world. The yachting flags of both countries have been seen in nearly every harbor of the globe. France, Italy and Germany have during the last decade made some noticeable progress in the pastime, but neither in racing nor in cruising have they accomplished anything of real significance.
For instance, how galling must it have been to the patriotic pride of the German Emperor to be forced to sail his imperial racing cutter, Meteor, designed by a Scotchman and built on the Clyde, with a crew of Hampshire and Essex sailors. But stern necessity compelled him. The German seaman has many merits, but he doesn't show up to advantage aboard a racing cutter. One would have thought that the Emperor would have trained a crew of Germans especially for the task, but the idea either did not occur to him or was judged not to be feasible.
He might have followed the example of our countryman, Mr. C. Oliver Iselin, the managing owner of the Defender, who in 1895 turned the tables on certain of his British critics, who had declared that no American crew could possibly beat the trained British yacht sailors who formed the crew of the Valkyrie. These seamen, all hailed from Wivenhoe or Brightlingsea in Essex, had sailed in cutter yachts in the summer and cutter-rigged fishing smacks in the winter from boyhood, and were indeed the flower of the racing sailors of England. Captain
