SCHOONER CHANCE 83 



It must have seemed very strange to those who saw Oily and Bart 

 stripped to the waist, apparently rowing in from the open sea in a 

 small skiff. 



Of course it was Wednesday and many of the stores closed in the 

 afternoon so we could not get everything. However, we got any 

 amount of eggs and fresh vegetables and meat and 1 50 gallons of 

 imperial gas. The Scotchman who sells gasoline was just as cheerful 

 and nice as ever. A French beam trawler was in off the banks and 

 most of the "Chance's" crew were taken for Frenchmen, I suppose 

 because of dirt and strange "fit-outs." The "double-ender" which 

 McKay built after the "Chance" was at the next dock and left for 

 Halifax about the same time as we steamed out. 



Just before dark we went through the narrows and after supper 

 had a short, nearly perfect moonlight sail up the "Arm." But the 

 wind gave out and we continued steaming until midnight when we 

 were just entering the "lake." Bob and Bart made the mistake of 

 keeping down too far to the left and just after the engine was 

 stopped we barged up on a shoal. Mac and I tried several times 

 during the night to get her off with the engine but she was on too 

 hard. The wind remained too light to cause her to heel sufficiently. 

 At daylight we got an anchor out with a long line on it. All hands 

 hove on the windlass and she finally came off just when I was giving 

 up all hope. It was a great sight to see Mac tapping the line to see 

 how much more strain it would stand. We must have had a pull of 

 2 tons on it. Anyway, we ended up with a lot more line than we 

 . started with. I think we have now tried out all the practical meth- 

 ods of getting a boat off a shoal. I hope we will not have to put 

 ballast ashore on our next encounter with the bottom. 



