Valkyrie III was beaten by Defender in the first race of the 1895 America’s Cup. Valkyrie III fouled the leeward Defender during the prestart to the second race, breaking her starboard shrouds, but the latter did not protest and the race took place nevertheless, with Valkyrie III finishing ahead of Defender on corrected time. In turn the America’s Cup committee ruled to disqualify the Valkyrie III because of the foul and dismissed Lord Dunraven counter-proposal to re-race. Valkyrie III was withdrawn immediately after the start of the third race and Defender ran over the course unchallenged and successfully defended the America’s Cup. Lord Dunraven claimed the Americans had cheated, creating a public controversy that jeopardized the future challenges for the America’s Cup race until Sir Thomas Lipton issued his own Shamrock challenge in 1898. In 1899 Valkyrie III’ hull was refaired and repainted to serve as a trial horse for Shamrock, but eventually she did not serve that purpose. She was broken up in 1901.

The Yacht Race Investigation

On January 8, 1896 the America’s cup committee made public their report upon the charges of Lord Dunraven against the owners and sailors of the Defender and the members of the New York Yacht Club. Mention of these charges was made in the preceding number of CURRENT HISTORY (Vol. 5, p. 894). The cup committee leaves the investigating committee to take evidence and pass judgment on the charges, and itself gives the correspondence with Lord Dunraven concerning the conditions of the contest, an account of the circumstances attending the withdrawal of Valkyrie III. from the third race, and a review of all the important incidents of the contest. The story of the whole affair as derived from this correspondence, is in brief as follows:

On January 14, 1895, the America’s cup committee submitted to the New York Yacht Club recommending acceptance of the challenge of December 2, 1894, from the Royal Yacht Squadron for the America’s cup. September 7, 1895, was selected as the date of the first race. The day set for measuring the yachts was September 6, and on that day Lord Dunraven requested that the load water line be plainly marked on each vessel. To this Mr. Iselin of the Defender gave assent, but the marking was not done on that day. The first race was sailed September 7. The Defender won. That afternoon Lord Dunraven stated to the cup committee his belief that the Defender had sailed immersed three or four inches more deeply than she had been the day of the measurement. He said that he was unwilling to sail again unless the change were corrected. Next day the two yachts were remeasured and marked according to the earl’s request. The Defender was found to measure almost exactly the same as on the day of the previous measurement. During the second race, September 10, a foul occurred. Next day the owners of the Defender entered a protest, and the race was given to the Defender. The secretary of the cup committee received that day a letter from Lord Dunraven with the request that he should not open it until Mr. Iselin’s protest had been decided. After the consideration of the protest, this letter was opened and found to contain a refusal on the part of Lord Dunraven to race again unless the committee should assure him that the course would be kept clear of tug boats and excursion steamers, and that the race would be declared void in case either yacht were interfered with in any way by other boats. It also contained the suggestion that the time of starting should not be advertised. In reply the committee promised to keep the course clear, but they would not accede to either of the other propositions. On the morning of the third race Lord Dunraven sailed across the starting line, and then withdrew from the race. Defender finished the course alone, and was awarded the cup. With regard to the second race, Mr. Iselin offered to sail again, no matter what the decision of the regatta committee should be. This offer the owner of the Valkyrie III. refused to accept on the ground that, having made a protest, Mr. Iselin evidently thought himself to be in the right and Lord Dunraven in the wrong. The committee had decided in favor of the Defender, therefore nothing was left but to accept the decision.

On January 30 the investigating committee, of which the Hon. Edward J. Phelps was chairman, published its report. The following is a resumé of this report:

This committee in the beginning informed the Royal Yacht Squadron of the purpose of its appointment in order that the squadron might take such part in the investigation as it should see fit. The subject for investigation was a charge made by Lord Dunraven in reference to the America’s cup races, and published in the London Field of November 9, 1895. “The article in question expressly charges that after being measured for the cup races in September last, the yacht Defender was surreptitiously loaded so as to sink her four inches deeper in the water; that she sailed in that condition on the first day’s race; and that immediately after that race the ballast so loaded was secretly removed, so that when measured the next day (Sunday) no discrepancy was found to exist between the two measurements.” The secretary of the Royal Yacht Squadron replied that in the judgment of the squadron these questions were a personal matter between Lord Dunraven and the New York Yacht Club, and that it was not the wish of either the earl or the members that the squadron should participate in the investigation. The article in the London Field contained, besides the charges quoted above, an account of the circumstances which led Lord Dunraven to become suspicious as to the load water line of the Defender. These were as follows:

On the morning of September 7 the City of Bridgeport, with Lord Dunraven on board, lay near enough to the Defender to allow him to observe closely the depth to which she sank in the water. She appeared more deeply immersed than when he saw her in the Erie basin some days before, or on the day she was measured. A pipe hole an inch and a-half in diameter was visible above the water on the previous day, and on the morning of the race was submerged. The whole appearance of the vessel indicated that she was more heavily ballasted. Again, the neglect of the cup committee to put a representative on each boat, and their failure to remeasure the Defender until the morning after the race, aroused his suspicion. Moreover the Defender’s tender, the Hattie Palmer, had been beside her until one o’clock of the morning after the race, and there was great activity observable on both boats. The transfer of ballast could easily have taken place then. – From the evidence furnished by Lord Dunraven and his witnesses, the committee decided that his charge was based solely on opinions formed by looking at the vessel as she lay in the water on two successive days. On the part of the American yacht, the following facts were established to the satisfaction of the committee:

The Defender was designed with a view to sailing without any loose ballast, whatsoever. When Valkyrie III. arrived, it was found that her fittings, water tanks, and bulkheads had been removed, and would be hard to replace. Hence the rule of the New York Yacht Club requiring a yacht to sail with these equipments was waived. The tanks and bulkheads were removed from the Defender and were found to weigh 7,000 pounds. This weight was replaced by two tons of lead, consisting of forty-two pigs, placed in the hold. At this time Defender was at New Rochelle. The weight of the fittings which had been removed, proving to be greater than was anticipated, it was decided to add another ton; and for this purpose twenty-one pigs were sent to her when she was in the Erie basin, and were placed temporarily on the deck. On the evening of September 6 these pigs were transferred to the Hattie Palmer, cut in two, and brought back and stowed in the Defender’s hold. This was the action which had roused the earl’s suspicion. There were on board the Defender no tanks into which water could be introduced as ballast. It was clearly proved that no weight or ballast of any kind was put on the Defender after the official measurement of September 6 and before the race of September 7, or taken out of her after the race of September 7 and before the remeasurement of September 8. The pipe hole, instead of being one and one-half inches in diameter, was two and one-eighth inches, and would not be visible above the load water line when the yacht was fully trimmed and ballasted. The design and structure of the boat were such as to make any additional ballast undesirable, as it would retard rather than increase her speed. As to the request of Lord Dunraven through Mr. Fish to the cup committee, that they place a representative on each yacht, evidence was produced proving satisfactorily that such a request was never made. With regard to the exception taken by Lord Dunraven because the Defender was not remeasured and marked on the day of the race rather than the next morning, the evidence showed that the request was received too late to allow the boat to be taken to the Erie basin before dark, and that such a measurement could not be made by artificial light. In closing its report the committee state that the evidence completely and emphatically exonerates Mr. Iselin and his associates; and add that they are willing to believe that if Lord Dunraven had remained to hear all the evidence, he would voluntarily have withdrawn charges reflecting so seriously on the integrity of honorable competitors in a noble sport.

* Noteworthy

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1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States’ oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.

1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon is murdered in front of The Dakota in New York City.

1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.