The original rig plan of America before she added more forward sail in England. And before she acquired the three cannon fitted nine years later for her service as a blockade runner in the American Civil War. Note the wonderful hollowed-out AC75-style bow. Designers George and James Steers sure knew a thing or two
to hear, announced the second yacht.’ Fifteen years earlier, in the USA, historian Fred Cozzens quotes the same figure. Now, if Aurora had truly been seven or
eight miles behind America when she rounded the Needles, according to all of the accounts at the time, the little cutter had to average at least 8kt up the Solent to catch up with the Americans. Given the very light wind and adverse current, this requires a totally impossible performance. To be so close at the end Aurora could only have been one mile or two behind America as she approached the Needles! Bacchante finishes third at 9.30pm,
before the Needles themselves. A logical outcome, despite Wildfire’s 3.5-mile lead at St Catherine’s. With an opposing current, and the
breeze dropping off as they approached the Needles, America averaged 7.5kt over this stretch of the course, against Wildfire’s 6.5. However, the great 40m obelisk that
once rose from the sea between the two smaller peaks at the Needles is no longer there to greet the two great yachts. In 1764 a storm had destroyed the upper half of this natural wonder. But the royal steamer Victoria & Albert, flanked by its enor- mous paddlewheels, was by now at anchor off the Needles, there to await the first boats. She is accompanied by the smaller Royal Yacht Fairy, a 146ft steamship and tender to Victoria & Albert herself. The black Yankee schooner rounds the
point at 5.50pm in a fast-fading breeze and begins her ascent up the Solent sailing fully downwind, now into the building ebb that has just set in. The Victoria & Albert gently approaches the schooner. The young Queen was surprised to see the challenger salute the Royal Yacht three times, flying the blue flag with its 31 white stars. Commodore Stevens then steps forward
to the rail, joined by the 20 other crew aboard America. The tribute to the future Empress of India lasted several long minutes. Then, according to The Times account of Saturday 23 August the steamer, after escorting America for some time at slow speed, returned to anchor below Osborne Castle. That evening Victoria recorded her memories of the day in her bedside book. Just 10 short lines. But what had become of Wildfire and
Aurora in all this festival of politeness? After all, America took the lead at the last mark. What’s next? One imagines the journalists are more
concerned with accompanying the future winner in her very slow ascent to the finish line in front of the Squadron. As if to bring down the curtain on the final act, a fine
46 SEAHORSE
mist now falls over the Needles, reducing visibility. Still no ‘first-mate’ appears to the leading yacht… Doesn’t one of the reports of the time say: ‘We stayed at the Needles an hour after America passed, and not a yacht was in sight…’ Curiously, the Times reporter records Wildfire’s passage through the Needles at 6.04pm. But he strangely forgets about Aurora. We know he’s anxious to get his story to London, and that he won’t wait until the end of the race to hurry back to Cowes. After the Nab episode the race’s second
mystery begins. Certainly, after St Cather- ine’s, and despite the adverse current, America had lengthened her stride and probably increased her lead over Aurora. But not by seven or eight miles, as contem- poraneous reports indicate. Aurora also benefits from a small favourable ebb cur- rent in Freshwater Bay before the Needles. In the end America, sailing dead down-
wind, pushing against an increasingly strong ebb tide, and in a weakening breeze, took 2h 47m to cover the 13.4 miles from the Needles to the Squadron. At an average speed of just 4.81kt. By the time Aurora reached the entrance
to the Solent the ebb was stronger, espe- cially in the narrow Hurst Passage before Yarmouth. With her better sails sitting more calmly than those on the American schooner, probably using her balloon jib (which America doesn’t have), and hugging the Isle of Wight to avoid the strongest current, we can imagine that Aurora was faster on her way up the Solent. America finally crosses the line in front of the Squadron at 8.37pm. Aurora is hailed at 8:45. Given the strength of the current in front of Cowes and the light breeze, Aurora must by now have been barely a few hundred metres behind America. Historian Montague Guest, best-placed
to access the Squadron’s archives, states in the first volume of Memoirs of the RYS, published in 1902: ‘Eight minutes later a second cannon shot, which no one cared
Eclipse at 9.45pm. And the three-masted Brilliant at 1.20am. After that the last yachts to finish were not even recorded. The day after the race Queen Victoria
asked America to anchor at the foot of Osborne Castle at 4pm. She came aboard in a long barge manned by 12 oarsmen. She then visited the boat and studied her in great detail. She even runs her handker- chief along the furniture to look for dust. She does not find any. She then presents each crew member with a gold sovereign. America skipper Dick Brown receives a gold retracting telescope encased in a thin veneer of maple burr. With a plaque read- ing: ‘To Captain Brown of the United States Yacht America to commemorate his victory in the Royal Yacht Squadron All Nations Cup on 22 August 1851’. With all the pieces of the puzzle now in
place, it’s easy to question just how superior America really was to the English yachts. Another quarter of an hour of racing and Aurora would have crossed the line in the lead. And Wildfire, although out of the race, was the first to circumnavigate the island in real time. At the Squadron we were no doubt biting
our fingernails as the little cutter Aurora came close to overtaking its American rival. Add this to the regrettable absence at the finish of England’s other best cutters, elimi- nated in collisions or for receiving outside assistance. We have to admit that America does not really convince us! Nevertheless, the challenger emerged
victorious from the confrontation, and the repercussions for the future history of yachting would be considerable. Yes, it was a race without a runner-up.
We doubt the apocryphal exchange at the Needles between Queen Victoria and Lord Alfred Paget, her officer-in-charge: ‘Your Majesty, there is no second’… In any case, Aurora’s fate was already sealed. A calligrapher was commissioned to
engrave the names of the winner and the runners-up on the trophy. By a curious sleight of history, only the name of the little Aurora is omitted by the engraver. q
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