The Topeka State Journal from Topeka, Kansas • 6

tlAGiC ie7o 5 1 tlADELtNfl 1 iat ffiJIISCHlEP 5 i is a i-'i i TTfTTf THE GONTESTS GENTURY FOR It was Brought Here First in 1851 and has Remained on These Shores in Spite of Many Attempts to Carry it Away. It Is forty-eight years since the schooner America crossed the Atlantic for the avowed purpose of entering the" open races at Cowes. The British yachtsmen called her "the American pilot boat," and one of the leading English dailies drew a caricature of her, in which she was represented with torn sails being towed to the goal. That was before she sailed. But when she had stretched her sails opinion changed.

The result of that contest is known to all. The America won a sweeping victory and came back with the trophy. For nearly half a century the cup, won by white-sailed America, has remained on these shores. There have been many attempts to win it back, the challenger having come often, but all efforts have been unsuccessful. What will be the outcome of the races to be sailed here in October? Only time can tell, for Lipton has a good boat, anfi yachting across the Atlantic has made strides since Dunraven's failure of four years ago.

The cup was established almost by accident. It belonged to the Royal Yacht Club, not to Queen Victoria, as has been erroneously stated, and was to be given to the best yacht sailed in the open lieet at Cowes. It was 1850, the year of London's World's Fair, and the yacht race was to be a feature of the English Exposition. Some one suggested that it might be a good thing if an American yacht could be invited to compete; so an invitation was extended to the New York Yacht Club to send over a yacht. No importance was attached to ity But the American yachtsmen were delighted at the honor.

Knowing the merit of home ship builders they gave the commission to Mr. Steers, a noted builder and designer. The result was a schooner that eclipsed all previously constructed ones, and in July, 1851, the America crossed to Havre, thence to Cowes, for the contest. The result was startling. As soon aa she was placed in English waters she began showing her heels to the other boats, and it was soon decided that, in order to keep the cup that had been offered for the swiftest yacht, the course must be again declared open to all.

Yacht3 were summoned from everywhere. Many boats entered, but the America flew away from all. How little importance was attached to this race, however, may be gathered from the fact that as soon as it was over the America was sold, and Commodore Stevens, the principal owner, returned to his home in New York, bringing the cup as his personal property. Many years after, when it had become an important trophy, the Stevens family presented it to the New York Yacht Club for public contests. MAGIC'S WORK.

To the little Magic belonged the honor of being the first cup defender. After the great victory won by America the yachtsmen of England grew disheartened, and hesitated about challenging for the cup. But in 1870 James Ashbury, representing the Royal Thames Yacht Club, expressed a desire to win the cup. His boat was the Cambria, a keel craft of good model, widely different from the antiquated tubs which the America had met and defeated twenty years before. Eight yachts sailed against her, after the old-fashioned custom of making the race an open one.

She met the American fleet on August 8, 1870. The race was sailed over the crooked tidal course in New York Bay, and the stranger was cadly defeated. Not discouraged, Mr. Ashbury engaged Ratsey, of Cowes, to build him a better boat. And the following year he challenged again for the cup.

This time it was decided to sail several races instead of one, and to limit the number of American boats that could compete. Mr. Ashbury was again defeated, this time by the Columbia, a yacht which was just off the stocks, a centreboard schooner of the national type, 96 feet water line, 25 feet beam and only 6 feet draft, modeled and built by J. B. Van Deusen, a builder of some prominence.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE Boys and girls who went to school half a century ago were taught to define a yacht as "a small ship or vessel of state, employed to convey princes, ambassadors and other great personages from one kingdom to another." This definition is yet true to a certain extent, for the yachts we hear most about nowadays are tUe Hohenzollern, belonging to Kaiser William; the Shamrock, owned by Sir Thomas Lip-ton, and the Columbia, the property of a syndicate of American milliojiaires. But yachts are heard of in early English history. In 1604 Phineas Pelt designed a yacht for Henry, Prince of Wales. The vessels in which Drake and Hawkins went out to plunder on the Spanish main were practically yachts on account of their size and swiftness. As a sport yachting began in the reign of Charles surnamed the "Merry Monarch," who is said to have cultivated a strong fondness for the water during the period of his exile after the death of his father.

He won the first reported yacht race on the Thames, over the course of the Royal Thames Yacht Club for a wager of 100 guineas. Peter the Great, who studied ship building in England, was devoted to the sport of yachting, and one of the proudest moments in the life of this monarch was when he weighed anchor for the first time on board his own vessel. OF A HALF A AMERIGA'S GUP. CANADA'S CHALLENGE. In 1876, the Centennial year, a challenge came from an unlooked-for quarter.

The yacht was the Countess of Dufferin, modeled and built by Alexander Cuthbert, a Canadian of considerable ability as a modeler, but whose experience was wholly in yachts of the ordinary American type. The new yacht was built for the purpose of challenging for the cup, being owned by a syndicate of Canadian yachtsmen and enrolled in the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, of Toronto, Canada. On her arrival in New York in July, 1S76, the New York Yacht Club selected the schooner Madeline alone to meet the challenger in every race. She was the fastest of the centreboard division of the fleet. The two yachts were nearly of a size, some 95 feet water line, and the difference in point of model was not very great.

The Canadian yacht, however, was very much inferior in construction, finish and rig. As a matter of course, the Countess of Dufferin was defeated. Five years later Captain Cuthbert was ready to try again for the cup. This time the challenge came from the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, of Belleville, Canada, and for the first time in the history of the cup it was from a single-stiek vessel. VICTORIOUS MISCHIEF.

But the Mischief defeated her. Ehe was hauled out, and, under the fostering care of her skipper, old Captain "Than" Clock, was put in as perfect condition as any yacht which has ever raced for the cup, her iron bottom being scraped and sandpapered. Carefully painted with red lead, and then covered with successive coats of varnish into which "pot lead" of graphite was rubbed with brushes until the whole hull of the yacht from plank-sheer -to keel shone like a mirror. Above deck the Mischief was superior in rigging and canvas to most of the New York tieet of the time, and she came to the line on November 9 for the first race in absolutely faultless racing form. It was the same old story, the Mischief won by half an hour in each of the two races sailed, and the cup was again secured.

That was in 1881. Four years elapsed without a challenge. Then in 1885 the owners of the Galatea challenged for the cup, and a syndicate of Boston gentlemen built the Puritan. The first of the three cup races was sailed on September 14, 1885, and it resulted in a decided victory for the American boat. It was over the inside course on New York Bay.

After this race there was an agitation for a change of the measurement rule of the Yacht Racing Association, hich, toward the last of the year, reached a successful result. After a very thorough inquiry, in the course of which the leading British designers were called on to give their opinions at length, the old tonnage rule which had done so much both to help and hurt yachting, first in teaching the value of outside ballast, and then in compelling the construction of extremely narrow craft, was finally replaced by a length and sail area rule very similar to that used for three years by the Seawan-haka Corinthian Yacht Club, and later generally adopted by American Clubs. The first to avail himself of the new rule was G. L. Watson, of Glasgow, and toward the end of the year the keel of the Thistle was laid.

The radical difference between the Thistle and the typical British cutter of the preceding decade was shown in her beam of 20 feet 4 inches, as compared with the 15 feet of the Galatea, the length and draft being the same, while the Thistle carried some 2,000 feet more canvas. Although the majority of American yachtsmen were agreed that the new Clyde boat was a far more dangerous antagonist than any that had yet challenged, by common consent the defense of the cup was left to the Boston syndicate that had previously defended it. In March, 1SS7, the challenge was formally accepted, and the keel of the Volunteer laid. PLAN OF VOLUNTEER. The new yacht differed from the Mayflower mainly in added depth and draft, THE LOG.

But It Is the object of this article to treat of the evoluticn of the yacht. In making possible such triumphs of marine architecture as the crack racing machines and sumptuous steam yachts of this day, man has passed through centuries of discovery, invention, improvement and refinement. The log, simply pointed at the ends, without even a place for the paddler to sit, contained the germ of the yacht, and it is worthy of note that on the northwest coast of Australia this is still the means of locomotion by water. Next to the log, with its pointed ends, comes the raft made of logs, such as travelers to this day commonly see on rivers and their tributaries in Southern waters. Put a sail on such a raft and you have a long step forward in the art of yacht building.

A prominent feature of nineteenth century navigation along the coast of Peru is a raft which is almost a complete copy of the one used by Ulysses a flat affair, with a raised platform for dry carriage of goods, as often without a centreboard as with one. When the savage began to think about digging out the centre of his pointed log and of burning it out with red-hot stones, there was another and very important stride in the building of ships, presenting for solution the problem of buoyancy in hollow solids. That was at least as fax hoir TOPEKA STATE JOUKNAL displacement and sail area, each successive change from the Puritan being in the direction of the cutter, although the centreboard was still a distinguishing feature. She was, however, of steel, like the Thistle. To everybody's the Thistle proved far less formidable than had been anticipated.

Her very poor performance in the first fluky race over the inside course might be excused, in part through the very light wind and the combination of bad luck and bad judgment shortly after the start, but the second race, outside the Hook, was perfectly fair and conclusive, resulting in a victory for the Volunteer by twelve minutes. The victory of the Volunteer was so great that more" stringent measures were at once adopted, and American yachtsmen were not pleased, so all contests for the America's cup ceased for an indefinite time, and the fleet of large yachts created by necessity for cup defense disappeared almost as rap-Idly as it had come into existence. At the close of the yachting season of 1S92 the America's cup again became an object of interest, and it was with great gratification that the news was received that another challenger was coming over. This time it was the Earl of Dunraven who made the attempt, and his boat was the Valkyrie, an 85-foot cutter designed by Watson. To meet the Valkyrie a syndicate placed an order with the Herreshoffs for an 85-footer named the Colonia.

Another syndicate, headed by Commodore Morgan, ordered another of the Herreshoffs, their yacht being a departure, having two feet more beam with a centreboard and a draft of 13 feet. Another of her peculiarities was the Tobin bronze bottom. She rroved to be the fastest boat of all the defenders, and met the Valkyrie in the races for the cup. In the three contests sailed the Vigilant clearly demonstrated her superiority. His Lordship came over again, bringing another Valkyrie in 1895, with the lamentable ending known to all.

4 I t- 1 I -f i VA i I i i I I Jim I THE COLUMBIA OUT FOR A SPIN, YACHT AS IT GREW FROM LOG age, for dugouts have been found in the ancient Swiss villages and twenty-five feet below the surface in Irish soil. Then there was a long pause in progress, in which the early builder of boats exercised hi3 ingenuity in contriving lines that would give greater speed, and in planning ways and means to make the wind do his propelling for him. How far he succeeded is to be gathered from the shapes that he gave his canoes and their likeness to the hulls of modern vessels. THE CANOE. Canoes for war and for peace, for hunting and for fishing are handed down with comparatively slight alterations in the general plan.

These were built of heavy woods. Afterward came canoes built of pliable materials, bark being first used and then the skins of animals. Ship building was becoming more of an art. The builders had to puzzle out bit by bit how to make light and rigid framework and cover it with something that would not leak; or, if so, only in moderation. The application of the centreboard was really the first step in the process of evolution; but.

for a long time alter its adoption, the same general lines were used in shaping the bow and stern of the boat, and the modifications of those lines were so slow and gradual down to a certain point as to be almost Imperceptible to the casual observer. A BEAUTIFUL HOME ON THE OCEAN WAVES. And What it Costs to Maintain One in the Style Whicti is Found on Palace Yachts Afloat in This Country and Europe. To own a yacht is the ambition of every rich man whether he be rich by inheritance or whether, acquiring hi3 wealth suddenly, he yearns to do things on a lavish scale. And yachting, by the way, is not an Inexpensive pastime; it melts up money like butter in the sun.

Tailor-made daughters are trifles. A racing stud is an everyday affair. Two or three country houses are not worth mentioning. And even the luxury of supporting a titled son-in-law is comparatively questionable, though perhaps it may be compared with it. William K.

Vanderbilt easily heads the list as the biggest spender of money on yachts in the country. With an income of over $6,000,000 a year, he possesses certain advantages over the cheaper millionaires which it is difficult for the latter to overcome. Then, again, he keeps his yacht in commission almost the entire year, and as she carries a crew of fifty-two men and consumes large quantities of coal, this adds considerably to the total. The salary list of the Vanderbilt yacht, the Valiant, per month amounts to $2,100. She burns about thirty tons of coal a day of twenty-four hours, but does not average more than 350 tons per month.

This means another thousand dollars. The greatest expense is that manipulated by the chef. To feed the crew alone costs $1,200 a month. But while the guests are fewer in number than the crew, not averaging more than five or six at a time, they require something more fascinating than beef stew and plum duff for dessert. Mr.

Vanderbilt is something of an epicure, and when only he and his secretary are on the boat an elaborate menu is prepared by the chef three times a day, to say nothing of a late supper and sundry lunches and delicious concoctions of an anti-prohibition flavor. One hundred and fifty dollars a day scarcely covers the cost of the rare foods and fruits consumed, the wines and liquors drunk and the sixty cent cigars smoked by the quarter-deck contingent of the Valiant. When there are many guests on board the expense of entertaining them runs up to eight hundred or a thousand dollars a day. The incidentals also come high. The Valiant and her furnishings represent an outlay of $700,000.

The breakage on the Valiant is also something terrific. The laundry bills of the crew and the ship's linen and tHe incidental repairs necessary to keep the yacht at the highest pitch of perfection amount to $75 a day. or about $2,250 a month. The total expense of running the Valiant per month averages between $12,000 and $15,000, or about $160,000 a year. Commodore Elbridge T.

Gerry is another past master In the art of spending money on yachting. His boat, the Electra, while not as large or as speedy as the Valiant, is one of the most luxurious crafts afloat. Commodore Gerry keeps the Electra in commission only four months in the year June, July, August and September. She carries a crew cf twenty-eight men all told, and the salary list amounts to $1,000 a month. Much of the time the crew wear white suits, and In consequence the laundry bill is a big item.

The Electra's coal costs $500 a month. Feeding the crew costs another $500. The Commodore when on his yacht is a great entertainer. The fashionable world of Newport have been entertained on the Electra at some time or another. And Mr.

Gerry entertains like a prince. The monthly cost of running the Electra is $10,000, and three-fourths of this sum is spent on the cuisine of the yacht. The writer was once a guest on the boat when 120 others were invited at Newport for a day's sail. At 10 o'clock champagne cocktails were served to all hands, and at 1 o'clock luncheon was served in the dining saloon, which was fitted with all the luxuries of a Fifth avenue palace. Oliver Iselin is a different style of yachtsman from Mr.

Gerry and Mr. Vanderbilt. He goes into it solely as a sport. He will spend in the neighborhood of $500,000 this season as his share of the expense in defending the Ameri until, suddenly, the extreme type of the modern yacht was evolved, the last change being so radical as to excite comment among seamen and citizens alike. The centreboard is apparently cf American invention, and was used for small boats in the shallow waters about New York in early colonial days.

It is singular that so little is known about the history of yachting. The most respectable paternity for the word is found in the Dutch jagt, from a verb moaning to hunt or chase. So it is applied principally to vessels designed for speed. Size or rig make no difference in definition; anything in the shape of a vessel used exclusively for pleasure or racing is properly styled a yacht. Of the two classes of yachts, one built, ballasted and sparred for racing and the other for elegance and comfort, the latter undoubtedly came first.

America's first yacht was buiit at Salem, in 1801, by Christopher Turner. It was owned by Captain George Crowninshield, who christened her the Jefferson. But Americans in those days as well as now were patriotic, and though the Jefferson was only a twenty-two-tonner. Captain Crowninshield converted her into a privateer in 1812 and she made one voyage. THE FIRST "CUP" YACHT.

After the advent of the Jefferson yachting soon became a fad, and every ca cup. Mr. Iselin cares very little for steam yachting. He likes the pleasure and excitement of handling a sailing craft and doesn't bother about magnificence in its equipments. George Gould is still another type of yachtsman.

He goes in for the glory of it, and. It is said, as an aid to his social aspirations. It costs a world of money to keep his big yacht in commission. She requires a crew of forty men, and can not be run in first-class style much under $12,000 a month. It requires a large-sized bank account to handle a big sloop of this size in racing trim.

In a stiff wind the strength of thirty-five men is needed to haul in the hundred-foot boom and the immense spread of canvas of the mainsail. Since so much is being written about Emperor William of Germany and his recent cruises along the coast of Norway, a description of the magnificence of His Majesty's yacht, the Hohenzol-lern, would not be inopportune. The Hohenaollern is "yacht" by courtesy, for the twin-screw vessel is a veritable man-of-war, with a capacity of 4,500 tons, and murderous, new-fashioned guns, which, though painted white, for looks, are none the less of Krupp's deadly make. She is built of steel, and, like the guns, painted white for looks, and, though not armored, would be an uncomfortable enemy to meet. At present, however, she is not needed save as a pleasure floating palace, and her decorations and fittings make her that in every sense of the word.

The very decks are eoveYed over for comfort, and under the awnings on the upper deck the Emperor often has luncheon or receives his friends at afternoon tea. The Emperor's apartments on the middle deck are on the port side, while those of the Empress are on the starboard. Her Majesty, however, is not partial to aquatic pastimes, and seldom goes aboard the Hohenzollern. The Emperor has bedroom, dressing-roorrf and bath, library and smoking-room. His bedroom is exceedingly handsome, with its aluminum bed and its dove-colored hangings.

Birds-eye maple is the wood used in the furnishing. His study is lighted by electricity, as, indeed, the whole vessel is, and is furnished with a telephone. On the walls are photographs of Queen Victoria, the Empress and the imperial children. The smoking-room, which is on the upper deck, is a very cozy apartment. It is also furnished in maple, and is upholstered in imitation tapestry of quiet colors.

Some very remarkable porcelain plaques adorn its walls, their subjects being taken from Prussian naval history. One shows a ship of the Grand Elector Frederick William attacking pirates off Cape St. Vincent. Another gives a portrait of the fierce old fellow himself. There are views of Swinemunde and Friedrichsort at Kiel and numerous other events that tend to, make the heart of the German swell with pride as he explains thereby "young William's" fondness for all seafaring pursuits.

One of the handsomest rooms on the Hohenzollern is the dining saloon. It is about twenty-five feet broad by seventy-five feet long, and accommodates eighty persons easily at its ten tables. When there is no occasion for seating so many an arrangement of portieres makes it possible to reduce the size of the room to one more compatible with coziness. It is upholstered in pale gray and white, with Inviting couches extending the whole length of the walls on one side, and innumerable electric lights to add to the beauty of the effect. In this room are some of the trophy cups won in English waters.

These are kept filled with growing plants and ferns. It is scarcely necessary to say that everything is done aboard with clockwork-like precision and attention to detail. As aboard a man-of-war, strict discipline, exceeding politeness and absolute cleanliness are indispensable, and all who have had the honor of visiting this royal yacht unanimously agree that it Is one of the most magnificent pleasure crafts afloat. TO SAILS. man who could afford It possessed himself of a pleasure craft.

But no innovations worthy distinction were introduced until 1851, which must forever remain memorable in the annals of yachting as "America" year. It brought with It a revolution in boat building, marked a departure from the old bluff-bowed type and made radical changes in the ideas of our yacht builders. First came the fin keel, then the new model with full water lines and long, easy diagonals, and then plate fin and lead bulbs to replace the plain lead fin. Now the contest of the designers is extreme beam and extreme high power against moderate beam and absolutely high power. No better index of the advances in naval architecture could be found than that given in the development and changes of types of yachts which have competed In the great international races.

The records of these races are features of yachting history and well known by every thorough yachtsman. Even within the last three years wonderful changes have been made in the construction of yachts, and in the fcnamrock and Columbia, every invention known to the science of modern yacht building has been brought into play to excite the admiration of yachtsmen and to establish the reputation of the countries involved. I fefc 1866 Jf VOLUNTEER. 1 I W) VI 01 LAriT I I "I AWT I cT i.