happy about the massive unglossy black and polished co dertaking. The exposure of perfection for the social whirl at Cowes in England's Isle of new ideas co the crowds it would draw made a scene rife Wight, where the hospitality with opportunities for trouble. and presumed racing ri valry of the Royal Yacht Squadron But they could not stay away, for these vulgar English were awaited them. Butwhilechehospicalitywas the super power of the world. there, as Lord Wilton, comAs for ViccoriaandAlbert, they knew they had co involve the modore of the Squadron, had public from the outset. So promised Stevens, no one could 30,000 attended the opening, be found to race the America and before the Exhibition for the steep wagers Stevens ended its five-month run over offered. America had sailed 6 million people had come co Approaching Sandown Bay, America, now well ahead ofthefleet, receives right through the fast cutter three cheers ftom fellow countrymen watching the race ftom their vessel. marvel at chumping steam enLaverock when the cutter came (''Three Cheers for America, " by Tim Thompson, courtesy the artist) out from Cowes to meet her, gines, clicking telegraphs, blazBelow, George Steers accepted the impossible challenge of designing an and chat may have put a damper ing electric lights and ocher ocean-going vessel that could beat all comers. on things. Finally, on 8 Auwonders of the age. Six million people was over ten times the population of the City of New gust, Wilton wrote co invite Stevens co enter America for the New York Yacht Club ina race around theisleofWight fora "hundredYork! And across the ocean , on 1 May 1851, the day chat Victoria guinea cup" put up by the Royal Yacht Squadron "co be sailed for opened the Great Exposition, Jam es Gordon Bennett's New York by vessels of all rigs and nations" on 22 August, just rwo weeks Herald announced chat the well-known shipbuilder William H. lacer. Stevens accepted. The buildup had been incense. Syndicate member Colonel Brown "has finished his yacht for the World's Fair." le was also noted chat she would shortly "test her powers of sailing in a match Harrison, who came from Paris co join the America before the race, reported chat Horace Greeley had warned him co withdraw the with Mr. Stevens' yacht Maria. " Now Maria was a huge sloop with a 95-fooc main boom, America, or if they persisted and lost, not co bother coming home. Friday, 22 August opened with light airs, but things picked up almost as long as the vessel herself. Her 97-fooc hull was just rwo enough co make the srart at lOAM. Mainsails were co be feet longer than America's, and it looked somewhat like the schooner's-but there all similarity ended. She hoisted at the warning gun, 9:5 5-then, at the sran, anchors were co be weighed while full sail was set. spread 7,890 square feet of sail, 50 percent more Unaccustomed co the strong Solem tides, than America's 5,263. And chis acreage of canAmerica overrode her anchor as the making vas was carried on a flat-bottomed hull drawwest wind drove her forward against the last ing only five feet! She used a cumbersome of the west-turning ebb. She had co lower centerboard to get co windward, and was sail, gee the anchor up and then chase afte r difficult ro control in a breeze. An ouc-andche fourteen competitors ahead of her. out racing machine, she was in no way a fie These ranged from vessels of half co rwice match for an ocean-going schooner like her size. America. Owned by Stevens, principal of The race was without time allowances che America syndicate, she had been defor size or sail area. Her opposite numbers signed by his mechanically gifted brother carried three jibs and club topsails over huge, Robert, who also designed the T-shape rail baggy main and foresails. America, having arused in railroads today. Stevens himself sailed rived with her simple rig of main, foresail and her in the test matches against the America in jib, had added a flying jib on a jibboom extending which, after some fumbles, the raptor ace up her beyond her bowsprit, presumably to meet Scevens's designated prey, and George Schuyler was cold co fears about her performance in light airs. H e need not offer $20,000 cash for the America rather than the agreed $30,000, si nce she'd failed co beat Maria . T he builder had li ctle have worried. By the time America reached the Nab lightship at the ease end of the Isle of Wight, she had sailed through the fleet and choice but co accept. None of the America's syndicate were available for the crans- into the lead. T he course had been mostly downwind, sharpening Adancic passage, so George Steers was invited co fill their places. up co a reach coward the Nab as the coast trended southward. On With him he brought his older brother James and James's rwo the run, America caught all but four boats, slipping through the sons, making up a complement of fifteen, under the redoubtable water on an even keel with no visible fuss . On the reach, getting her skipper Richard Brown, owner of America's prototype, the pilot powerful quarters down into it, she began co show what she could schooner Mary Taylor. After an uneventful 20-day crossing, the do. The Times of London in its comprehensive report noted how vessel put in at Le Havre. There Commodore Stevens and his she performed when the wind got up, "with all sails set as flat as a brother Edwin joined the schooner, which was hauled, painted a drumhead, and without any careening or staggering, she 'walked SEA HISTORY 97, SUMMER 2001
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