Now that it seems to be settled that there is to be another “international race” between English and American Yachts, this Summer, for the America’s Cup, as it is called–which, whatever else it amounts to, amounts to this, that the club holdin’ it is conceded to possess the fastest yachts–there is naturally a renewed interest attached to all yachtin’ matters, and I propose to tell what I know about international yacht races.
I have already told the story of the yacht America, and how she won the first race between American and English yachts. Since winnin’ that race the America has had quite a variety of experiences. She has passed into the hands of two English noblemen, then into the ownership of an English ship builder, then into control of an English gentleman, who changed her name to Camilla, then she was taken down to the Southern States and pressed into the Confederate service, then she was scuttled by the United States frigate Wabash in the St. Johns river, Florida, then she passed into the hands of the United States government, which used her as a practice ship for the Naval Academy and entered her in a race which she came near winnin’, and finally the glorious old yacht was sold to Ben Butler, who owns her still and says he will never part with her.
So much for the America. As for the America’s Cup, that remained in the possession of the six gentlemen who owned the America at the time of her great race, but after a lapse of years the survivors of these six made a present of the trophy to the New York Yacht Club, on the condition that it should always be regarded as only the property of that or any other club so long as that or any other club could hold it by right of sailin’ faster than any other, the competition for the cup to be open to yachts of all nations. Originally the conditions of racin’ for the cup were such that any kind of sailin’ vessels, or even steam yachts, could compete, and were otherwise so vague as to be expensive and cumbersome. Under these circumstances the New York Yacht Club finally returned the cup to Mr. George Schuyler, then the only survivor of the original six. But as that gentleman promptly modified the conditions upon which the racin’ was to be conducted, the New York Yacht Club once more received the cup and hold it still, subject to the new and “revised” conditions.
There have been various “international” yacht races for the cup since it fell into the hands of the original six Americans.
The first of these was the race between the New York yachts and the English schooner yacht, the Cambria, owned by Mr. James Ashbury, the most prominent English yachtsman up to date.
Ashbury was a haughty, dictatorial sort of a chap, “awfully English, you know,” and all that; a regular “nob,” but still an enthusiastic and liberal sportsman, havin’ plenty of money, and so, carin’ but little for it, but very greedy of glory.
On his way over to race in New York harbor for the America’s Cup, Ashbury got up a race with Bennett, who then owned the Dauntless. The two yachts raced over three thousand miles and there was only one hour and forty minutes difference between ‘em in their time of arrival; but that difference was in favor of the Cambria.
This beatin’ Bennett gave Ashbury a good send-off, and increased the interest taken in the international yacht race, which was the great event of the season fifteen years ago. Twenty-four yachts were entered to sail against the Cambria, from Van Schaick’s Jessie, a little “maiden” of only thirty tons burden, to that Jumbo of yachts, the Dauntless, of two hundred and sixty-eight tons. The harbor was crowded with vessels of all kinds to behold the race, and over two hundred thousand persons were witnesses of the excitin’ contest.
In this race the Cambria was beaten, and badly beaten. The Magic–Franklin Osgood’s yacht–came in first winner; but the Dauntless itself came in this time ahead of the Cambria, and so did the America, who was among the entries in this spirited and sensational race. The Cambria met with a serious accident to complete its misfortunes, losin’ her foretopmast off Sandy Hook. But altogether both the Cambria and Ashbury got and deserved plenty of honor, though they didn’t get the cup.
By the by, the Cambria is now, I believe, anchored off Newport, R. I., on a Summer cruise.
Ashbury, like Blaine, was death on letter writin’, and he at once wrote a card to the newspapers findin’ fault with the race. Then, like a plucky sport, he sailed back to England and had a new yacht built to try his luck for the cup a second time.
In this race with the Cambria the challengin’ English yacht had to sail against the entire New York fleet, which was hardly fair. So the conditions of the cup were changed and it was settled that after this the race was to be sailed only yacht against yacht. So Ashbury, whose new yacht, the Livonia, was now ready, issued a new challenge for the America’s Cup. But this time Ashbury “played smart,” as he thought. He got himself appointed the representative of several different English yacht clubs, took credentials from all of ‘em, and then announced that he held himself entitled to one race as the representative of each separate club, or, as he represented eight clubs, eight separate races or eight chances to win the cup.
This way of lookin’ at the matter naturally caused a howl this side of the water, and things for a while were pretty lively and not at all lovely in the way of correspondence. But finally affairs were arranged between Ashbury and the New York Yacht Club on terms which gave the decided advantage to Ashbury. Not only did the New York Yacht Club waive in this race the six months’ notice which they had by the conditions of the cup the right to demand, but they agreed to grant him seven races, the one winnin’ four races out of the seven to be the winner. And it was even arranged in his favor that in case of the six races bein’ a tie, three on each side, then Ashbury should have the right of appointin’ the course to be sailed on the seventh or decidin’ race, which last was a great point in the Englishman’s favor.
Altogether the New York Yacht Club treated the Englishman too leniently; but then the Americans remembered several little incidents in the first race with the America, which made ‘em feel kindly to the English yachtsman.
For instance, when the America was about to race an English yacht she met with an accident the very day before. This mishap was immediately repaired in the most skillful manner by English workmen under the orders of an English admiral, and nobody from the admiral down would accept any reward for this service. Then again, the America’s people were all treated in the warmest manner by the English, and lastly, the Queen and the royal family went down from London to visit the America and hobnobbed with the New Yorkers.
All this was remembered by the New York Yacht Club when arrangin’ for this second race with Ashbury, and these displays of mutual good feelin’ were the very best point about these International races.
Well, all the preliminaries bein’ settled, this second, or rather third, international yacht race for the America’s Cup took place in New York harbor, fourteen Summers ago, the Dauntless, Sappho, Palmer and Columbia bein’ selected as the American yachts to race with Ashbury’s Livonia. The Columbia, afterwards owned, I believe, by Arthur Wallack, bein’ then the property of Franklin Osgood, who owned the Magic, which originally beat Ashbury’s first yacht, the Cambria.
This International race, or rather this series of races, caused as big a stir in New York almost as those precedin’ it, and they were well sailed out, but the American yachts won easily. But Ashbury took to letter writin’ again, and to protestin’, and finally claimed a race which he hadn’t won, and for a time there was a good deal of ill-feelin’. Ashbury departed for England in a huff, and it looked as if the international race would wind up in an international row. But good sense and good feelin’ finally prevailed, and the New York Yacht Club still held the fort and the cup.
After this there was a lull in international yachtin’ for five years. Then an English major, named Gifford, loomed up with his fine schooner-yacht, the Countess of Dufferin, and he challenged the cup. There was a lot of correspondence, and finally it was agreed to sail three matches as races, the best two out of the three to take or keep the cup. The Countess accordin’ly sailed over to New York, but met with rough weather and an accident, and the first thing her owner did on reachin’ New York was to request a postponement of the race, to give him time to repair damages. The postponement was at once granted, and the repairs were so well made by American workmen that the Countess of Dufferin, in a few weeks, was in better sailin’ order than she had been originally. The Madelaine was selected to represent the New York Yacht Club, and she represented it well. She won the two out of the three races easily, and all was serene. America still kept the cup.
And it is a fact well worth recordin’ that in this race, as well as in two of the precedin’ international races, the old America figured. She was not entered for the race officially, of course, and so didn’t officially count, but at the request of Ben Butler, then her owner, the famous old yacht’s time was taken, just as a matter of curiosity, and just as a matter of fact it was found that the famous old yacht had done better sailin’ than either the Madelaine or the Countess of Dufferin. Though twenty-five years old by this time, she still outsailed the youngsters. “E’en in our ashes live our wonted fires.”
The last international race for the America’s Cup was sailed four years ago. A Captain Cuthbert, of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, was buildin’ a sloop yacht, the Atalanta, which he was certain could and would beat any American yacht afloat. He bet big money on it and he challenged the New York Yacht Club and the cup. The challenge was accepted, and such an impression was made by Cuthbert’s blowin’ about his yacht that a new sloop yacht, the Pocahontas, was ordered to to be built by Kerby, the yacht builder, of Rye, N. Y., to beat the Atalanta if possible. Cuthbert was a fussy old fellow, and he put so many “improvements” into his yacht that the work of buildin’ her was delayed and he had to ask for an extension of time. This was granted to the Englishman as a matter of courtesy, but it turned out to be a good thing for the Americans, for it gave ‘em time to experiment with this Pocahontas, which had been built expressly to beat the Atalanta, and to find out that she was n. g., and so the yacht Mischief was selected to represent the New Yorkers in her place.
And yet, after all this fuss and all Captain Cuthbert’s blowin’, it turned out, when the race really took place, that the Atalanta was a comparatively poor sailor, so poor that the only interest attachin’ to the race was so far as the relative merits of the Mischief and some other American Yachts which accompanied her, notably the Gracie, were concerned. The Mischief, for instance, beat the Atalanta by over an hour, but beat the Gracie by hardly five minutes.
Such, up to date, has been the story of international yachtin’ in the bay of New York. What additions are to be made to it this season remain to be seen.
[Editor’s notes: James Lloyd Ashbury’s fortune was made as the founder of a Manchester-based rail car and iron factory. He took up yachting for his health. Ashbury served one term in the House of Commons following his America’s Cup races. His complaints against the unfairness of these races created bitter feelings, but nearly a hundred and fifty years after the fact, he was voted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame for helping to improve the competition.
In later life he had business failures, and faded into obscurity. He overdosed on the opiate chlorodyne, perhaps purposely, at age 61.]
