316 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. i4, iSgp- 
Brunswick Fox Triak. 
The eleventh annual field trial of fox hourids will be 
held at Earre, Mass., Oct. 17-20. The Derby, open to 
all fox hounds whelped on or after Jan. i, 1898, will be 
run on Tuesday, Oct. 17. Entries will close at 10 P. M., 
Oct. 16. The entry fee is $2. The All-Age Stake will 
be run on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18, 
19, 20, and is open to all fox hounds. Entries close at 
TO P. M., Oct, 17. The entry fee is $3. 
The trials will be judged by Messrs. Eugene Brooks, 
T. H. Van Dorn, C. J. Prouty and Bradford S. Turpin. 
All fox hunters are invited to be present and enter 
their hounds. Shooting at foxes driven by hounds en- 
tered in the trials will not be permitted, but those sports- 
men who desire to hunt in New England style will be 
allovv'ed to do sO ori grounds distant from those selected 
for the trials. Bradford S. Turpin, Sec'y- 
SoxBtiKY, Mats. 
The America Cup. 
Columbia and Shamrock. 
The contest now on for the possession of the America 
Cup is remarkable, as compared with all previous matches, 
for the many surprises and contradictions which it pre- 
sents. To say nothing of the many professional writers, 
expert and otherwise, the opinions of recognized experts 
among designers, sailing masters and practical amateur 
yachtsmen as to dimensions, merits of design, probabilities 
of success under different conditions, and actual positions 
and performances in the races differ so greatly as to indi- 
cate that all are equally at sea. It is doubtful whether so 
ntuch has ever been written concerning any previous 
race, and it is certain that there has never been so large 
a proportion of the criticism, description and comments 
that is incorrect, misleading or entirely false. 
The conditions of news-gathering have never been so 
unfavorable as at the present time. Until very recent 
years the fleet of Cup defenders has been visible while 
under construction, and even when exact dimensions have 
been concealed it has been possible for writers and yachts- 
ihen to see the yachts while building, and to study them 
in such a way as to arrive at some intelligent and sensible 
conclusions. After the yachts were launched they were 
docked at intervals during the season, and even the Cup 
challengers were docked publicly some time before the 
races. In most cases the yachts were hauled out on 
marine railways (many of them were docked on the old 
Screw Docks on South street, New York), where they 
could be seen readily from all sides. As the result of the 
consequent inspection, description and discussion, a fairly 
accurate knowledge of the characteristics of each yacht 
was current before the date of the races. When the races 
came off, the representatives of the leading papers were 
carried on the committee steamer, where they were in the 
best possible position for viewing the yachts, and where 
they knew in advance the various details of the day's 
work, the causes of delays and postponements, the courses 
as finally decided on, and such other points as are ab- 
solutely indispensable to a thorough understanding of 
the race from the start. 
At the present time the dimensions and details of design 
of each yacht are guarded with the utmost secrecy, and 
the yachts themselves are as far as possible hidden from 
view. The fact that no one can confidently convict them 
bj' presenting the true figures is taken advantage of by 
many dislionest and unscrupulous writers to present 
dimensions and even alleged designs which are false in 
every way and which lead to serious miscomprehensions 
on the part of those who are unwary or credulous enough 
to put faith in them. While some actual facts are pub- 
lished, they are so mixed in with errors and falsehoods 
that it is impossible to distinguish them. As it is to-day, 
any paper which wishes to make a pretense of publishing 
the news of the Cup yachts during their construction must 
either organize a very, costly and perfect detective system 
or must resort to bold and audacious fakes. 
When the time comes for launching it is possible to see 
a certain part of the hull, even of the underwater body, 
but only for a moment, and under the most disadvan- 
tageous conditions. The topsides are, of course, revealed 
and free even to the camera after the yacht is fairly 
launched, but the bottom remains a mystery up to the last 
days preceding the races. When, of necessity, the yachts 
are finally docked, the work, owing to their great draft, 
can be done only in two or three places ; if at New York, at 
the Erie Basin Drydocks and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 
It is practically impossible to exclude the public from 
either place, and though all cameras are rigidly pro- 
hibited at the private docks and to a certain extent in the 
Navy Yard, the ever alert photographers have managed to 
secure many and some A^ery good pictures. 
The viev,- of the yachts, however, as seen in a large dry- 
dock, is most unsatisfactory and deceptive. In both 
docks orilv those immediately connected with the yachts 
or the docks were allowed below, and the many thousands 
who jotirneyed to Brooklyn carrie away either disappointed 
or mistaken. In each case the yacht, Columbia or Sham- 
rock, lay well down in a deep, narrow dock, her deck 
below the level of the surrounding ground. The topsides, 
the s^^eer and the keel contour M^ere plainly visible, but 
verv little more of the form. As soon as possible after the 
docks were dry the j-^chts were surrounded with paint 
stages, vvhich interfered greatly with the view, but even 
before the staging was in place it was impossible to see 
anvthing of the trtie form of the bilge and midship section 
below water. It was amusing to hear the opinions of 
i4i>n i who really - are experts, as they described and 
criticised the bilge, deadrise and hollow of one boat, and 
compared therm with the same parts of the other, some- 
times illustrating their opinions bj^ sketches of the two 
sections. After looking at the two for hours, studying as 
far as possible the form of each as compared with the 
previoits work and known methods of each designer, and 
then listening to the diametrically onnosite opinions of 
nien who should be capable of describing and, criticising 
the points of a model, we are firmly of the ooinion that 
even the "best judges have been completely deceived in 
their opinions as to the true form of each yacht and 
the value of each of her special features as compared 
with those of the other. As to ourselves, we frankly 
confess we are still in the dark as to the real points of 
difference in the midship sections of Columbia and Sham- 
rock, as well as to the respective displacements, though it 
seems that Shamrock is materially greater. Taking the 
upper portions of the hulls, as seen fairly well from the 
dock wall, and better when the yachts are afloat, that of 
Columbia speaks for itself, as to the admirable combina- 
tion of length, power and clean form. As to Shamrock, 
whose whole upper body has been freely criticised as hard, 
blunt, unfair and amateurish, we are willing l.> trust 
more to what we really know of Mr. Fife's work for the 
past twenty years in numerous successful yachts tlian to 
the impression thus received. It is evident even from 
Shamrock's performance thus far that the great difl erence 
ascribed by many of the more expert critics to her as cr^.m- 
pared Avith that of Coltimbia does not really exist. The 
fact seems to be that even the most expert critics are 
not yet educated up to a point where they can fairly e-t'- 
' mate the points of design, actual or relatiA'e, of a modern 
90-footer, when confronted with these great machines for 
the first time, and under unfavorable conditions ; and 
that their opinions are not to be accepted as conclusive. 
When it comes to the actual races, while the club ex- 
tends the courtesy of its members' steamer to the repre- 
sentatives of the principal papers, they are no longer car- 
ried on the committee boat, the one place from Avhich it is 
• possible to view the race to advantage with a thorough 
knowledge of all the conditions. The view from any 
large steamer, however well handled, is most unsatis- 
factory as a basis for an accttrate and critical report. 
Even when the vessel herself is well berthed in the big 
fleet, Avhich is sometimes impossible, it often happens that 
the crowd on board is too great to admit of free move- 
ment, and at an important point of the race, such as the 
start and turn, one may be caught on the wrong side of 
the ship, with a fine view of tugs, steamers and steam 
yachts, but far from the two racers. So far as the 
aA^erage spectator is concerned, there are many steamers 
which give a good general vieAV of the race from start to 
finish, except when some other boat intervenes at times; 
but when it comes to Avatching every move of the yachts 
for five or six hours, Avithout missing a detail of the 
handling and maneuvering, and from a position in Avhich 
the relation of the two can be fairly estimated, the best of 
the steamers are very unsatisfactory. In many cases 
the daily papers employ their own tugs, but these, of 
course, are kept well within the guard lines, and from 
their Ioav decks but a limited view is possible at a 
distance of scA'eral miles, even though they are fast enough 
to make the most of their opportunities. From any out- 
side boat, whether tug or big steamer, it is difficult to 
catch and read the course signals so as to know at the 
start where the yachts are going, and it is almost im- 
possible to tell the distance, much less the time, at the line. 
It is, of course, impossible to carry on any one boat the 
vast army of reporters, photographers, pigeon fanciers, 
telegraphers, cinematescopists, viatagraphers and others 
engaged in the gathering of news, but if it is desired that 
these great races shall be adequately and faithfully re- 
ported both for the information of the many here and 
abroad who are unable to see them, and as a matter of 
history, some provision should be made as in former 
years to carry a limited number of reporters on the com- 
irnittee boat, where they can know what is to be done and 
see what actually is done. 
One of the many surprises of the week, and a most 
disagreeable one, came with a record of "three straight" 
on Saturday night. Some have confidently predicted, as 
in former years, "three straight races" for Columbia; a 
few have ventured to forecast the same for _ Shamrock ; 
but no one went so far as to predict the disappointing 
reality of "three straight" flukes for the first week, three 
October days with hardly the shadow of a breeze. Tues- 
day, Thursday and Saturday the result was the same — ^the 
two yachts Avent out in as perfect condition as was ever 
known in any race, the great fleet of torpedo boats, 
revenue cutters, ocean steamers, Sound and river boats, 
tugs, steam yachts and CA-en a few sailing yachts, followed 
over the long course from the city to the lightship, rolled 
around all day, and came in at night tired and disap- 
pointed with the same story of "No race." 
The work of the three days is not of sufficient im- 
portance to call for a long detailed story, but it may be 
better summarized in comparatively fcAV Avords. In one 
sense it Avas most satisfactory, as it was in a measure so 
indecisiA^e that each side was able to take unlimited con- 
solation from the superior performance of its favorite 
boat. While there were some situations so plain that it 
is hard to understand how they can be denied, there were 
times without number when it was a matter of honest 
doubt as to Avhich yacht was doing the better work and 
Avhich Avas ahead. There are so many uncertainties and 
possibilities in the problem as it noAV stands that it woidd 
be safer and perhaps Aviser to reserve all positive opinions 
and conclusions for another week, or until one or two 
races have been sailed; but even at the risk of having to 
revise our opinions, -we shall venture to set doAvn several 
conclusions. 
The present defender of the America Cup may fairly 
be taken as the one great standard in yachting the world 
OA'er ; she represents the result of the experience of rnany 
successful designers and owners in previous international 
battles, notably of the late Fdward Burgess and General 
Paine: and more directly the wonderful work of Mr. 
Herreshoff in the production of Vigilant and Defender, 
and of- Mr. Iselin in the general management of the Cup 
defense in these yachts. In her now unquestioned su- 
periority over Defender. Columbia represents the best 
that America is capable of. the result of nearly half a 
century of international supremacy in j'achting and of 
twenty years of most marvelous orogress and eA^olution. 
In tvpe she is a semi-fin, as adopted by common consent by 
both nations- in design and construction she is, detail by 
detail, an imorovement on Defender. Her canvas was 
made by the Herreshoffs. as was that of Defender, and it 
has been considered to represent the best American prac- 
tice. Her crew is composed of precisely the same ma- 
terial, prepared in the same Avay, as in Defender, the Deer 
Isle fishermen, trained to yacht work by a season of hard 
drill. The management of the yacht is directlv in the 
hands of her matiaging owner, Mr. Iselin, assisted by Mr. 
N. G. Herreshofif, as was the case in Vigilant and De- 
fender; certainly a combination that it would be hard to 
equal from the ranks of American yachtsmen. Her 
skipper, though of Scotch birth, has grown up in this 
country, making a place for himself by hard work and 
skillful sailing at the top of his profession. What- 
ever may be said of the handling of Columbia, for which 
he is only in part responsible, no one has questioned his 
skill as skipper of Minerva, Gloriana, Wasp, Vigilant and 
Colonia in many seasons of hard racing. 
In comparing the two boats it may be said of Shamrock 
that she has decidedly the better sails throughout. Mr. Rat- 
sey's work is as good to the boat as it is beautiful to 
look at. Both boats have been well handled; the weather 
has been of that trying sort when the best of skippers may 
differ as to what sail to set or what course to take at any 
particular time, the only test of each man's skill being the 
final success or failure of his maneuver. Columbia has 
been sailed much as her predecessors, carefully and skill- 
fully ; with light and shifting winds and cairn spots on 
either hand, she has taken th,e tisual chances, and some- 
times has been caught becalmed, but on the whole her 
work has been good. Shamrock has been much better 
sailed than any English yacht seen here for some years; 
the odd combination on board of her seems to Avork re- 
markably well ; she has been sailed steadily from the 
start, as carefully as small yachts, making the most of 
every change in the Avind and with sheets carefully and 
skillfully handled. The steering, the sail setting and the 
trimming have all been well done. While she is far ahead 
of her predecessors in these matters, the maneuvering 
has been a great surprise to American and Canadian 
yachtsmen. Twice in particular she has broken tacks and 
left Colunibia after catching and leading her, and she has 
indulged iit some A'agaries of canvasing, as in starting 
dOAvn wind with a baby jibtopsail, the other yacht carry- 
ing a ballooner, that are extraordinary to the American 
mind. 
Taking the actual work of the two, there has been a 
great deal of drifting, in Avhich no comparison was pos- 
sible ; a great deal of rank fluking, one lying becalmed while 
the other held a nice breeze; and some reaching of an 
indecisive sort. What sailing there has been under even 
conditions has been Avith booms squared or dead lo 
AvindAvard, in all cases with a very light wind, and with 
more or less roll to the sea. Off the wind the two are 
very even ; it Avill take more trials in a long steady run 
under proper canvas to show which is the faster. The one 
point most plainly in evidence after the three days is the 
superiority of Shamrock to AvindAvard in a light breeze and 
smooth water or a moderate roll of sea. At this game 
she can leave Columbia, slowly it is true, but so steadily 
and surely that it is hard even for those who wish to do 
so to deny it. The resrllt oft" the Avind is so nearly even 
and on the wind is so clearly in Shamrock's favor that it 
seems certain she Avill win in a fair Avindward and leeward 
race in Avhich they can cOA'er the course in five or even five 
and one-half hours. 
After being told with more or less authority during the 
last few months Avhat Shamrock is and is not, the partial 
trials thus far are confusing to the experts and amusing 
to others. It was natural to assume that she was of prac - 
tically 90ft, l,w,l, ; any yacht designed for the Cup to-day 
•naturally would be. The measurer's tape, applied under 
the Avatchful eyes of Mr, Herreshoff and Mr. H. F. Lip- 
pitt, shoAved her to be 89ft, Sin, The master mind which 
can predict a Avinner on the basis of a difference in the 
fourth decimal place in a coefficient appears to have been 
wrong in this case by over 2ft. The hull, which has been 
so roundly criticised, with its unfair boAv, hard blunt 
lines, lack of length when heeled, and heavy quarters, is 
somehoAV capable of being driven as fast in light winds as 
the longer and fairer form of Columbia. There has been 
no question among experts that the rig is all wrong; the 
sail plan shows the long baseline and the short perpen- 
dicular Avhich has on this side been proved inferior, 
especially in very light weather, to the lofty and narrow 
rig; and Avith the mast far aft, the forestay brought out- 
board to the stemhead, as in the old cutters, an excessive 
area of head triangle and a particularly larger staysail, it 
has been asserted that Shamrock could not do good work 
to windward, though she might reach. Thus far there 
has been no reaching to speak of, but she has done clean 
good windward work alongside a yacht of known quality. 
The experts who followed the yacht day after day on 
every trial under sail Avere agreed on several points. It 
was conceded that she was fast on a reach, but off the wind 
she Avas particularly slow and sluggish for a 90-footer, 
and at all times she sucked after her a huge quarter wave 
that held her back. In the running thus far she is at 
least the equal of Columbia, Avhile the quarter wave ap- 
parently pushed quite as much as it pulled. 
The story of the loan, as it was reported, of the noted 
English skipper, Ben Parker, by the Emperor of Germany 
to Sir Thomas Lipton has been told, retold and officially 
contradicted throughout the season, and at last partly for- 
gotten. Somehow or other, Capt. Parker turned up in 
New York on Sept. 30, slipping in unobserved while all 
the town was busy over Admiral Dewey, and he has been 
on the yacht CA^er since, acting in conjunction with Cap- 
tains Hogarth and Wringe. The exact_ details of the 
management of the yacht are unknoAvn, Sir Thomas Lip- 
ton does not sail in her, but folloAVS on Erin, Mr, Fife, 
who was to be in charge as representing the owner, was 
uUAvell on Thursday and Friday Avhile the yacht was in 
the dock, and on Saturday was compelled to take to his 
bed at the Fifth Avenue ikotel. where he has since been 
confined by a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. 
He has not only been unable to take any part in the 
races, but has been in great pain, his feet and legs being 
badly sAvollen. It is improbable that he will be able to 
leave his bed for some time. In his absence, Mr. Cornell 
has taken his place on the "yacht. The two captains, 
Hogarth and Wringe, are in joint command, dividing the 
duties and authority between them, and Capt, Parker is 
aiding them. The combination is a curious one, but it 
appears to work Avell thus far. 
The measurement of the tAvo yachts took place on 
Monday. Oct. 2, both being measured at the Navy Yard. 
Shamrock Avas toAved to the yard early in the morning, 
and on the arriA-^ai of Mr. Hyslop, about 8:30, the repre- 
sentatives of the tAvo tossed a coin for first turn, Co- 1 
lumbia Avinning. She was then afloat in the jtcw dry- 
dock, and her crew set to work to strip kef of all 
