494 
Our Boston Letter. 
Boston, Dec. is—Some changes have occurred in the 
programme as at first mapped out for perfecting the 
Boston Cup defender. The greatest difficulty has been m 
obtaining a builder and a place where the yacht may 
be constructed. It was supposed last week that the l^ore 
River Engine Works would take up the contract, but 
some things developed which made this impossible, and 
which put a different aspect on the supposed patriotism 
of this concern. , , , , ^ 
When it was not known that there would be any great 
difficulty in building the yacht, both the Fore River people 
and Lawley made the same bid for the construction. But 
when it was found that Lawley could not build her with- 
out sub-letting one or more of his large contracts, the 
Fore River people found that they could not build her 
except at an advance of two-thirds over the original bid 
Of course, as a matter of a business deal, no fault could 
be found with this, but it looked as though somebody 
thought that they had Mr. Lawson in a corner. 
But in this case, as in all others, the host had to be 
reckoned on. Mr. Lawson was determined to build the 
yacht, and he was willing to spend money to get what he 
wanted, but as much as he desired that the boat should 
be built in or near Boston, he did not propose to pay an 
exhorbitant bonus. He made up his mind that if he could 
not have her built in Boston at somewhere near his 
figure, he would go outside of Massachusetts. _ Acting 
accordingly, he immediately set about to get bids out- 
side and obtained them from three concerns, one of which 
was the Bath Iron Works. Mr. Lawley, however, m the 
meantime, realizing how much the Boston people wanted 
him to build the boat, started in to engineer a little scheme 
of his own, and the result was that he agreed to under- 
take the building of the yacht. 
That much settled, things looked smooth. Mr. Lawley 
announced that he would build a shed in which to con- 
struct the defender, and that he would also fill his other 
orders. But again there came a doubt, and Mr. Lawley 
found that he would have hard work in engineering his 
little scheme. Again a substitute was found, and this 
time a real one from Boston, in the form of the Atlantic 
Works, of East Boston. When Mr. Lawley spoke to 
them about his difficulties, they immediately offered him 
every assistance in their power, which Mr. Lawley was 
nothing loath to accept. 
Lawley had entered into the contract to build the 
yacht, and he proposed to fill that contract. So it was 
arranged that if she could not be built at South Boston 
she would be built at the Atlantic Works, but under the 
supervision of Geo. F. Lawley. At this date it has not 
been definitely settled where she will be built, but Mr. 
Lawley has said that it is more than likely that she will be 
built at the Atlantic Works. 
This news is not displeasing to Bostonians, for the 
Atlantic Works have even greater facilities for building 
metal vessels than Lawley, and, besides, there is always 
deep water in front of their plant. The boat will be laid 
down at Lawley' s and the scrive board made there and 
then shipped to East Boston. Mr. Lawley's men who 
have worked on the Herreshoff productions will prob- 
ably be sent to East Boston. Mr. Lawley is greatly 
pleased at the manner in which the East Boston people 
came forward and offered their help. 
The designs for the new boat have not yet been com- 
pleted. Mr. Crowninshield has informed your corre- 
spondent that there are two or three sets of plans, and 
that it is not certain which will be the best. Many 
changes will have to be made in them as they now exist, 
but Mr. Crowninshield is of the opinion that the com- 
pleted set will be ready about the middle of the week. 
There is one thing that the designer is very anxious to 
have understood, because of some reports which have 
been made in regard to what the new boat may look like. 
He says that the new boat will not be in any manner a 
freak, but will be a clean, wholesome looking craft. Mr. 
Crowninshield' s views of yacht designing have not the 
least tendency to run along freak lines. C. H. W. Foster, 
who will take part in the management of the yacht, has 
said that it is quite likely that the Boston yacht and that 
turned out at Bristol would be very nearly alike in 
design. 
The name of the yacht has not yet, been decided upon. 
Mrs. Lawson will be the chief factor in deciding upon 
what it will be. The name Bostonian has been suggested 
and has found much favor. Some of the men interest&d 
are in favor of the name, but with the final n dropped, as 
Bostonian would be individual, while Bostonia would 
cover the whole field and would be more emblematic of 
her design, her build and her mission. 
The firm of Geo. Lawley & Son, Corporation, which is 
to have charge of the construction of the boat, was 
founded by Geo. Lawley, father of the president of the 
company. Like mest yacht builders who have attained 
prominence in this country, he was born in England and 
came from a long line of ship builders. He was born in 
London in 1823. and came to this country in 1851, bring- 
ing his family with him. He settled in East Boston, where 
he worked for some of the prominent ship builders. 
Becoming imbued with the advancing American ideas 
and seeing a possible field in yacht building, he moved to 
Scituate in 1866, entered into partnership with William 
Maybury and started the yacht building business, taking 
with him as assistant his son George. In those days a. 
2oft. catboat was such a large order as to make the 
builders feel that business was very good. Many boats 
were built here and the firm established quite a reputa- 
tion. 
At the solicitation of members of the Boston Y. C, Mr. 
Lawley moved to South Boston in 1874, severing his con- 
nection with Mr. Maybury and taking his son George in 
with him as partner. The firm became Geo. Lawley & 
Son. From this out they were successful, so much so 
that in 1883 they moved to their present location. In 
that year they built the schooner Adrienne. Their next 
work of importance was the building of the Cup defender 
Puritan in 1885. From that time until the present day 
the firm has been constantly in the eyes of the yachting 
world. Many of the mcist prominent yachts in the coun- 
try have been turned out by them, including the May- 
IIPW?r? Marguerite, Sachem, Owee??e, B^r^r^ Albor3.cl?, 
