Shells on Union Bay 



75 



, =C^SZ1 —- - — ^"ve*. 



to carry them to one of the landing floats which lay at right 

 angles to the ramp. Then, when the command was given, the 

 men would lower the shells and place the delicate boats on 

 the water as deftly as if they were handling a toy sailboat 

 instead of a sixty-foot craft capable of seating eight oarsmen 

 and a coxswain. There they would wait with the blades of 

 their twelve-foot oars held vertically until, upon a command 

 from the coxswain, they placed their sweeps in position and 

 stepped carefully and smoothly into the fragile, narrow shell. 

 The day suited equally the oarsman, the vacationist, and 

 the local wildlife. The thin haze made everybody want to 

 push beyond it, the slight chill in the air invited rather than 

 repelled action. The movement of the birds indicated con- 

 tentment. The tule wrens carried food to their young, the 

 song sparrows sang as they looked for insects that might be 

 on the cattails, and the mallard hens up-ended along the 



