Text of Conditions for Yacht Race

SHE BEATS THE VALKYRIE ON EVERY POINT OF SAILING

Designer Watson Says the Vigilant Is Better than the Valkyrie.

October 09, 1893 - At 10:15 o'clock, the flagship May ...

As originally built the Maria had a full, round bow, though with a shallow and easy entrance, in effect not unlike the "scow" bow of racers of today, her draft at the cutwater being only 8 inches.
Her original lines are said to have been suggested by those of the North River sloop Eliza Ann, which, though not a yacht, showed great speed for those days. When launched the Maria was 92 feet long on deck.

Unlucky challenger of America's Cup 1895

Valkyrie III was not owned exclusively by Lord Dunraven, as was Valkyrie II but by a syndicate composed of Lord Dunraven, Lord Lonsdale, Lord Wolverton and Capt. Harry McCalmont. She was designed by George L. Watson, professedly for light weather sailing, and was altogether a radical example.

In anticipation of Galatea's coming, Boston yachtsmen immediately “got busy” after the 1885 race, with a view to holding the laurels they had won. General Paine, one of the Puritan syndicate, feeling sure that Puritan could be improved upon, which feeling was shared by the yacht's designer, placed an order with Edward Burgess for a new sloop, somewhat larger than Puritan, of which he was to be the sole owner.

Michael Edward Ratsey comes from a shipbuilder family. His grandfather Lynn Ratsey built the cutter yacht Leopard in 1807. Her dimensions were, length on deck, 64 feet 4 inches; length of keel, 54 feet 3 inches; beam, 19 feet; depth, 11 feet; draft, 10 feet.
His father Michael Ratsey also marked the history of the America's Cup. He designed and built in 1838 the famous cutter Aurora who came close ...

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was the son of James Gordon Bennett, the founder and publisher of the New York Herald. The son was groomed to be publisher all his life, and as sole owner and publisher, he busied himself throughout his long life in finding ways to spend the largest assured income in America (with the possible exception of William B. Astor and commodore Vanderbilt) for the benefit of the paper and himself. Perhaps not in that order.

James Lloyd Ashbury (1834 – 3 September 1895) was a British yachtsman and Conservative Party politician.
The son of John Ashbury, founder of the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Ltd of Manchester, James trained as an engineer and joined the family company. When his father died in 1866 he inherited the business and a considerable fortune...