April 27, 1901,! 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
frequently produced results very different from that which 
the prospective owner had reason to expect. Designing 
under these conditions was really more of an art than a 
science. A good model maker would produce a model 
which he would claim to be of a very fast type, his only 
reason for this belief- being that it looked right. 
The modern design is carried on in a much more 
scientific manner, and to-day many of the greatest speed 
producing factors in a boat are well known quantities and 
capable of scientific demonstration. 
The next challenge for the Cup came as expected in 
the year 1886. The challenger was Galatea, also designed 
by Beaver Webb, and the vessel selected as the de- 
fender was Mayflower, designed by Mr. Burgess. 
The Atlantic Y. C. took a hand in the defense of the 
Cup this year, and a syndicate of those yachtsmen built 
the sloop Atlantic, from the designs of Capt. Joe Els- 
worth. The races for choosing a defender this year 
were, therefore, very interesting, as the '85 champion, 
Puritan, was met by two new sloops — Mayflower and 
Atlantic. MayfloAver proved her right to the honor of 
defending the Cup in a series of races held off Sandy 
Hook. Atlantic was afterward sold to Mr. Wilson 
Marshall, of this city. She was changed into a schooner, 
and is to-day one of the well-known vessels of the Bridge- 
port Y. C. 
The races between Mayflower and Galatea did not 
prove as interesting as those of the previous year. May- 
flower defeated Galatea with ease in two straight races, 
and the Cup was safe for another year. Galatea 
remained for about a year in American waters, and her 
owner, Lieut. Henn, made many friends among the yachts- 
men on this side. 
Immediately on the conclusion of the match between 
Galatea and Mayflower, it was announced that there 
would be a challenge from a Scotch syndicate for the 
following year, and that the designer of the vessel would 
be Mr. George L. Watson, the well-known designer of 
the cutter Madge, which I have mentioned as playing such 
havoc in our smaller classes a few years before. 
This challenge was forwarded in due course and ac- 
cepted. The challenging vessel named was Thistle. 
Thistle proved very fast in English waters, and had no 
difficulty in defeating everything brought against her on 
the other side. She was brought over early in 1887, and 
excited much favorable comment from well-posted yachts- 
men. 
Mr. Burgess liad gained so much prestige by his suc- 
cessful designs of Puritan and Mayflower that he found 
no competitor this year. The only boat built, therefore, as 
a defender 'was Volunteer. 
Volunteer was a pronounced success from the start. 
She was the first vessel with a metal hull in the Cup 
races. She also made a departure, or rather a return, in 
that her bow was of the well-known clipper type, similar 
to that used in America. Volunteer's sheer plan was very 
similar to America. 
Her keel was made hollow, and into the trough thus 
formed was poured about fifty-five tons of lead. Her 
lines were extremely fine and her shape was that of a 
normal boat of the most advanced type for the day. how- 
ever. 
The first race was set for Tuesday, Sept. 27. The start 
was to be in the lower bay, as usual, and the course was 
inside to Sandy Hook Lightship and return. The wind 
was very light and in the preliminary centers about the 
starting line Thistle gave a wonderful exhibition of light- 
weather sailing. She seemed to move as though by magic. 
The wind was hardly sufficient to lift the dog vanes at 
the mast head, and yet this graceful cutter slipped 
through the water in a truly wonderful manner. 
Her owners and their hardy Scotch sympathizers were 
gathered on .the steam yacht Mohican. From her decks 
could be heard the strains of bagpipes playing the pibroch. 
They were wonderfully elated at the witch-like manner 
in which the pride of rugged Scotia glided hither and 
thither over the surface of the bay, that was smoother 
than the traditional mill pond. 
"No wonder she beat Irex and Genesta; why, she will 
simply have a walk over," said one enthusiastic partisan 
of the cutter. "Surely there never was a yacht that 
could sail in such light wind as Thistle." 
And where was V olunteer all this time that her stock 
was being forced down and the hearts of the patriots 
were being made heavy as lead by the marvelous exhibi- 
tion Thistle was giving? She was jogging along quietly 
in the ruck of the fleet, giving no foretaste of her quality. 
Gen. Paine, her owner, and Mr. Burgess, her designer, 
stood quietly alongside Capt. Haff, who grasped the 
wheel in the old stolid manner, and none of the three gave 
any indication of elation or depression at Thistle's 
maneuvers. It was easy to discover, however sluggish 
her movements seemed, that everything on board was in 
spick and span condition for the contest. It was the 
opinion of those who had seen Volunteer so many times 
victorious in Eastern waters that she was being sailed with 
sheets trimmed flat as boards. She seemed at least to 
sail hardly 2ft. to her rival's 3. It was with heavy 
hearts, therefore, that the patriots heard the sharp crack 
of the starting gun from the bridge of the Electra. Thistle 
was first to cross at 12 :33 :o6, and Volunteer followed at 
12 :34 :58. 
The Electra's gun had galvanized Volunteer into life ; 
she seemed to start forward like a high mettled horse 
under the whip. In a few minutes she had weathered 
Thistle and assumed the lead, which slie never sur- 
rendered. The yachts glided through the Narrows like 
phantoms. Volunteer increasing her distance all the time. 
At 1 :20 she was fully a mile ahead of the fleet Scotch- 
man. The wind was growing steadier and a little stronger 
as the day wore away. ^ 
All the tugs, excursion steamers and yachts had now 
gathered aroimd tlie lightship, waiting for the turn. Vol- 
imteer, now careening gracefully to a good fresh breeze, 
approached it like a thing of life. She luft'ed around the 
mark in fine style, and- was greeted with such a din of 
guns, whistles, gongs and shouts as was never heard on 
sea before. 
Meanwhile Thistle pursued her lonely way. She 
rounded the lightship at 4:01:15 and began to hunt Vol- 
unteer. Her hunting was a forlorn hope, and she never 
came near the American champion. Volunteer finished at 
^;28;i6, and Thistle ft §45:52^ Yo'u"teer therefore y^on 
by nineteen minutes and twenty-four seconds corrected 
time. 
The second race of the series was sailed from Scotland 
Lightship in a fine whole-sail breeze. The starting gun 
was fired at 10:40, and with lee rail awash, Thistle rushed 
across the line. Volunteer flew after her, and thus was 
begun the long thresh of twenty miles into the eye of the 
wind. The gain of Vohinteer was steady. She gave a 
most wonderful exhibition of windward work. She 
seemed to move bodily to windward, and easily outfooted 
Thistle. It was merely a procession to the outer mark, 
and never at any time did Thistle have a ghost of a show. 
Volunteer rounded foui-teen minutes ahead of the Scotch- 
man. The run from the mark back to the lightship was 
only notable from the gain of Thistle, which amounted 
to nearly three minutes. This was easily accounted for by 
the wind increasing much in force toward the close of 
the day. Volunteer won the race by eleven minutes and 
forty-nine seconds. 
. Tlaus ended the seventh attempt to capture the Cup. 
' A New Deed of Gift. 
Some friction had arisen when Thistle was measured, 
from the fact that the Scotch boat was i8in. over meas- 
urement specified on the waterline. The New York Y. C. 
thought that it would be well hereafter to have this point 
fully covered, and so the Cup was again returned to Mr. 
George L. Schuyler, the only surviving member of the 
original America syndicate. He then returned it to the 
club with a new deed of gift. 
This deed was regularly drawn up, and its provisions 
made similar to other legal documents. 
The gist of its provisions is as follows: 
1. The Cup is to be a perpetual challenge Cup. 
2. Sloops, to sail for it, to be not less than 65 nor over 
90ft. waterline. 
3. Schooners to be from 80 to risft. on waterline. 
4. Ten months' notice to be given. 
5. Challenge must specify rig, name, owner's name, 
length on waterline, beam at waterline, extreme beam and 
draft of water. These dimensions not to be exceeded. 
6. Centerboard vessels allowed. 
7. Mtitital consent to waive conditions herein provided. 
8. All races to be on ocean courses free from head- 
lands. 
9. Courses must provide for 22ft. of water. 
ID. A defeated vessel not allowed to challenge until 
race has intervened or two years elapsed. 
II. No challenge to be received while one is pending. 
In these provisions, the fifth clause, calling for the 
dimensions, provoked the most acrimonious discussion. 
The English yachting papers took tlie matter up, and 
claimed that the provision was unfair as it would reveal 
the lines of the vessel. The New^ York Y. C. defended 
its position as vigorously, and the disagreement grew. 
Through this and other causes no challenge was re- 
ceived for the Cup again for six years, or until 1893. 
Meanwhile there had been made perhaps the greatest 
advance in the building of yachts that had been seen 
since the dawn of the ai't of boat building. In fact so 
great was the advance that at the time of the next chal- 
lenge, in 1893, the boats of 1887 had become practically 
obsolete. 
One of the strongest factors in this advance was the 
Scotch cutter Minerva. Minerva was designed by William 
Fife for C. H. Tweed, of New York. . She was S7ft. over 
all, 39ft. waterline and sailed in what was known at that 
time as the "40ft. class." 
One of the strange things about her was that she was 
not designed for a racing boat, but for a cruiser — at least 
that' was the statement of her owner and designer. If 
this was true she was the luckiest accident that ever 
happened. She began her racing career in a very modest 
way. Mr. Gardner, the well-known New York designer, 
was to sail in one of the races of the 40's in a vessel 
named Liris. Liris broke down at the last minute and 
Mr. Gardner borrowed Minerva from Mr. Tweed, trans- 
ferred his crew to her and won the race with ease, to the 
astonishment of the vessels, as well as the owner of 
Minerva. After this she was regularly entered in every 
race, and as regularly won them. She was the champion 
forty for 1888, and 1889, and it was not until 1890 when 
Burgess finally laid her colors with Gossoon, an out and 
out racing machine. Over twenty boats had been built 
to defeat her, and Gossoon was the first to accomplish 
the feat. 
It was unquestionably the success of Min(!rva that 
roused Herreshoff in 1891. Her stor^^ following the les- 
sons of Madge, told in unmistakable terms that the days 
of the wide, shallow, skimming dish type of centerboarder 
were passed forever. The genius of Nathaniel Herreshoff 
was the first to recognize the handwriting on the wall. 
He discarded once and forever the rule of thumb and 
whittled block method, and set about his task in a prop- 
erly directed manner, and liis labors produced Gloriana. 
She was new. In almost every particular she showed 
evidences of the most advanced thought. Especially her 
bow, and her immense overhangs, attracted universal 
attention. As becomes the fate of most things new, she 
was universally condemned. Her success, however, was 
pronounced and emphatic from the start. She was one 
of a fleet of nine new 46-footers, seven of them from the 
designs of the famous Burgess, builder of the last three 
successful Cup defenders, and one from the design of 
William Fife, the builder of Minerva. There were eight 
races sailed in 1891, and Gloriana won the entire series. 
She defeated all her opponents so decisively as to make 
her appear in a class by herself, which she really was. 
The old had gone, the new had come, and again the 
3'^acht designing of the world was revolutionized, Her 
first race was off Sandy Hook, and she won it by a 
margin of over thirty-two minutes. She was truly an 
epoch-making vessel. 
The lines embodied so successfully in Gloriana were 
not entirely unknown, however, and designers in this 
country and in England had been tending in her direction 
for some time. 
In the year 1892 Mr. Herreshoff accepted an order to 
build a boat that would beat Gloriana, and he turned 
out Wasp. 
His prediction was fulfilled, and Wasp proved as much 
.superior to Gloriana as the latter had been to the other 
46-foQt?rs, y/asp defeate4 comers, and, I believe, los^ 
but one race, and' that in a light air and practically a 
drift. 
The year 1893 was a very memorable one in yachting 
circles. In addition to the first challenge of Lord Dun- 
raven for the eighth contest for the America Cup, the 
large Herreshoff sloop Navahoe was built for racing in 
English waters. 
Lord Dunraven's challenge named Valkyrie II. as the 
contesting vessel, 
Valkyrie was, of course, of the new type, with long, 
graceful overhangs and deep keel. She carried about 
70 tons of lead, 17ft. below the waterline. and spread 
some lo.oooft. of sail. She was from the design of Mr. 
George L. Wat.=on, who also turned out for the Prince of 
Wales the cutter Britannia in the same year. 
^ For the defense of the Cup four vessels were built. 
Two were by the HerreshofTs, Vigilant and Colonia; one 
by Gen. Paine, of Boston, Jubilee, and one by a Boston 
designer, Mr. George Stewart, called Pilgrim. Vigilant 
had a centerboard, Colonia was a keel. Pilgrim was an 
out and out fin-keel and Jubilee was a combination of 
fin-keel and centerboird. 
The trial races among these vessels were very interest- 
ing, but I will not weary you with an account of them, 
but let it suffice to say that Vigilant proved her right to 
defend the Cup by defeating all the others. 
Vigilant was the most expensive vessel of her type 
that had ever been built up to that time. Her under- 
water body was composed of an expensive non-corosive 
metal called Tobin bronze. She was rigged with the best 
that could be obtained, and no expense was spared to 
make her a winner. 
She was a very powerful vessel, and carried nearly 
11,000 sq. ft. of sail. 
[to be continued.] 
Our Boston Letter. 
Boston, April 20. — It is now thought that Independence 
will take the water about May 15. It is expected that 
next week the work of burnishing her plating will be 
started. To-day all of the rivets were tested and the 
heads smoothed up. The caulking was carefully gone 
over by one of the foremen to see that everything was all 
right. There will be no difficulty in launching her at 
any time that she is ready, for there is 2Sft. of water 
just outside of the shop in which she is building, at or- 
dinary tides. 
There is considerable doubt at present as to whether 
or not Capt. Nate Watson will be on Independence 
during her races. It was reported here within a few 
days that Mr. Francis Skinner. Jr., had made all his 
plans for the season's yachting, and that he considered it 
necessary that Capt. Watson should be on board 
Constellation. It is said that Mr. Skinner's refusal to re- 
lease his captain is due to the social feud which exists be- 
tween Thomas W. Lawson and Mrs. Jack Gardner, At 
the time when Independence was started it was desired 
that Capt. AVatson should take charge of her, and it was 
said that Mr. Skinner would be willing to release him. 
But Mr. Skinner's desire to have the captain on board 
Constellation has probably no connection with any social 
feud. Mr. Skinner is a very enthusiastic yachtsman and, 
as this will probably be the greatest year in the history of 
the sport, it is only natural that he should wish to have 
the captain of his yacht where he can put his hands on 
him at any time. 
It was originally intended to have the wooden mast and 
topmast of Independence form practically one pole mast, 
the topmast bur3'ing into a socket at the mast head, but 
this plan has been altered. The wooden topmast will be 
held on end in the usual manner. It will have a fid but 
will not be housed. It will be secured to the mast head 
with loft. doublings. It is expected that the work of 
finishing up the hollow spars will be started at Lawley's 
early in the week. There was some question as to 
whether Lawley could find the space to do the work, but 
it was stated to-day that it would be done at the City 
Point yard. 
The first race of the season has been sailed in Dor- 
chester Bay. It was between the little one-design 12- 
footers which have been built for members of the Savin 
Hill Y. C. The boats were built by A. O. Giflford, of Co- 
hasset, and were only delivered to their owners about an 
hour before the start of the race. The race was given on 
Patriots' Day by the city of Boston, and 14 of the little 
fellows lined up at the start. They had a very lively tilt 
around the bay, and the boat owned by J. H. Will was 
capsized. As the boats have not yet received names, they 
are known by the names of their owners given in the 
following summary:. 
Owner. Act. time. 
J. E. Robinson 
1.23.40 
1.25.15 
G. W. Goodwin 
1.27.00 
W. F. Scott 
Louis Hoag 
1.27.50 
C. A. J. Smith 
It will be noticed that the finishes of these little boats 
were ver}' close indeed, there being less than six minutes 
between the first and the last boat. It is expected that the 
racing of these boats will furnish a great amount of sport 
for the members of the Savin Hill Y. ^C. during the 
.season. It is considered likely that they will all" be over 
to the opening race of the South Boston Y. C. on 
Memorial Day. The club is making great efforts to per- 
petuate the interest in small-boat racing. 
The special committee of the Hull-Massachusetts Y. C. 
has issued a preliminary circular of the Lawson cup races. 
The classes are as follows : 
First — To all single-masted sailing yachts measuring 
over Soft, and not over 90ft. in length on the I6ad*water- 
line; prize, silver cup appropriate for this class. 
Second — To all ya^yl-rigged yachts; pri/.e, cilvfir gup 
valued at ^i,ooq, " ' 
