VALKYRIE IN THE DRY DOCK - SHE WILL BE REPAINTED WHITE
When the Valkyrie arrived from England she was painted white, but while in the Erie basin (from 20 to 26 august) the white paint was scraped off and black lacquer substituted.
Tuesday September 3rd: The Valkyrie was towed up from the Horseshoe yesterday afternoon and docked in the Erie Basin. Lord Dunraven does not like the appearance of the yacht black, and she will be painted white before she is floated out of the Erie Basin. She will remain there until Friday, when she will be floated.
So Valkyrie III sailed in black between August 26 and September 1st.
From the book: The big class racing yachts
by John Leather
Valkyrie III in dry dock in New York before the 1896 America's Cup races, showing its 106-foot-long boom and the four sturdy strops securing the mainsheet blocks. Valkyrie III was one of the most extreme racing yachts built, but in her hull Watson embodied some American characteristics: a wider beam than previous British racing boats of comparable size, a wider deck and a fuller bow. Her 20-foot draft and large ballast keel place her deck almost level with the top of the dock, and this is one of the good reasons why these craft were placed in a ship's dock instead of be transported on a slipway trolley in a yacht yard.
Considerable care was required to successfully moor such a deep, narrow and slender vessel, and difficulty was taken in lowering the banks as she settled onto the blocks.
Its crew of around forty people is busy preparing for the Cup races. A hand in a boatswain's stool cleans the mast. Others work on the foredeck and still others are amidships, dwarfed by the boom. Six carpenters are working on the counter, probably filling and paying off the bridge. Even at the dock, the customs of the yacht are respected and the canvas deck bucket is in its place, upside down above the butt of the anchor, which is stowed on the deck in holds. Other men, probably painters from the site, will work alongside him from the suspended scenes. Access to the dry dock abyss is via a plank walkway (left).
The crowds of spectators on the docks hardly diminished during the day and the crew were regarded with the same public interest as is now accorded to a visiting international football or cricket team.
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