Cambria. She was now a venerable 19, and a ladyw irh a shady pasr. Having had a success io n ofBrirish owners, she was sold ro run rh e Northern blockade ofCharlesro n, rhen scu rried up a river ro avoid caprure, recovered , and pur ro work for rhe U nion navy as an armed schoo ner hunting blockade runners. Rebuilr as a privare yachr afrer rh e war, she was rerigged wirh uprighr masrs, added ropmasr and jibboom and a wa rdrobe of mainsail, foresail, sraysa il , jib, jib ropsail, fo re and main ropsails and fisherman sraysaila far cry indeed from rh e main , fore, jib and single small ro psail wirh which she'd won rhe C up, afre r discarding her English flying jib. She m ay have sailed fas rer under rhis rowering rig, which cerrainly called fo r much added weighr in ballasr, bur o ne co uld wish she had sailed in her original simple, shorr pilor schooner garb. Orher challenges followed, from rwo crude Canadian boars sailed by rheir builder Caprain C urhbert, ro rhe lavishly o urfitted plank-on-edge cutter Galatea sailed by rerired Royal Navy Lieurenanr William H enn, among o rh er challengers. Meanwhile rhe New York Yachr C lub liberal ized irs procedures ro have boar-forboar races wirh no subsrirurions ro suir different wind co ndirions, and srarred ro run a series of races rarher rhan sraking rhe ourcome on a single race. Lord Dunraven's challenges of 1893 and 1895 in rwo propherically named Valkyries fin ally came near lifring rhe C up in huge exrrem e sloops from rhe board of a des igner who knew his business, Scorland's famed G. L. Warson. Narhanael H erreshoff, rhe Wizard of Brisro l, Rhode Island, had begun his unparalleled career of building Cup defenders wirh Vigilant, one of a new breed of big sloop which soon began pushing rhe envelope wirh gigantic rigs and heavy keels, which rhe Brirish learned ro march. Herreshoff des igned rhe new Universal Rule ro exclude rhese exrrem e boars. The Yacht Club adopred the rule for all rheir races except the C up races-rhe America's C up races should be an extreme contesr. Dunraven's challenges turned out robe a death ride worthy of the valkyries, goddesses who chose who was ro die in batde. H e won one race by a narrow margin, but the result was thrown out on protest on the grounds thar he had fouled and damaged the rig of rhe American Defender. Phorographs proved Valkyrie was in rhe wrong. The American manager, Oliver Iselin, offered ro re-sail rhe race, but Dunraven insisted that Defender be disqualified. Dunraven rhen accused the Americans of chearing by secrerly re-ballasring rheir boar, a serious enough matter ro call for a selecr panel which found rhe charge baseless. Mounting a publiciry barrage of complaints, 24
Dunraven then wirhdrew from rhe series. Things looked bad for the friend ly ri valry rh ar the C up races were supposed ro promore. In 1899, however, a remarkable British grocer, Thomas Li pron, challenged in rhe firsr of a series of five boats named Shamrock, culminaring in rhe glorious Shamrock V which srill sails roday. Li pron, born roan Irish family in Sco rland, grew up in poverry and emigrared in his teens ro rhe US, where he worked in a New York grocery sro re. Rerurning ro Sco rland ar age 19, he opened a grocery of his own which soon became a chain of srores. He capitalized on rhis ro invesr in exrensive adve rrising, and expanded his operarions ro operaring rea plantarions in Ceylon, rhe origins ofLipron 's rea, which adverrising made famous. Herreshoff' s grear sloop Columbia won in bo rh lighr airs and srrong, bur Shamrock, from rhe Scottish W illiam Fife's board, by no means disgraced herself in hard-fo ughr racing, and rhe series was reckoned a glorious success-nor leasr by Lipron, who became rhe roasr of rhe rown. Columbia defended again in 1901 , againsr Shamrock II, designed by rhe Scottish Warson, which losr in rhree very close races, rhe last by jusr 41 seconds. In 1903 Fife's Shamrock III was beaten by H erreshoff's magnificent Reliance, which sailed under a cloud of canvas, larger rhan any contestant for the America's Cup before or since, sustained by a 20-foot-deep lead mine of a keel. Shamrock IV, a radical design by rhe English Charles N icholson, sailed over ro race in 191 4, and losr in five successive races held in 1920. World War I had cost the West much of its optimism and millions of yo ung lives in the intervening years. But Li pron would nor give up his quesr, and in 1930 N icholson produced for him rhe handsome Shamrock V, firsr ofa new generarion ofbigJ-class boats builr to rules mandaring a more moderare, seaworrhy vessel than rhe exrreme sloops. This final Shamrock was fasr, bur losr four srraighr races ro Enterprise, designed by W. Srarling Burgess, whose farher Edward had designed fasr Cup defenders of the 1880s. Enterprise did no t win by superior design-she was perhaps a bir slower rhan Shamrock V She won because her owner and skipper was Harold Vanderbilr. Vanderbilr, heir ro a fortune founded by a New Yo rk harbor ferryboar owner a hundred years before his time, rook comperi rion very seriously. H e was a winning ocean racer and champion bridge player who invented roday's conrract bridge gam e. Bridge is a ream game, and Vanderbilt was a team player. H e had rhar rare combinarion of crearive imaginarion and rivering attention ro detail which, with srrong, sensiti ve leadership, builds winning team s. H e loved ro win, bur his vicrory
SEA HISTORY 98, AUTUMN 2001