Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/823

* YACHT. 699 YACHT. is illustrative of the growth of yachting in Amer- ica. In 1S50 an English merchant wrote to friends in America suggesting that one of New York's famous pilot boats be sent to J'^ngland to take part in certain J'acht races that were to be sailed dining the time of a great international exposi- tion to be lield in London in 18.51. In answer to this invitation a syndicate of members of the New York Y'aclit C'lnb built the schooner Amcr- icii, of 170 tons measurement. The .Imcrica. ar- rived at Covves, England, on July 31, IS.")!, and on August 22d sailed against l.") vaehts belong- ing to the Royal Y'aclit Squadron in a race around the Isle of Wiglit. The tleet included cutters of from 47 to lit.'5 tons and schooners of from 75 to 3!)2 tons, and there was no time al- lowance for either rig or size. The prize, a silver cup. valued at £100, which the Royal Y'acht Squadron luid offered for a race free to the yachts of all nations, was won by the America. The owner of the America presented this cup (July 8, 18.'j7) to the New Y'ork Yacht Club, to be held thereafter as the trophy of the yachting suprem- acy of the world. With the construction and the victory of the Awerica began the evolution of the modern racer. The Avirtica was designed by George Steers. Her distinguishing features were: A sharp, vertical-wedge bow that showed slight hollows in its lines ; the centre of buoyancy well aft ; the turn of the bilges high. The sections showed great deadrise with straight lines from the bilges to the garboards ; her heel was low imder water, and her toe well up ; her sails were cut to stand Hat and were laced to booms to keep them so. The British yacht of the d.ay had a 'cod's head and a mackerel tail;' the centre of buoyancy was well forward; the under-water body was round like a barrel; the sails were of loose-woven flax that bagged like a purse net. Thomas Waterman, a British designer, had built a yacht, the Mosquito, on lines remotely similar to those of the America, but his countrymen had ignored him. When the America had beaten every yacht they matched against her, however, the British yachtsmen at once began lengthening the bows of their racers and flattening their canvas.. But before the im- provements then begun could be fully carried out by British yachtsmen, an arbitrary rule of meas- urement was adopted that greatly influenced yacht-designers. Because large yachts had obvious advantages in races "with small ones, unless the wind was light and variable, the British yachtsmen agreed to handicap the big ones by a number of seconds for each ton of diti'erence in custom-house meas- urement. The rule for obtaining this measure- ment was: Subtract the breadth of the hull from the length of the keel, multiply the remainder by the breadth of the hull, that product by half the breadth, and divide the final product by 94. The rule was fair enough at that time, because the hull was usually half as deep as it was wide, and the length of the interior space that could have been conveniently used for storing cargo was about equal to the length of the keel less the breadth of hull. But a way to evade the rule and build a large ship that should show the tonnage of, and be classed with, a small one, had been found before the rule was adopted. Vol. XX.— 45. The cutter Cygnet { 1846) bad a water-line length of SI feet, but, because her sternpost raked for- ward and her stem aft, her keel was less than 43. Th(' Ci/finet melliod of maintaining size and re- ducing toiuiage became popular. The rule was therefore cllanged, and the length of the yacht was measured from stem to sternpost on deck. Since 1878 the length has been measured on the water line. But while tiie length was measured on deck, the designers began to build an exten- sion to the hull beyond the sternpost, thus ob- taining a long shi|) that would yet show a small measurement, and that extension, or overhang, is still jiopular. Because the rule assumed the depth to be one- half the beam, and thus taxed beam twice and h'ft dei)th untaxed, the designers, in their efforts to produce large ships that would class with small ones, pinched the beam and added to the depth and length. Thus the 5-ton Doris (1885) was 33 feet 8 inches long on the water line, 5 feet 7 inches beam, and 7 feet draught; she spread lllG feet of canvas and her displacement (the true measure of size) was 1'2.55 tons. Y'et she was classed with the Diamond (1873), that was only 25 feet 3 inches on the water line, spread 671 feet of canvas, and displaced 4.92 tons. Models like that of the Doris, however, wrought an im- provement in ballasting. The designers first sub- stituted iron ore for the shingle of the old times, and then used lead which they bolted under the keel. As the centre of gravity of the hull was thus lowered it was possible to increase the sail area — a decided step in advance. In America the racing model came from the small boat, usuall}' a sloop or cathoat, formerly called a sandbagger or skimming-dish. This had great width in proportion to its length, and ex- tremely shoal draught. A centreboard ( a plank on edge that could be moved up and down through a slot in the keel) gave lateral plane. When the first challenger for the America's cup — James Ashbury's schooner Camhria — met the fleet of the New Y'ork Y'acht Club (August 8, 1870), the swiftest of the defenders were yachts developed from the broad and shoal hulls of the sandbagger sloops. The schooner Magic led the fleet. She was 79 feet long on the water line, 20.5 feet beam, drew 6.25 feet of water, and measured 92.2 tons. The Cambria was 98 feet long on the water line, 21 wide, drew 12 feet of water, and measured 248 tons. Each was a type of its nation, and the race thci'efore had no direct influence on American racing models. But the race had a tremendous inllucnce on American yachting. As a national sport in America yachting began with these races. Within ten years after the defeat of the Cmn- iria there were three series of races for the Amer- ica's cup without changing the conditions influ- encing the American type of model. Keel yachts were built in America for cruising, and the ^' index, the first American yacht that was laid down without a whittled model, and the first American iron yacht, was built at Chester, Pa., on lines similar to the British Mosquito. But for racing the skimming-dish model retained its popularity. In 1881, however, a British cutter of deep and narrow hull was imported — the Madge. She was 46 feet 1 inch long over all, 38 feet 9 inches on