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EWER
(YOO-uhr)
A
decorative pitcher Common
clues: Water pitcher; Washstand pitcher; Still-life subject;
Graceful pitcher; Pitcher that can't throw; Pitcher with a big
mouth; Water bearer? Crossword
puzzle frequency:
7 times a year Frequency
in English language:
55923 / 86800 Video: America's
Cup Trophy Ceremony
After
winning the America's Cup, Bart Conners, euphoric after days at
sea, began to pour champagne into the 27" tall trophy,
inadvertently soaking several race committee members standing
nearby. One of the officials directed Conners to look inside the
trophy - which, upon closer examination, proved to be bottomless!
The
Cup itself is an ornate silver-plated Britannia metal bottomless
ewer, crafted in 1848 by Garrard & Co. The trophy is
inscribed with names of the yachts that competed in the regatta’s
matches. Bases matching the silver cup were added in 1958 and
2003 to accommodate more names. The cup is one of three or six
that were made as off-the-shelf trophies. Sir Henry Paget, the
Marquess of Anglesey bought one and donated it for the Royal
Yacht Squadron’s 1851 Annual Regatta around the Isle of
Wight. It was originally known by the Squadron as the “Royal
Yacht Squadron Cup” or the “RYS Cup for One Hundred
Sovereigns”. The Cup subsequently became known as the “One
Hundred Guinea(s) Cup”, by the American syndicate that won
it. As time went by, the Cup was also referred to as the “Queen’s
Cup”, the “America Cup”, and the “America’s
Cup”. Today, the trophy is officially known as the
America’s Cup and affectionately called the “Auld
Mug” by the sailing community.
The
regatta’s origins date back to August 22, 1851 when the
30.86 m schooner-yacht America, owned by a syndicate that
represented the New York Yacht Club, raced 15 yachts representing
the Royal Yacht Squadron around the Isle of Wight. America won by
20 minutes. Apocryphally, Queen Victoria asked who was second;
the answer famously was: “There is no second, your
Majesty.”
The
surviving members of the syndicate which owned the America
donated the Cup through a Deed of Gift (written in 1852) to the
New York Yacht Club on July 8, 1857. The trophy would be held in
trust as a “challenge” trophy to promote friendly
competition among nations.
Stung
by this blow to contemporary perceptions of invincible British
sea power, a succession of British syndicates attempted to win
back the cup, but the New York Yacht Club remained unbeaten for
25 challenges over 113 years, the longest winning streak in the
history of sport. Matches were held in the vicinity of New York
City from 1870 and 1920, which includes the “Herreshoff
Period” between 1893 and 1920, when cup defenders were
designed by Nathanael Herreshoff. From 1930 to 1983, the races
were sailed off Newport, Rhode Island for the rest of the NYYC’s
reign.
One
of the most famous and determined challengers was Scottish tea
baron Sir Thomas Lipton. Between 1899 and 1930 he mounted five
challenges, all in yachts named Shamrock, two of which were
designed by William Fife. One of Lipton’s motivations for
making so many challenges was the publicity that racing generated
for his Lipton Tea company, though his original entry was at the
personal request of the Prince of Wales in hopes of repairing
trans-Atlantic ill-will generated by the contentious earlier
challenger, Lord Dunraven. Lipton was preparing for his sixth
challenge when he died in 1931. The yachts used during the Lipton
era were very large sailing sloops; for example, Shamrock V,
which is still sailing today, measures 120 feet (36 m) long.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "America's Cup".
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