Fes. 3, 1906. ] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
IQ! 


for racing at Bar Harbor. They will be flush- 
decked boats, similar to Bat. Four cabin 18- 
footers, also of Boardman design, are being built 
to race in Narragansett Bay. 
Burtpinc At NEPONSET.—The O. Sheldon Co., 
of Neponset, is building the following boats: 
35ft. launch, 16 horsepower, for Mr. W. J. Ham, 
of Boston; 3o0ft. launch, 10 horsepower, for Mr. 
C. S. Purinton; 32ft. launch, with 20 horsepower 
engine, for Mr. W. R. Sears; 28ft. launch and 
18ft. launch for Baron Schollay; 3oft. launch, 
with 16 horsepower engine, for Mr. Millis; 64ft. 
cabin launch, 100 horsepower, for Mr. é 
Palmer; 65ft. twin-screw cruiser, for Dr. E. C. 
Griggs; twin-screw cruiser, with 15 horsepower 
engines, for Prof. C. H. Morse, of Cambridge. 
Two launches are building for the long distance 
race of the Knickerbocker Y. C. One is 4oft. long 
with 40 horsepower engine, for Commodore A. L. 
Lincoln, Hingham Y. C. The other is 38ft. long, 
with 30 horsepower engine, for Mr. Hunt. 
At MarsLEHEAD YArRDS.—Messrs. Stearns & 
McKay are building two 28ft. cabin launches 
from the same molds. One of these is for Mr. 
W. O. Taylor, of Boston, to be fitted with a 7 
horsepower engine. The other is for Mr. Nimick, 
of Pittsburg, to be fitted with 10 horsepower en- 
gine and to carry an electric lighting plant. The 
same builders are at work on a 35ft. cruising 
launch, with 12 horsepower Standard engine, for 
Dr. Franklin Dexter, to be used at Beverly; a 
3oft. turtle-back dory launch, with 10 horsepower 
Meitz & Weiss engine, for Boston parties, and a 
power tender for Mr. E. H. Clapp. They have an 
order for a 22ft. waterline cruising sloop, designed 
by Mr. B. B. Crowninshield, for Mr. Francis 
Drake, of Chicago. 
At the Burgess & Packard yard the cabin work 
is going on on the to3ft. passenger boat for 
Southern waters. It is reported that Mr. A. A. 
Packard is quite ill at his home in Salem. 
New Satis For ELMINA AND OTHERS.—Messrs. 
Wilson & Silsby report the following orders for 
new suits of sails: Schooner Elmina, F. F. 
Brewster; sloop Neola, J. Berre King; sloop 
Weetamoe, H. F. Lippitt; new sloop designed by 
H. J. Gielow, for Neola-Weetamoe class, F. M. 
Smith; 21-footer Joshua Crane; 18-footer, Henri 
Monnot, France; 22-footer, J. K. Kackmann, Wi- 
borg, Finland; 85ft. auxiliary schooner designed 
by Mr. Arthur Binney, for Mr. C. H. Clark, Jr.; 
18-footer designed by Messrs. Burgess & Pack- 
_ ard; 21ft. raceabout, S. C. Hopkins; a2r1ft. race- 
about designed by Messrs. Tams. Lemoine & 
Crane; 30-footer Neola II., G. M. Pynchon, and 
two suits for 21-footers to compete for the Lipton 
Cup. 
LAUNCHES BUILDING AT SouTH Boston.— 
Messrs. Murray & Tregurtha are building a 45ft. 
launch, 25 horsepower, for Mr. Frank E. Dicker- 
man; 28ft. speed launch, 10 horsepower, for Mr. 
Carroll A Moore, of Bellows Falls, Vt.; 33ft. 
cabin launch, 10 horsepower, for Mr. Edward R. 
Walsh, of Boston. 
At Lawley’s a 25ft. speed launch for Mr. F. B. 
McQuesten, to have a Lawley engine of 18 horse- 
power, is about completed; a 25ft. launch is build- 
ing for Mr. E. B. Davies; 21ft. launch, 7% horse- 
power, for Mr. H. E. Converse; 32ft. launch, 20 
horsepower, for Mr. Foss. 
New Ones at Savin Hitt.—Mr. H. H. Lin- 
nell, of Savin Hill, Dorchester, is building a 4oft. 
hunting cabin launch to have an 18 horsepower 
Standard engine, for Mr. Norman H. White, of 
Brookline. He is also building .a_ 52ft. cabin 
launch from designs of Mr. Isaac B. Mills, for 
Mr. J. B. Eustis, and from his own plans a 33ft. 
autoboat to have a 24 horsepower engine. 
Joun B. KILLEEN. 
Lipton Cup Boat OrbERED.—Messrs. Charles 
D. Mower and Morgan Barney will collaborate in 
designing a 21-footer for the races for the Lipton 
Cup, to be held on Lake Michigan off Chicago, 
on Aug. 18, 20 and 21. The races will be held 
under the auspices of the Columbia Y. C. Messrs. 
F. H. Price and George R. Peare have been con- 
sulting with Eastern designers for over a week, 
and it was only after mature deliberation that 
these gentlemen, who represent a Chicago Y. C. 
syndicate, placed the order with Messrs. Mower 
and Barney. The boat will be built in the East. 

Letter Sent to the British Conference. 
WHEN the members of the Atlantic Coast 
Yachting Conference agreed that it would not be 
advisable to have the American clubs represented 
by delegates at the British Conference it was de- 
cided that a letter should be forwarded which 
would not only serve as an acknowledgment of 
the very courteous invitation to confer with the 
delegates of other countries but to also set forth 
the reasons why the Americans could not at that 
time participate in any conference. 
The letter sent was a strong one, and its con- 
tents made clear the reasons why it was impos- 
sible for the American clubs to take part in so im- 
por ent a discussion. The letter in full is as fol- 
OWS: 
No. 37 West Forty-fourth Street, 
New York, Jan. I1, 1906. 
BrRooKE HECKSTALL SmiTH, Eso., 
Secretary Yacht Racing Association, 
The Wearde, Rye, England: 
Dear Siy—Your very courteous communication 
to the New York Y. C. in reference to the pro- 
posed conference to be held for the purpose of 
bringing about the adoption of an international 
rating rule was addressed to that club, as you 
stated, because there is in the United States no 
central body similar to the Yacht Racing Asso- 
ciation and other like organizations in other 
countries, and with the view that the New York 
Y. C. would deal with the question in whatever 
way it might consider advantageous to American 
yachtsmen, 
In order to*carry out the duty with which it 
was thus intrusted, the New York Y. C. ap- 
pointed a committee to consider the matter and 
to confer with other yacht clubs in this country, 
and the following clubs were requested to send 
representatives to meet the New York Y. C. com- 
mittee in conference: 
Atalanticay Ge basterney. ©.) learchmont) Ys 
C., Corinthian Y. C. (Marblehead, Mass.), Cor- 
inthian Y. C. (Philadelphia), Seawanhaka Corin- 
thian Y. C., Boston Y. C., Yacht Racing Assn. of 
L. I. S., representing a number of clubs, and the 
Yacht Racing Assn. of Massachusetts, represent- 
ing a number of clubs. 
All of these bodies sent representatives to the 
conference, and the subject was most carefully 
considered, in committee and otherwise. 
The question of measurement has been the sub- 
ject of much discussion among yachtsmen in this 
country during recent years. Many different sys- 
tems have been proposed, and their respective 
merits have engaged the attention of those most 
interested in the sport, aided by the technical 
knowledge of designers and other experts. 
Our conditions are such as to make the adop- 
tion of a common rule practically a necessity. 
There are a great number of clubs all along the 
Atlantic coast, from Philadelphia to Maine. It 
is customary for a yacht to belong to two or more 
of them, and races are constantly held in which 
the vessels of one club meet those belonging to 
another. From this circumstance, as well as from 
the fact that varying rules of rating distinctly 
discour-ge the building of new vessels, it results 
that a uniform or common rule of measurement 
in force among all these clubs is not only: most 
desirable, but practically a necessary condition to 
the progress and development of the sport. 
In the attempt to bring about the adoption of 
such a uniform rule no effort has been spared. 
Committees have been appointed, a great num- 
ber of conferences held, expert advice has been 
obtained and a most earnest effort made -to sink 
all individual preferences and to bring about an 
agreement upon such a rule as under all the cir- 
cumstances seemed best calculated to work for 
the common good. 
As is natural in any such attempt, many con- 
flicting views had to be reconciled, and in some 
instances concessions made by one or another 
interest, but finally our efforts were successful 
and resulted in the adoption of a uniform rating 
rule by many of the clubs concerned. From time 
to time it has been adopted by others, and last 
spring the unanimous assent of all of the re- 
maining principal clubs interested in yachting on 
the Atlantic coast was secured. 
The agitation of the question and the efforts to 
effect an agreement upon it have extended 
through a number of years, and you will easily 
understand that the task has been a difficult one. 
Whether the rule finally evolved is the best 
rule that could be framed time and experience 
alone can determine. Some ‘vessels have, how- 
ever, already been built under it and others are 
building, and the general opinion is that the rule 
promises to work satisfactorily. and marks, in 
any view, a very great advance over the condi- 
tions which existed before its adoption. 
We have in mind, of course, the possibility that 
further experience may demonstrate the advisa- 
bility of some modification in one or another de- 
tail, but the main principles of the rule have thus 
far worked to the entire satisfaction of all. 
_We have been at pains thus to explain the con- 
ditions which existed among us at the time when 
your communication to the New York Y. C. was 
received, in order that you and the members of 
the conference to be held in England may fully 
understand that it is through no lack of interest 
in the subject nor any failure to appreciate either 
the importance of the object which you have in 
view or the courtesy of your invitation to us to 
take part in your movement except at the cost 
of undoing a great part of what we have already 
accomplished. 
The conference of representatives of the vari- 
ous yacht clubs called by the New Yark Y. C., 
as above stated, has instructed us, who acted re- 
spectively as its chairman and secretary, to ex- 
plain to you why it is that, with however great 
reluctance, they have been compelled to this con- 
clusion, 
If the American yachtsmen should take part in 
the movement to bring about a uniform interna- 
tional rule of rating it would necessarily be with 
a view of the adoption either of the rule which 
has already been adopted unanimously in this 
country or some other and different rule. Their 
first duty is, of course, to the interests of yacht- 
ing in their own country, and it was the unani- 
mous sentiment of the conference that it would be 
most unwise and very disadvantageous to those 
interests to reopen at the present time the ques- 
tion of measurement, which we have only just 
succeeded, after so great effort, in procuring to 
be settled here. 
Naturally we could not for a moment insist 
that the question to be determined by your con- 
ference was whether it would adopt our rule or 
not. Such a position would not be courteous, 
nor would it be participating in your conference 
in the spirit in which we are asked to do so. The 
only question which we could properly discuss 
with the representatives of other countries would 
be what rule, upon the whole, would be to the 
general interest of all countries to adopt. The 
very nature of such a conference would require 
those taking part in it to come with open minds 
ready to receive as well as to make suggestions. 
This, however, is unfortunately just what our 
present conditions will not allow us to do. The 
tule which we have adopted can be of no value 
unless it have a certain degree of permanence. 
Vessels have been built and others are now pro- 
jected upon the basis and faith of its continued 
existence. Should the question now be reopened 
by our joining in an effort to bring about an 
international rule, the result would be not only 
unfairness to those who have already built or 
contracted to build under our rule, but the crea- 
tion of doubts as to its permanence and continu- 
ance, which would deprive us of all the benefits 
which were designed to be secured by its adop- 
tion, 
Our conference was further of the opinion that 
we could not, in justice to the interests of our 
own yachting, agree to be bound by any interna- 
tional rule of rating, even though the one pro- 
posed should be that already adopted here. In 
the negotiations between the different interests in 
this country which resulted in the adoption of the 
present rule, there were, as we have said, numer- 
ous conflicting interests to be reconciled and mu- 
tual concessions to be made. Some were unquali- 
fiedly in favor of the rule as a matter of prin- 
ciple. Others were in favor of adopting it ex- 
experimentally, with an opportunity of making 
later such modifications, if any, as experience 
might prove to be necessary. There was no 
agreement between the clubs establishing the rule 
to remain in force for any given period. Each 
