330 : The Atlantic 



Ladies seldom permit the men to monopolize a sport, and this 

 seems to have been quite as true in the 70's as it is today. At least it 

 was so in the case o£ Mrs. Thomas Crapo, who proved herself both 

 a resolute woman and a courageous seaman. 



In 1877 Crapo, in New Bedford, had acquired a sound whaleboat 

 at an economical figure. She was nineteen feet in length, and he saw 

 the possibility of converting her into a comfortable little yacht. He 

 had a lot of fun decking her over and equipping her with two masts. 

 Each mast carried a sail on boom and gaff. 



When she was completed it appeared that Mr. Crapo meant to 

 slip away for a nice little cruise to Europe. Mrs. Crapo, an English- 

 woman with a seagoing ancestry behind her, had a quite different 

 view of the matter. She had no intention of letting Thomas sail 

 alone, and she embarked with him. 



They left in May, bound for England in their ship which was 

 measured as being i 62/100 tons. They made a memorable and 

 stormy passage, surviving rough weather and sickness aboard. They 

 followed the ship lanes and were reported by many different vessels 

 who aided them by supplying occasional food and water. In forty- 

 nine days they landed in Wales and in five days of further sailing 

 made their way to Penzance. Later they exhibited the ship in Lon- 

 don and were visited by members of the royal family, and on the 

 return of the couple to New York by steamer they exhibited their 

 glorified whaleboat in Madison Square Garden. 



The American Republic was one hundred years old in 1876. To 

 celebrate this event an American fisherman of Danish origin, named 

 Alfred Johnson, decided to sail a dory to England. He built a dory 

 of sixteen-foot keel, twenty feet overall. He decked her over and 

 rigged the mast in a tabernacle so that it could be lowered. For sail 

 he carried a mainsail and two jibs. On the bow and stern he painted 

 her name. Centennial, and the name of his port, Gloucester. 



He sailed on the i6th of June amid the honest skepticism of his 

 companions. He encountered rough weather and got little sleep for 

 the first week. Finding he was having difficulty with his compass, 

 he put into Shag Harbor behind Cape Sable in Nova Scotia. He had 

 twenty-five days of good sailing and then heavy weather again. On 

 the i6th of July he was still at sea. Then a German passenger ship 

 tried to rescue him. Johnson refused, but accepted a bottle of brandy. 



In another gale, after the passenger ship had left, the lurch of the 

 little vessel threw him against the edge of his water cask so that he 

 was knocked unconscious, and the little vessel had to look out for 



