The cup thus won by the 'America' was presented by her owners to the New York Yacht Club as a perpetual Challenge Cup to be sailed for by yachts of all nations, and is known as the 'America Cup.' It has since been competed for by several English yachts, the 'Cambria' and 'Livonia' schooners, the 'Genesta,' 'Galatea,' and 'Thistle' cutters, and lastly--up to the time of writing--by the cutter 'Valkyrie,' owned by Lord Dunraven. The conditions under which the cup is held, however, appear to unduly favour the holders, and do not commend themselves to yachtsmen on this side of the Atlantic.
We were not slow to learn and take advantage of the lessons taught us by the 'America.' In the following year the 'Alarm' cutter, 193 tons, owned by the veteran yachtsman Mr. Joseph Weld, of Lulworth Castle, was lengthened, given a longer bow, and converted into a schooner of 248 tons; and for some years, with Jack Nicholls at the helm, was the fastest schooner in the fleet.
In 1855 the 'Wildfire,' of 59 tons, owned by Sir Percy Shelley, was brought out as a schooner with a running bowsprit and head-sails like those of a cutter, in substitution for the usual standing bowsprit and jibboom of a schooner. She was the first racing schooner so rigged. The alteration of the head-sails greatly improved her weatherly qualities, and she was raced with success by Captain John Herbert against both cutters and schooners.
[Illustration: 'Pantomime,' 1865 (formerly Colonel Markham's schooner). Designed and built by M. E. Ratsey, Cowes, Isle of Wight. Length for tonnage, 92 ft. 3 in.; breadth for tonnage 19 ft. 3 in.; tonnage T.M. 144.]
No further material improvement was made in the schooner rig until 1860, when Camper and Nicholson, of Gosport, built the 'Aline,' 216 tons, for Mr. Charles Thellusson. Up to this time it had been usual to give the masts of schooners a considerable rake aft with the idea that it made their sails more lifting, but the 'Aline' came out with masts nearly upright like the masts of a cutter and quickly dispelled the illusion. She also, like the 'Wildfire,' had a running bowsprit. In the hands of her able and experienced owner the 'Aline' proved a great success, and, with variations in model, was the type on which all the best schooners which followed her were based. Although several other schooners were built to beat her, notably the 'Evadne,' 206 tons, by the same builders, for Mr. John Richardson in 1862, she remained up to 1865 the most successful schooner afloat. In that year two new schooners, which were destined afterwards to make their mark in the yacht-racing world and to wrest some of the laurels from the 'Aline,' made their _début_ in the Royal Yacht Squadron race for Her Majesty's Cup at Cowes: the 'Egeria,' 153 tons, built by Wanhill, of Poole, for Mr. John Mulholland (now Lord Dunleath), and the 'Pantomime,' 151 tons, built by Michael Ratsey of Cowes for Lieut.-Colonel Markham. The 'Witchcraft,' 240 tons, built by White of Cowes for Mr. Thomas Broadwood, also came out this year, and with the 'Alarm,' which had passed into the hands of Mr. George Duppa, again commissioned, and a fleet of racing schooners made up of such vessels as 'Aline,' 216 tons; 'Evadne,' 184; 'Titania,' 184; 'Albertine,' 153; 'Galatea,' 143; 'Viking,' 140; 'Gloriana,' 133; 'Circe,' 123; 'Fleur-de-Lys,' 90; 'Iolanthe,' 75; 'Intrigue,' 72; 'Madcap,' 70; 'Fiery Cross,' 51, and 'Reverie,' 43, it probably would not be wrong to date the approach to the zenith of schooner racing from this period.