The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 8, 1895, Page 1

SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY MORNIN G, SEPTEMBER 8, 1895—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENTS. CAPTAIN HAFF GUIDED THE AMERICAN SINGLE-STICKER TO VICTORY. NEW YORK, N. Y., Sept. 7.—All hail the Defender! The aluminum and bronze boat defeated the Valkyrie III eight min- utes and forty-nine seconds in the first of the races for the America cup to- Twenty thousand people on the flotilla that ever assembled off Hook witnessed the race, and ther as 8 | scene of hilarious joy when the Defender | crossed the line fully two miles ahead of | Lord Dun n's boat. ed by the fa rie led the Yankee boat for t She walked away from the I hat led Englishm ¥ their day had com visions of the Ameri r eyes, while the p: theater when the boa the joys of yachti the showed her he enthusiasm hour when the . Cheers | r a full | many hundreds of craft left New York crowded to their utmost capacity. There s no blue sky to gladden the excursion- ists’ hearts, but an occasional bright streak at least gave them hope. As early as 7:30 o’clock in the morning the harbor began to show signs of festivity. Gaily bedecked steamers were anchored at every pier taking on their load of an freight. The starting line of the race was over thirty miles from the city, |and those wishing to be on hand when the racers were sent off on their struggle for the cup had got under way by 9 A. . All the excursion boats had left their | docks at that hour. Steam sailing yachts with owners and guests aboard got under way early, too, at was leading. | and were among the first to reach the scene | Turn : Corrected time: in San Francisco. OFFICIAL TIMES. START—Defender, 12:20:50 ; Valkyrie, 12:20:46. Defender, 3:36:29 ; Valkyrie, 3:39:52. Finish : Defender, 5:21:14 ; Valkyrie, 5:29:30. Elapsed time : Defender, 5:00:24 ; Valkyrie, 5:08:44., Defender, 4:59:55 ; Valkyrie, 5:08:44. Defender won by 8 minutes and 49 seconds. of the day’s battle. Tugboats chartered for the day by people not opulent enough | to own ocean-going steam yachts, but too | exclusive to mingle with the promiscuous |'throng on the excursion steamers, were | out in great numbers. They poked their noses into the billows APPROXIMATE IHEER Pran APPROX TATE oy smie SeCTION: TRULY TEE CUP DEFENDER IS THIS GREAT HERRESHOFF CREATION. There was only a five-knot breeze at the start, and, as predicted in these dis- patches, the Valkyrie was going through he water faster than the Defender in the light air, There was a lumpy sea on and quite a swell came in from the ocean, but | the buffeting of the waves against the Britisher’s boat did not keep her back. | She outpointed and outfooted the Herres- | hoff boat to the amazement of the great | crowd of spectators. But after establishing a lead of a good quarter of a mile, the wind having frésh- ened, the cup challenger failed to hold her own and the Yankee yacht began to gain. When the crowd saw it there was a gen- | eral brightening up, and as it became plain that the product of American brains | was picking up her rival a cheer went up | and tugboat whistles screeched. As both yachts were beating to wind- ward, it is impossible to say just when the Defender overhauled the British boat, but it was about 1:25 p. M. when the boats had covered nearly half of the 15 miles of wind- ward work. Once the Defender got her | gait there was no catching her, and, as the wind continued to freshen, she opened up a very large gap between her stern and the bow of Lord Dunraven’s boat. | When the Defender reached the outer mark she had an advantage of three min- utes and twenty-seven seconds. There was a big demonstration as the Yankee boat made the turn. The wind having shifted the run home became a broad reach and it was a constant gain for the | gallant American boat. Going home the | gain was four minutes and fifty - three seconds. With the time allowance of twenty-nine seconds, the Defender’s victory was eight minutes forty-nine seconds. The wind was ten knots at the finish. The day’s race showed tbat the Valkyrie III moved like a ghost in a wind of less than six knots, and that she seemed speedier than | the Defender in that wind. It also showed | that with a wind of from eight toten knots in both windward work and broad reaching, the English boat could not Keep the pace set by the Defender. Both yachts were somewhat interfered with by the attendant fleet, but the patrol yachts kept a fairly clear course except at the start and finish. The outlook early this morning for ideal racing weather was not at all encouraging ¥ the many thousands of persous who had made up their minds to witness the first of the great international ~aces. Despite an ominous-looking sky and an easterly ; breeze, the dread of the landlubber, the A VAST THRONG OF ENTHUSIASTIC AMERICANS WITNESSED THE FINISH OF THE GREAT RACE BETWEEN Y BYLLETIN which seemed ever ready to engulf them | and made more noise with their whistles | than boats of a respectable size. The pro- | cession down the bay, though somewhat | obscured by the haze which hung over the water, was one of the sights of the day. Slow boats starting first were passed by faster ones which left the city later, and the line of vessels was one of kaleidoscopic | changes. The fleet of steam yachts anchored off Bay Ridge and along Staten Island shore | of the bay moved out one by one and joined the passenger steamers 1n the chan- nel outward bound. The finest floating | palaces in American waters were in the procession, and the passengers on doilar- a-head excursion-boats, who found them- selves sandwiched in between the yachts of the Astor and Vanderbilt families, con- cluded that they were in the swim at last. On the club steamers yachtsmen, with rakish caps and gold embroidery, were nu- merous. They were accompanied by | yachtswomen in rigs as marvelous of de- sign as the combination aluminum and bronze creations whose performance they were going to witness. The patrol division, the steam yacht Alicia, Captain H. M. Flagler, the flagship, was quite a formidable fleet. It consisted of twelve handsome yachts and might be said to have been more ornamental than useful. If blowing of whistles constituted the duty of the patrols, then they did their duty nobly. The patrols were the first to come down the bay. They made their rendezvous at first near the Sandy Hook lightship, where they attempted to keep the boats half a mile from the starting line, but finally gave it up. The boats formed a cluster so close to the line that for a moment it seemed impossible for the racers to reach the start without fouling a dozen or more craft. ‘When the announcement was made of a change of course, the great fleet of attend- ing craft took up anchor and sailed for the new course. The patrol got lost in the maze of boats, and but little was seen of them for the rest of the day. The Defender was the first of the two racers to-make a sail. Both anchored in- side of Sandy Hook, in the Horseshoe over night, and were near at hand this morn- ing. The Defender sent up her sail at 8:50 and took a line from the tug Wallace. On the way out to the lightship her club top- sail was sent aloft and her jib broken out. She used a suit of ramie-cloth sails of a yellow tinge, excepting the club topsail. which was snow white. The Defender’s sides are a pale biue since her last painting and her appearance was less beautiful than in the trial races, when sails and hulls were pure white. Her sails set better to-day than in any of her races with the Vigilant, and that they did good work is shown by the result of the race. On her were the happy family which has practically lived on board for the last two months. There were C. Oliver Iselin, Mrs. Iselin, Wood- bury Kane, Herbert C. Leeds and New- berry Thorne. David Henderson, of the Anchor Line, was on board as the repre- sentative of Lord Dunraven. Designer Nat Herreshoff was also there. Captain Hank Haff wasat the wheel and the yellow dog, Sandy, played mascot. The Valkyrie left her anchorage at 9:10 in tow of the White Star tug Pulver. She had her mainsail up and her jib and stay- sail in stops. When off the point of the Hook her jib topsail was sent aloft. It was a trifle larzer than the similar sail carried by tbe Defender. On her decks were Lord Dunraven, his two daughters, the Lady Rachel Quin and Lady Wind- ham Quin, Archie Goodwin, Designer ol —— Watson, Sailmaker Ratsey and H. Mait. land Kersey. Captains Cranfield and Sycamore were at the tiller. Her sails were well fitting Story of the Defeat of the Valkyrie Il by the Defender as Wired From New York and Retold by “The Call’s” Model Yachts count, boats, big and little, 8 number of large coasting vessels and sloops and schooners, and yvachts of all classes. The most impreseive of all the fleet was the steam yacht Division. Such a gathering pever before was witnessed in American waters. There were over thirty of the finest and fastest steamm yachts afloat, and their spick and span appearance lent much charm to the day’s scene. When the flotilla first approached the Sandy Hook lightship were spread out over a distance of two they | | extent. As the yachts moved along some of the flotilla grew bolder and bolder, and came closer and closer to the racers until shamed off by the shouts from other crafts of the fleet. The steamboat John Sylvester was notably one of the offenders and paid absolutely no attention to the shouts of warning from the committee boat. The Sylvester passed dangerously near to the stern of the sloops just after the start and sent a big wash into their water. 1t was an interesting journey down to the stakeboat. Bands played, happy ex- cursionists sanz and rent the air with yells for the Deferder. At the turn the flect steamed ahead and stood by for the vachts to round. As the Defender went around with her big balloon jib fying to the wind a mighty salute was sent forth and kept up for several minutes. The fleet joined the sloops in the reach for home. They divided their attention between the racers, and were spread out for a mile. miles. The delay at the start allowed | They were to the leeward of the yachts, time for all the belated craft to come up, | and consequently did not bother them so and they clustered close to each other, | much as they did to the beat to the first and set without a wrinkle. Both yachts kept their tows to Sandy Hook lightship. They arrived there at 10:40. Their tenders followed them out in case any changes in sails or spars should be decided upen. The wind at 10:45 was from the northeast, and the regatta committee decided to change the starting point, as a mile course to windward would strike the Long Island shore about Long Beach. Signals were sent up and the committee boat started south toward the Jersey shore. The yachts followed in tow of their tugs. The fleet of steam yachts made a race for the new starting point and the excursion fleet followed. ‘the gathering of the immense flotilla about the starting line was one of the most animated and magnificent marine spec- tacles of its kind ever witnessed in these waters, Every available craft had been pressed into service. There were tugs almost too numerous to VALKYRIE III AS SEEN ON «THE CALL’S” MINIATURE COURSE YESTERDAY. AMERICA CUP. VALEYRIE III OF THE LORD DUNRAVEN SYNDICATE, DEFEATED IN THE FIRST RACE FOR THE now and then narrowly escaping serious collision. The action of some of the flotilla was shameful, to say the least. Their selfish endeav ors to hug the starting line to the detriment of both yachts was deplorable and un-American. The movement of the big flotilla when the change of course was made was an im- pressive scene. The first known of the change of course. was when the judges’ boat took up her anchor and headed with the two racers toward the Jersey shore. In a few minutes the fleet was headed in the same direction, and as it moved along stretched out in a long line, calculated over two miles in length. After the yachts started the fleet gave chase, and owing to the light wind the slowest craft was able to keep abreast of the racing sloops. There were crafts fore and aft, to the port and to star- board, and the wash interfered with the progress of both boats to a more or less THE DEFENDER AND turn. It was a long trip to the boat, many of the boats running ahead for advan- tageous positions. When the judges’ boat arrived it found the course absolutely blocked. After considerable work it was —— e LEV] STRAUSS cofigg’zfi OVERALLS - AND SPRING BOTTOM PANTS. EVERY PAIR GUARANTEED: FOR SALE EVERYWHERE. SMOKE La Belle Greole CIGARS, 3 for 260--10c Straight--2 for 250 ASK DEALERS FOR THEM. RINALDO BROS. & CO., Pacific Coast Agents, 300-302 BATTERY ST, S. F,