The remarkable feature of Gloriana was that while her length on the load water-line was 45 feet 3 inches (she was built for the 46-foot class), her length over-all was 70 feet. As the fullness of the bilge extended to bow and stern, the more she was inclined, the greater was her water-line length. I never saw a stiffer yacht. Her record for her first season (1890) was eight starts and eight first prizes. Dilemma, the Herreshoff fin-keel, may also be described as an epoch-maker, as her form and her fin were speedily adopted and adapted by British designers.
It will be noticed that all the yachts enumerated, except Puritan and Dilemma, are of the keel variety.
The long reign of what may be termed the demoralized centerboard type is happily over. It is really a matter of marvel that the shoal hulls of great beam, destitute of a safe range of stability, and carrying a dangerous spread of sail, did not oftener turn turtle and cause a greater loss of human life.
The Hudson River freight sloop was a safe and well-built craft, well adapted not only for the commerce of our coasts but also for long ocean voyages. So far back as 1785 the Albany, an 84-ton sloop, Stewart Dennis master, made a voyage to Canton, returning with a cargo of tea. Between 1790 and 1800 there were about a hundred sloops plying in the freight and passenger trade between New York and Albany, and proving
