The Breath of the Southern Seas 95 



I had now served five years as an appren- 

 tice at boat building and sailing, and had 

 found out what I wanted and what I did not 

 want. While I have never given up the 

 naphtha launch I still keep a 4 H.-P. hunt- 

 ing knockabout for short trips and a 2 H.-P. 

 for the river I determined to build a real 

 yacht. 



My five years' experience had taught me 

 the limitations of small-power craft, and the 

 Governmental regulations made a steam 

 yacht impossible. I desired to have a boat 

 of ocean-going capacity of which I could be 

 the legal owner and sailing master. A mil- 

 lionaire may buy a steamer and hire a crew 

 of efficient navigators and seamen, but a 

 man is never a yachtsman until he is the 

 sailing master of his own craft and knows the 

 responsibility of giving orders from her deck 

 that may mean life or death. 



In no way can a man so accurately ex- 

 press his character and temperament as on 



