The Cambria Daily Leader

Pi d--IhdY h"- ¡- | Pictures an Paragrapns About the Wars h ips an d Yac h ts. ? .??..??-_?.-??..?..—??_ -.?????-_ -=- WARLIKE VIS TORS. INTERESTING INFORMATiON ABJUT THE DESTROYERS. Tiif, visit to Swansea of the four torpedo boat destroyers, the Achates, the Cockatrice, the Shark, and the Christopher have attracted quite an extraordinary amount of interest. The yacht races are of course the attrac- tion, hilt during the past two or three days the number cf people who have visited the warships in the South Dock Basin, where they have boon berthed sinco their arrival, must have numbered many thousands. When it was announced in the first instance that tho Admiralty had <kc<b'I to s?nd round four vessels of the fourth F.ctilla in connection with the Regatta, It was assumed in some quarters that the boats Would be of the small type, such as those that were berthed h; tue same spot on the occasion of the regatta three years ago. The boats sent this year provided an agreeable surprise, inas- much as that they are not only good, fcized vessels, hut are practically the ¡ latest additions to the destroyers of the 1 British Navy, the whole of them having been commissioned within the past six or seven months,. One of the de- stroyers was only commissioned in April -last. which have been in Swansea during the week represent the jnst word in construction of vessels of this type. They are about 260 feet long. fitted with two turbine engines of 24.5000 horse power each, and are Capable of developing a speed of over 33 knots. They have a registered ton- nage of 935, and each carry three four- inch guns and two torpedo tubes. The Achates was the last of the four boats to be ta ken over from the builders, hav- ing been commissioned on April 14th last. They use oil fuel, and not coal. Each boat has accommodation of about 260 tons of oil, which would sunice to ?nab)e them to make the journey from I Sn-ar?ea to Malta, a distance of about 2,000. miles without replenishing their Supplies. They are each fitted with Searchlights, with the aid of which a target ca n be distinguished up to a d J taacc at 1.000 yards; semaphore signals ¡ But this is a degression. It will be remembered that the regatta was to have been held on Saturday, July 35th, 1896, the year, by the way, of the mayoralty of Capt. Fred Bradford, J.P. Prior to the Friday, July 24th there had been three months of beautiful weather. On the Friday the Mayor (Capt. Fred Bradford), with the Town Clerk (Mr. John Thomas), regatta officials, and German Consul (late Capt. Daline) proceeded down the channel with the object of meeting the yachts, which were being towed from Ireland. But, alas! and alack! on leav ng Cork the vessels encountered such had weather that when they arrived in port they were so knocked about, and the crews were so utterly fatigued that the regatta was by consent postponed until July 27th. Even on that auspicious day things did not go altogether smoothly, no- cause the "Metor" in the big race en- countered a gust, and lost her top mast. Nevertheless, to quote the Scrip- ture, "There were giants in those days." Steam was not everything, the spread of glorious white wings could still rouse enthusiasm; men still knew what a clipper was, and the re- gatta went with a swing. Its best epitaph is that WIts only enemy was the weather." THE 8AIUMC YACHT. Beautiful white bird! Floating on the wave with perfect majesty; Now on the crest, now in the hollow; Every nHwameet graceful as they form. Spreading out thy wings To catch each mighty gust, or trifling breath That' cross thy course may blow; and thus By Nature"s power, fty on toward thy goal. Undefiled by smoke, And free from man-invented power within; Fairest creature on the ocean wav«; Beautiful bird! live on. J. H. R. Commander Lodor Simons and the Mayor of Swansea on board the Achates. I The Marquita and Corona. j made this characteristic reply:—"God forbid that these eyes should witness any race save that of the Lord's ene- mies before our pikes!" But even if the sport was dis- continued under the Protectorate, we may rest assured that it sprang again into vigorous being under the reig-n of Charle.s II. Swansea began to won- derfully prosper, and. with prosperity the town would, undoubtedly, cling to its boat races, for no substantial com- munity of English mariners ever existed longer than a decade without one. A side light is thrown on the strength of our contention by a letter which Beau Nash wrote early in the 18th century, and in which he tells of a visit made by him and several of his com- pan ions, to the yearly sea sports ot his native town. He adds that the in- habitants expressed in the most vulgar fashion thei r amazement at the sight of the beaux' huge curling wigs, gay waistcoats, monstrous-heeled shoes-and. lleoords, indeed are scant, of Swan- sea regattas in the oM., times, only we are sure that they existed, But in 1796—a year made memorable by virtue of its great storm—we have de- finite information that "on the day of the boat race," Sea Pig Dan swam from SaJthoase Point to the Mumbles Head and bad; to the jetty by a circuitous route, the whole distance oocupying him no less than six houi-R. I It is only wlien we reach the 19th Century that records of boat races in i Swansea grow precise. We know that between the yeans 1800 and 1810, four boat nces were held between the pilots of Swansea and Neath. By 1822 and 1823. the Swansea Re- gatta was merrily running. THE OLD ENEMY. I WHY THE REGATTA OF 1896 WAS I' POSTPONED. To a veritable ancient resident of I Abertawe, the holding of a r?area j this week must provide rich food for l | thought. The Sharlc at the Quayside. Forked from the bridge, and plant 'or the generation of electricity for lighting and other purposes and wireless teiogranh apparatus. The Achates lui" also a turbo generating dynamo for the Purpose of ventilation, and also motor fans. The use of oil fuel has enabled a considerable saving to bo effected. Each cf the destroyers carries a staff of eleven si jKor.s. whereas it is said that ccal were used twenty stokers would have to be employed. Appended are particulars of the boats taken fro.-n the Lists:- Shark.—Tons 935. horsepower, 24,500; length 260 feet. Officers: Commander A. J. B. Stirling, Lieut. H. D b?;'?."pi.'i, Ene'l?pei-L.?.?t. C. B. F. Le W. Roch, Sub-Lieut. H. G. Laery, Gunner. F. M. Eley. Christopher .-Tons 935, horse-power 24,500. Lieut, and Commander E. G. tarter. Lieutenants J. H. L. Yorke, Ralph G. H. hart., Engineer-Lieut. T. tiurnoll, Gunner A. Wyatt. Achates.—Tons 935, hor&e-power 2.4,500; Commander F. P.' Loder- Simons; Lieutenants R. M. R. H. C. Oliver, Engineer-Lieut. A. Waller, Gunner A. J. Jackman. Cockatrice.—Tons 93-5, horse-power 24,500. LiRut. and Commander W. J. Whitworth j Lieut. F. G. Wright, Engineer-Lieut. F. L. Crook, Sub- » Lieutfl LI. V. Morgan; Gunner N. J. Nicholson. Particula of the yachts taking part the regatta have already been pub- ed. IN OLDEN DAYS. HOW THEY DID THiNCS iN THE coon I OLD TIMES. From time immemorial, the boat race, the sailing match, if not the regatta ( J'ega i ta did not come into the English language until the year 1754, and then only as a description of the gondola l'a.{es in Venice, which were, and still are, called "regatte"), has been a fre- SUentlv recurrent feature of Swansea fe. It The first record in looal history is a fragment from an antique document in the Bodleian Librarv. It takes us back Cver six centuries, to the year 1305, at; period the unruly Lord Marches, William de Breos, com- Promised the "rancour and ill-will that had arisen between himself and the Ill,irgesses of Swansea, whom his; tvranny had driven to seek redress at j !hp Court of Edward L, by issuing his ji famous charter, which ? still preserved fctMua* toporatioa, The Istria. Among other privileges de Br?os. granted townsmen the estover (or right) of going into his woods, with the single reservation of the Predewen Wood, near Loughor, and taking there- from dead wood for fuel, oak wood for the building and repairing of houses, I and sufficient of anv kind of wood to l 1?lx* "aue to oarry iitehxm four great ahiM "aixle to oarry twenty casks of wine." The'Bodleian manuscript relates that, as an appropriate commemoration of this i grant, the freemen and tenants of the Lord Marcher, together with the bur- 1 gesses of .Swansea, assembled in the, bay in the autumn following, and there "did race their .ships upon tlv> waters, and bodd groat diversity of enjoyment] upon the firm earth where mountibanks performed goodly and astonishing feats of strength magic and contortion." After that, however defimte ID- stances of "racing ships on the waters" of Swansea Bay are not in the historic record. -Nevertheless, our ancestors are known, with no 'les.s certainly, to have participated in similar aquatic sports throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It would be strange indeed if this had not been the case in an epoch when the pulse of England beat so feverishly along the whole length of her seaboard. Tradition preserved, strangely enough, not among the people whom it most concerns, but among those cf the rival port of Port Evnon in Gower- I has it that no less an 'illustrious per, than Sir Francis Drake visited Swansea some time before 1587, that A'ii, just prior t-o his departure on the memorable voyage, which included the "singeing of ihe Spanish King's beard," and wit- nessed from a platform specially erected on .the foreshore the chief race in that year's regatta! Whether that tradition can be sub- stantiated or not (the late Mr. George tyrant Francis, F.S.A. was a firm be- liever in it) it js quite probable that men, only second in influence and power to Drake himself, were occasiona l if not frequent visitors to the town during such events. Local archives established the fact that the Lord Protector himself was offered the chance of witnessing a boat race in Swansea Bay. Probably h;8 own description of the town as "an auntient Porte and Populous situate on the sea, coasts to- wards France, convenient for shipping and resisting forcigne invasion, led the worthy Portreeve and aldermen to imagine that he would appreciate an opportunity of encouraging pursuits, the tendency of which was to strengthen the defensive arm. Cromwell, it will be remembered, vi.sited Swansea on two occasions. On one of these, in the summer of Ki-iS, | all entert.vnnient was given in Cro; well's honour at the residence ol hi;, loyal fr end and supporter, C'ci. I Phillips Jonc.s-a dwelling which steed practically on the site of the present j Unitarian Church, and is often rien-j tio;>d mi the lou n records as being "in j i-f gh-sfcrect, below the gate." The Portreeve, Mr. Wm. Bayly, pre-rided over the gathering, and ik-,is the first to suggest the idea ol the! impromptu regatta. i)-itli  It did not find favour with his!j guest, ho >\ ever, for the g)im mf?er of' mstory? when tendered the invitation. | llio M&uarey. Therefore, in a regatta week, one; There wore a number of classic may be pardoner] for recalling the yacht*, !:)<! these two were the star at- supreme ov.ansey regatta; when the traction. sports were graced with the presence; In(addition, the "Metor" had a, oi H.R.H.'i yacht, the "Britannia, her sailing master that prince of and the German Imperial yacht, "The; sportsmen. Lord Lonsdale, with whom Metor." wa6 hib Counters. r THE HOLIDAY. BUSINESS AT A STANDSTILL AT THE DjCKS. The business premisee in the town were mostly ftpen to-day as usual, but in other respects the day was obseme4 as a holiday. At the docks business was practically at a standstill. A uepo had been expressed that the workmen engaged in and about the harbour would continue at work as usual, but little heed was paod to this. The coal trimmers knocked off at eight o'cloek in the morning, and they will resume at seven to-morrow in accordance with the decision arrived at. The cranes, however, were all idle, the loading and discharging of vessels being entirely suspended, except ia the case of a couple of fishing ketches which arrived late and discharged their catches with the aid of baskets at the South Dock jetty. The fuel workb, too were idle. Some of the men were willing to turn out, but as the shippers intimated the:r un- willingness to work unless they J'e- ceived double pay. This was not con- ceded, nnd work was consequently sus- pended when the day shift men finished 011 Tuesday. In the case of the (rraie- ola. men the closing of the works repre- sents a loss of over C150 in wage. to say noth ing of loss of profits and pos- sible claims for demurrage. The only signs of activity observable were at some of the dock sidings, where shunt- ing operations were carried on. Thero wa, a liberal display of bunting in tho -neighbourhod of the Guildhall and some of the THain thoroughfares