The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 4, 1899, Page 1

SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1899. PRICE FIVE CENTS. FIRST STRUGGLE FOR THE AMERICA’'S CUP RESULTS IN A DRIFTING CONTEST. Just Enough Wind to Demonstrate That the Columbia Is Well Qualified to Prevent the Trophy’s Capture by D+otTII 4 T4+ 044040404546 4424544404404 2404548494049 THE COLUMBIA. V3 1 b Y bbb eb b bbb bbb b bobiboddobid @+P404840404040404840464040404040 40 e b i R e S T L T rewe-Y ull and eails of the Colur ed, so starved on that the starting line that a ken out of the cra against a lumpy ed wind power to drive a h. all the {1l luck and all the e imposed upon her, ed her quality to the concerned. Experts declared em- show on of all the race hamrock. and pointed nt. She cer- ck with wind, of y min: one sail and up this good time a breeze from ow. came the thrill. , wh racht were rela- v elated. To the first it looked as ugh the battle had been lost, and ooked to the other as though vie- y was to be gained. And while they king about it a partial wind down the Columbia’s way and ng slightly to laggard breezes the cup defender, gathering headway al- st as quickly as an arrow starts from jts bow, darted through the blue water sentient with cup responsibility. The Shamrock’s wind still held fair t she can outpoint and< on the backward run did get Into a| huddl re of that. the [CorumMBIA RoUNDS STAKE BoaT| |ANP BREAKS ouT SPINNAKER BOTH YACHMTS MOmMEwWARD BOUND, SPINMAKERS SET « PASSES (SLUMBIA | : e FOXTETAQDISA T AT R R A KK way by a tor-! did not go afloat to-d ed yachting picture under looked as though they had for the day and purpose. Flags snapped gaily to the lash of the morning wind and everywhere was brightness, light and animation. That was in the early foreno when the wind held out a promi | Shamrock day, a {and flowing seas,” instead of ligh fluky airs with which it closed. The excursion | group. Through th | marine construct . | stately ocean-goi: spirit- which een painted to no ef- £ were needed. | 1 Evans has already asked that | of offendifiy eaptains be | and motley | nd appar- | Here | of the| seen, and near by s of the | layman , and one had the | e the great rpedo boats | r John C. Porter, the ded during the war | an intact and jealous squadron, whose owners and charter- ers looked askance at strange held mightily that there acht race rights a: utsiders ought to respect. As to the crowds the vessels it is to be hoped that no one's feelings | will be hurt when it is said that the i yre were themselves a spectacle. They were th; because of t vachts, but had these racing machines been swallowed up by the sea or melted into vapor the excursion crowd would 11 have been a sight well worth a second look and well a plan. But h ite crossed the line bef fleet took definite sha: nont on his flagship, comman 1 Spain, led carried, | to the west- | éxcursion craft boomed f ing to the racers that the limit of kept all seaward cra s had expired an the contesting therefore, had a them and an he other side £t ¢r the line and »m approach- | chts. The racers, ar course before unobstructed wind be- . and with two s of excursion | chances to see. There craft on it not near |jittle about it, nothing at enough interfere with |as numbers went. The either. ( the same pre- | thusiast, with b -y, better known as “Fight- | caution was taken to see that neither s and his aunts, was there and deeply £ of the yachts was in any way ob- | interested they all were in the outcome structed. But desplite the distance from | of that struggle for the cup. which they were Kept from the course| And many other enthusiasts — those none of the ex ts can complain | who cannot distinguish a fin keel from of not having 2 fair sight of the|a spinnaker boom—were there besides. contest. Stret it in long lines | these mainiy hable by that their view was as u structed as was | riot-provoking style of headgear which the course of the ra yachts. | those who follow yachting by reading The weether was ne as any ex- l about it so much affect. All were ex- cursionist could ask, and those who uberant, and if any missed enjoyment b,” and the revenue service of Treasury Department. taking good The course at all times clear as far as a sail might fare. en the racers and excursion fleet The three or four which up to windward of the yachts 0000000000000 0000C0C0O0OC000000000000000CCCCCCCCCCO00COD o [ Q0000C00QO0000Q000000000N000V0V0D and had apparently as much 5‘::::311:100000000000000990 THE CALL STILL AHEAD WITH WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. Was the First Paper in the World to Use the New System for Gathering News. TWO MINUTES—That s all that elapsed between the happenings of events in yesterday’'s big yacht race and the time people were reading about them on The Call's bulletin boards, three thousand miles away from where Marconi was ticking off the messages by wireless telegraphy. Over one hundred and fifty of these spe- cial bulletins were sent. each one of them describing some big change In the yacht race, and not one of them had to be repeated beca of inaccurracy. UCH A FEAT W NEVER BEFORE ACCOMPLISHED IN SENDING MESSAGES. SCIENTISTS ND EXPERT TELEGRAPHERS ARE DISCUSSING IT AS THE BIGGEST WONDER SINCE MORSE STARTED HIS SYSTEM. v This whole wonderful feat !s the outcome of The Call's original experiments in that line, with a view to heralding before all others the approach of the California Volunteers from Manila. So successful were these experiments that the New York Herald proposed to The Call to utilize them in reporting the big international yacht race. Mr. Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy, was accordingly !nvited to America by The Cail- Herald to supervise the handling of the wireless telegraph reports of the race. The experiment was regarded of such high scientific value by our Government that it detaifled naval officers to accompany The Call-Herald spe- cial boat and report on the work with a view to adopting the system into the navy. The immense success of the dispatches yesterday under all the adverse conditions and the excitement of an international yacht race has shown conclusively that wireless telegraphy is going to revolutionize the old system of sending telegraph dispatches. Mr. Marconi, from the steamer Ponce, sent his wireless messages to the Highlands. Some of these trav- eled fifteen miles through the air and consumed one minute of time to prepare them for transmission. Another minute was consumed in sending the messages from the Highlands across the continent 3000 miles to The Call business office. Those who read these bulletins may not know it, but they were witnessas of one of the greatest feats ever done in telegraphy, and a feat that marks a new epoch in the history of sending dispatches. THE CALL WAS THE FIRST PAPER IN THE WORLD TO USE THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY TO REPORT THE NEWS. 3 CeQ00QC000000000000000C00C00000000000! CO0CO00COC000000000N0CCO000 CO0VOOOD00 PR ROR TR SR SR P RRR AR SR SER SRR SR SR SP S SR SR Jo TSES KRS { her No. 2 jib topsail. Shamrock. @+ 404440440 PHI4ISIIHI4I4 04 THE SHAMROCK. eleventh cup challenger {s owned and man- Thomas Lipton of London and member v ub of Belfast, Ulster Yacht f handling her i ward area as per rule. as per rule...... ¢4+ SH @ + Ire- @v&“:»b@‘@Q@-Q@‘-?0*0!0% d point of point of Qbididadodiosibidisotad R e R R S =Y 1. COLUMBIA iIN THE LEAD L J end, as ever sa TECHNICAL STORN- OF FiE | FIRST CONTEST W YORK, O;tj;.—'l'he Shamrock, towed by the tug Lawrence, was zhe_ f the yachts to leave Sandy Hook | ¢ began at o to hoist | o put two battens in | the leach as it went up and at 10 o’clock the y: d away on the starboard sail. Wringe, were Crawford York Yacht Club. neanwhile, under jib tack, came tain Herreshoff, William Butler Dun- can Jr., Captain Woodbury Kane, Her- bert Leeds, Newbury Thorne and Hugh Kelly, secreta of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, representing that club on board the Columbia. The wind at this time was northeast by north, blowing about twelve miles an hour. Both yachts set their club s at 10:30, the Columbia’s men ng their sails smarter than the t 10:45 the committee boat, Walter Luckenb: , in charge of 8. Nicholson Kane, came to anchor a cable length east of Sandy Hook lightship and im- mediately hoisted the compass signal, signifying that the course would be south southwest. Ten minutes later | the Shamrock's crew rigged their spin- naker boom out to port, all ready to set that sail. Promptly at 11 o'clock the prepara- tory signal—a blue peter—was set on board the committee boat, and two red balls hoisted on the triatic stay. At the same time a tug staried to lead off the course of fifteen miles to leeward. Dur- ing the interval of fifteen minutes be- tween the preparatory and the ‘start- ing signals the skippers of both yachts maneuvered to the northward of the starting line. Both stuck close to the lightship, and five minutes before the starting signal the balloon jib topsail was set up in steps on the Columbia’s stay. The Shamrock t up 2 No. 2 topsail about the same time. At one minute before the start the Shamrock was approaching the line ward and the Columbia stward. When thirty sec- e left the Shamrock. which had line with boom to port, gybed to starboard just as the Co- lumbia, with boom to port, rounded the west end of the line and began easing. Captain Hogarth, however, had his boat several lengths in the lead, and just as the signal was given he gybed the Shamrock again, crossing the line thir- ty-seven seconds after the signal. The official time of the start was: Shamrock, 11:15 Columbia, 11:16:20. The Shamrock had the better of the start by forty-three seconds. As the Columbia crossed the line she broke out At 11:17 the Co- | Inmbia’s snirnaker hlossomed omt to port and she began at once to overhaul the Shamrock. "For some reason Cap- | tain Hogarth did not see fit to set the Shamrock’s spinnaker until four min- utes after the Columbia had set hers, but as soon as it was set the emerald- hued boat began to hold her own with the Columbia, the yachts being then not more than three lengths apart. At 11:55 the Coiumbia’s bowsprit was just overlapping the Shamrock’s starboard ' SATESTESA A SRS AT AT AT R RSk the wind shifted to the northwest. The Columbia, being in- shere, caught it first. The crew took in the spinnaker shortly. Captain Barr gybed her 1 and ba nbia’s wake, the starboard matter mu garth or ( Shamrock's f a mile ahead. At 1:17 he set E on the Columbia to star- ame down for the outer not more than a six- he spinnaker again the wind having northward, and her boom was gybed to starboard and her balloon jib top: trimmed. Th Shamrock had gybed five minutes be- fore, but she was not gaining any up to this time. Approaching the outer mark the Colu a crew doused the balloon jib t il smartly. and as they rounded the mark, a at bearing a red ball with a white st which ‘had to be left on the starboard hand, the big main boom swung over to port, all sheets were trimmed flat on the star- board tack, and the Columbia thus be- gan her fifteen miles of windward work. The time taken at the outer mark as each yacht luffed around it was: Co- lumbia, 1:37:57; Sham 2 . So it will be seen by the official fig- ures that in the run of fifteen miles from'the start to the outer mark the Columbia outsailed the Shamrock two minutes forty-four seconds. Her elaps- ed time to this point was 2:21:37; Shamrock, 2:24:21. Captain Barr kept the Columbia on the inshore tack for two minutes forty- five seconds after rounding the mark when he let her come about to the port tack, setting the baby jib topsail as she filled away. In twenty seconds he swung her about again. The Sham- rock, meanwhile, stood off on the star- board tack two minutes and twelve sec- onds, when Skipper Hogarth put her about and began his windward work in earnest with the Bristol boat. The wind was now northeast-north, and on the port tack both yachts were head- ing with sheets trimmed down flat within four points of the wind, which had now increased to about ten miles. It was not steady, however,” and its flukiness became apparent at 1:55, when {t began heading off the Columbia. The Shamrock tacked to starboard at 1:56, spinning around on her heel in fifteen seconds, from full to full, but to the astonishment of the thousands who witnessed the Columbia’s next tack, fifteen seconds later, she swung around in the almost incredibly short space of ten seconds, timed by a stop watch. Captain Hogarth, apparent feeling confident that by a series of short tacks he could get to the windward of the Columbis, put the Shamrock about four times in three minutes and forty sec- onds. Captain Barr followed suit and his nimble crew trimmed sheets just as fast as those on the Shamrock and when they both settled down to steady work again at 2:14 the Columbia was still well in the lead and gaining. Captain Hogarth thought it best at 2:20 to split tacks with his antagonist, so he put the Shamrock on the port tack, thinking the Columbia would not fol- low, but she did, and when the latter yacht tacked at 2:21:35 she was nearly hauled back t