewhuU, H. L. Parker, J. W. Haines, 

 E. H. Taylor, W. E. Neal. Regatta Committee, H. P. Armstead, 

 C. H. Crowell, J. H. Tutts. C. R. Cuss, E. C. Smith. Membership 

 Committee, W. A. Estes, Frank Holbrook, Arthur Putnam.— F. E. 

 Newhull, Sec'y. 



ANEW 46-FOOTER.-Mr. A. Gary Smith has just completed 

 the design for a 48f f . keel racer of about 13ft. beam and 10ft. 6in. 

 draft, a very handsome boat of the modern type, with clipper 

 stem. It is not decided whether the yaclit will he built. 



NAUTICAL MAGAZINE.-With ihe 60th volume of this stan- 

 dard periodical, beginnmg with Jan. 1891, the size of the book is 

 considerably increased. The number contains more than the 

 usual amount of practical matter concerning commerce and 

 navigation. 



ROSALIND.— Mr. C. S. Eaton's 30-footer has been sold to 

 Horace F. Smith, of Germantown, Pa. Mr. Eaton has now a new 

 65ft. steam yacht at Lawley's. 



CORINTHIAN NAVY.— The annual meeting of the Corinthian 

 Navy will be held on Jan. 27 at the Marlborough Hotel, at 8 P. M. 



MABEL F. SWIFT.-This sloop, designed by Mr. J. Borden, 

 has lately been sold to Com. Rowe, Columbia Y. C, New York. 



Anglers contemplating a trip to Florida this coming season will find it to their advantage to inspect oui 

 celebrated 



Tarpon Rods, Reels and Lines. 



The largest tarpon (184 lbs.) ever killed on a rod and reel was taken with one of our Noibwood Tarpon Rods. 

 They arc pronounced "PERFECT" by all who have used them. 



OUR NEW SOFT LINEN TARPON SNELIi IS THE BEST. 



ABBEY & IMBRIE, 



Manufacturera of every dessrlptlon of 



1 3xr Es ]F- 1 s H I isr ta.csk.il 



18 Vesey Street fFourth door from the Agtor House), New York. 



Small 'Profits. 



Quick Sales. 



TROUT FLIES. 



36 Cts. Per Doz. 



H. H. KIFFE, 



I FULTON STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y 

 Send for Catalogue. 



CHAS. I. GOODAIE, Taxidermist, 



For the past 20 years located at 93 Sudbrrs' >. . 

 win now be found at 144 Friend St., Boston, wherw 

 he will give the same personal attentioa to all 

 work intrusted to his care as formerly. 



W 



LOADED PAPER SHOT SHELLS. 



Ash your Dealer for them. 



IKToi; Sold at 



WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO., 



312 Broadway, N. Y. NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



Send for 88-page Oataloffne of Aitmn and 4iiimiiiiition. 



