472 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



her -widest part, aud tapered gradually toward bow and stern. 

 She was floored half- way up to the gunwale with wooden 

 strips and had a hard-wood grating in each end. The boat 

 had plain, flat wooden thole-pins "fitted into the gunwale. 

 Her oars were of white ash, and ranged from thirteen feet six 

 inches long in the waist to twelve feet in the bow and stern. 

 The captain's gig of a man-of-war will give a very good idea 

 of her general fittings. She was painted red for some years, 

 and then black, until she was sold in 1857. Down to 1S5G, 

 when regular race-boats were introduced, the college boats 

 were used partly for exercise, but principally for pleasure 

 parties, and very seldom for racing, except scrub races." 

 " Latching a crab " was a serious matter in those days, both 

 for the unlucky oar and the boat. The rower was sure to be 

 knocked stiff in the bottom of the boat and the gunwale split 

 or thole-pins broken. 



The friends of Harvard in Kew York have given substantial 

 aid to the Harvard crew. A. 



The theatrical entertainments given at tire Union League 

 Theatre Jan. 3, 3 and 4, were eminently successful and the 

 means of adding a goodly sum to the credit of the Harvard 

 University crew. So far as finances can affect the issue, 

 there is no longer any question but what Harvard can send a 

 crew to England next summer. We hope our English cousins 

 will not let national prejudices or petty crotchets interfere 

 With the posibility of bringing about a race. 



SoumwAKK Sachet Clcu. — Philadelphia, Jan, 1.— Editor 

 Forent and Stream: Although the Delaware is closed with ice 

 from its source to within a snort distance of the northern 

 limits of this city, and from thence to the bay filled with large 

 fields of floating ice, some of our yachtsmen are already mak- 

 ing preparations lor the coming season. Your correspondent 

 paid a visit to the houses of the South wark x'acht Club and 

 lound some of the members busy at work on their beautiful 

 little crat ts. These boats are tne handsomest we have, and 

 their owners take great pride in keeping them in good order. 

 Some of them are so particular that it is said they will not al- 

 low a fly to alight upon them for fear he would leave marks of 

 dirty teet upon the boat's white hulls. The metal work upon 

 Ihem is mostly nickel-plated, and flashes in the sunlight like 

 burnished silver. The boats are divided into three classes: 

 First class, double-endeis (15ft, Bin. long,4ft. Oin. beain); sec- 

 ond class, double-enders (,16ft. <iin. long, 4ft. Sin. beam,), and 

 tuckups same size as first-class double-enders, except that they 

 have square sterns. They carry from forty Lo fitly square 

 • yards ol canvas. Among the swiftest of lliese tiny crafts is 

 the Thomas II'. Sparks, built and owned by the commodore 

 of the licet, John (J. Saunders, who very kindly opened his 

 house and allowed me to inspect his boat. She was built last 

 summer, too hue to enter into the annual regatta in May, but 

 took purl in the second regatta aud was leauing boat coming 

 home, when she carried away her throat halliards and came m 

 sect ih',. The second aud third races in which she entered, the 

 wind was very Light and tile time consumed was beyond the 

 limits ailovveu by the club, and of course were both consid- 

 ered off, but she was leading boat eacn time. The next re- 

 gatta rn which she entered was between three boats of the 

 auulhwark Club and six boats of the fhiladelphia Yacht 

 Club, for a purse of seventy dollars, and she proved the vic- 

 tor, healing all the others. She has also been victorious in 

 several scrub races, 'the following description of the Sparks 

 will answer lor the others, as they are almost lac-similes of 

 each other: Length, foil. 3iu.; beam, 4ft. Gin.; depth, for- 

 ward, 2£c ~iu.; depth, alt, aft.,- cenlre-board, 4ft. wide, 3ft 

 deep; mast, B4lt. high; length of boom, tf4ft.; gaff, 13tt. 

 tiin.; spread ot canvas, SO yards. The commodore is having 

 a new board made au incn in thickness, as the old board, 

 which was but five-eighths, was not stiff enough., and caused 

 her to fall off when working to windward. She is provided with 

 eight life-lines (tour on each side) by which the crew can 

 hail"- out to windward to keep her up, as she has no ballast 

 aud°is kept upon her keel by tne agility and nimbleness of her 

 crew. »he is sailed by Capl. Win. Roach, a very expert 

 yachtsman. c - t - ) - 



Hunt's Magazine.— The December number of "Hunt's" 

 contains the regular annual summary of amounts won by the 

 racing yachts ol Ureal Britain, one of Capt. Coffin's semi-hu- 

 morous, semi-moral yarns, and a continuation of several yacht- 

 ing cruises, besides some very pertinent remaiks in favor of 

 length over beam as shown by the 15-tou Maggie walking 

 away from au 80-ton beamy schooner in a half gale off Dart- 

 mouth last August. 



Changed Hands. —The schooner Meta has become the 

 properly of Mr. Erank Dexter of the Eastern Yacht Club, 

 and will hereafter hail from Boston ; likewise the sloop Addte 

 V bought by Mr. Marshall K. Abbott from a member of the 

 Seuwaunaka If. C. They will nol go round to Boston before 

 the opening of ihe seusun. 



_^. — . 



A SHOHT TALK ABOUT CANOEING. 



Bbuoismn-, N. 1'., Dec. 10, 187B, 

 Editoh Eohest and Stream: 



Truly summer is over. A cold northeaster howl3 about (be 

 honed "slamming shutters and shaking window-sashes, while sharp 

 tusiltules of rain-drops rattle on the roof. B-rr-rl how it must 

 be sweeping over the bay, chasing the white-caps seaward, hum- 

 ming through the Jigging of the Anchored BohoonerB, driving the 

 spray over the wharves and rooks. I wrap my dressing-gown 

 closer about mo, puff away at my stubby old pipe, and try to read, 

 but m vain ; my thoughts will wander, and at length I hud myself 

 blinking through the smoke at the red-bladed paddle in a corner 

 of my den. 



It is not nice and pretty any more, as it was last spring ; its 

 blades are deutc-d, the point has been knocked from them in spots, 

 1 1 by tho joint are two dark rings where my hands have worn 

 the v.tnbli «»v ; but for a'that it could tell many pleasant tales— 

 of ouul niialj mowings, and long, warm summer days, and bahny 

 evening* « hen the moon hung low over the water ; of hat d 

 »lea against wind and tide, Willi the spray breaking over the DOWB 

 aud pattering ou the aprou ; of quiet skims before the wind over 

 placid waters, and quick, sharp runs, under shortened sail, over 

 long foam-created rollers, with the captain stretching out to wind- 

 ward, and Ihe lee washboard all but under ; of slimy wharves, 

 where the ships lay, and the black water gurgled among the piles; 

 of white, sunny beaob.ee, thrashed and pounded by Atlantic, break- 

 ers ; and of others, nearer home, where the camp-Urea blazed, and 

 the boatman slept to the murmur of the wavc-8; of bluffs aud 

 headlands, rocky and wooded ; terraced gardens, green salt mead- 



ows, granite forts and grassy batteries, cheery bay-Bide taverns j — 

 of the thousand and one things more which join to delight the 

 mind aud eye of the solitary canoeist. Alas, that that stout piece 

 of epruce is tongueless — " 'tis true, 'tis pity ; and pity 'tis, 'tis 

 true"— else should I leave it to deal with skeptical land-lubbers 

 and envious catboatmen, and rest my pen. 



Many were the wamlnge, kindly and sarcastic, which greeted 

 my first announcement of the purchase of a Nautilus. I was told 

 that 1 should never get anywhere ; I should certainly never go be- 

 yond the breakwater ; if I went below the Narrows I'd be blown 

 out to sea ; she'd turn turtle in tho first blow ; I'd be run down, 

 and swamped, and drowned, and get wet and tired and hungry, 

 aud have rheumatism and the chills, and want to sell ber in a 

 month ; that canoes were not suited to tide-water ; that I should 

 grow heartily sick aud tired of paddling about the bay ; that — in 

 fact, that I'd made a mistake. 



Dear friends, kind, disintereeted advisers, I began to think that 

 perhaps you really had a little knowledge whereof you spoke. 

 Pardon me ; therein I did mistake. 



" Jedex Thierchen hat sein Flaisirchen" they say across the 

 water, and these bewisewords — "Every little animal has its little 

 pleasure.'' You have yours, and I have found mine. I have never 

 been upset, nor blown out to sea ; nor have I met with any of 

 those other mishaps, barring an occasional touch of hunger and 

 wet. I have spent many pleasant hours on the bay without grow- 

 ing in the- least tired of it ; and I have come to the conclusion 

 that, to the man of little leisure and light pocket, canoeing affords, 

 of all aquatic sports, the greatest pleasure with the least expense 

 and trouble. 



I do not, however, seek to rank myself with those enthusiastic 

 giants of the pon and paddle, whose writings would lead a novice 

 to suppose that the sailing canoe combined all the characteristic 

 good qualities of the centreboard sloop, cruising cutter aud racing 

 shell ; but will at once oonfess that she has faults, as well as vir- 

 tues, eminently peculiar to herself, aud as I never mis my quinine 

 with my whisky, but always take it first, shall name them without 

 delay. 



In the first place, under paddle she is slow, and an .ordinary 

 light working boat, propelled by a pair of sculls, will slip away 

 from her with eaBe ; a fact which will at firBt chagrin her owner, 

 and expose him to considerable chaff. 



In the second place, as the boat must have more or leas Bheer 

 in order to be decently dry, the bow will catch the wind, and the 

 paddfer must occasionally work hard to keep her head straight. 



Under canvas, with the wind anywhere forward of the heam i 

 udIobs provided with a false keel or troublesome leeboard, she will 

 drive her owner to the verge of idiocy— in a light breeze by moving 

 with the velocity of a canalboat ; in a good sailing wind by etiding 

 oft to leeward like a crab, which is natural enough, as she ia de- 

 signedly built with a draught not worth mentioning. 



With a free wind and following sea, such as rolla up past Coney 

 Island Point and through tho Narrows when the breeze is from 

 the south, she will steer hard, especially if a rudder is used ; for 

 a wave will now and then lift her stern clear out of water, and if 

 care is not taken ahe will broach to. 



In really rough water ahe is a wet boat, and nothing>lae should 

 be expected in a craft or her size. Being short and light, she 

 rides the seas easily, but their crests will go over her, and if 

 placed broadside to tho waves, she will fill. 



So much for the canoe's faults ; I can think of no others, and 

 pass to a pleasanter theme— her virtues. 



To begin: She's a pretty boat ; her hull of varnished cedar, with 

 its graceful sheer and cambered deck, combining with the slender 

 spars and white sails to form a picture that would delight even a 

 farmer. Then ahe corlainly is safe. With water tight compart- 

 ments forward aud aft she cannot sink ; a fact which I have de- 

 monstrated by filling the cockpit with water, and indulging in a 

 refreshing bath while I paddled ; and her alleged fondness for 

 wantonly capsizing I pronounce purely mythical. Of oourse, if a 

 man chooses to troat her as though she were a wash-tub — to 

 attempt to sit on her gunwale ; to make her sheets fast ; to give 

 her the jib of a catamaran and the mainsail of a North Itivor sloop. 

 aud then carry full sail in a blow, she will probably relieve her 

 outraged feelings by promptly spilling him overboard— and serve 

 him right. I once knew a man who shoved his mainboom to wind- 

 ward, and tried to hold it there with his head— he only did it once. 

 There are men who would upaet a mud-scow. With a few weeks' 

 experience, however, and reasonable care, there Is little more 

 danger of capsizing in a oanoe than in au oyster-boat. 



When properly built she ia alao comfortable. The canoeist Bits 

 on the floor boards, looking forward, and the swinging backboard 

 behind him adapts itself to whatever position he may choose to 

 take. In the rain, or when the salt water is coming aboard, he 

 iay cover the cockpit with moveable hatches, or an India-rubber 

 apron, and keep comparatively dry. 



If be desires to sleep in hia boat, he has only to haul her up on 

 the beach, remove the after hatch and sliding bulkhead, stretch 

 the painter between the masts and throw his rubber blanket over 

 it, and he will have a perfectly dry lodging. 



The canoe's light draught, which prevents her sailing well 

 the wind, is in all other respecta an advantage, as it makes her 

 easier to paddle, enabling her owner to cruise along within a few 

 yards of shore, and opens to him numbers of little ooves and 

 creeks, otdy accessible to moat boats at high tide ; moreover, it of 

 oourse adds greatly to her speed when sailing free. 



Her slowness under paddle, which I have moutioned as a fault, 

 is due simply to tho fact that whereas in Bculling two blades take 

 the water simultaneously, in paddling but one blade can be used 

 at a time : and after the canoeist haa found by experience that 

 paddle of twenty five miles witl tire him no more lhan a pull of 

 half the distance, ho will not feel disponed to quarrel with his boat 

 because ahe cannot hold her own in a race witli.a tea iuch shell. 



With the wind over her quarter, and a moderate sea, the canoe 

 will show her very best Bailing qualities, skimming gracefully aud 

 swiftly over the waves, obedient to the slightest touch of the rud- 

 der, and rifling her owner's breast with exultation and joy. Ue 

 must be indeed an egotist who, after such au exhibition of her ac- 

 complishments, would refa.ee her the extra touoh of varnish, or 

 the new stylish cleat, for which she bo mutely but louehingly im 

 plores. 



Last, though by no means least, she is light ; when at home 

 may be kept in a safe boat-house ; when abroad can be easily drawn 



up on a beach or wharf, or carried to some shed or stable, whore 

 she will be out of harm's way, advantages not possessed by any 

 other sailing boat afloat. 

 Such, in brief, are the characteristics of the beat types of Bailing 

 tnoes ; but, as Mr. Alden justly remarks, each boat has, in addi- 

 tion, her own moral character, and the man who intends running 

 one must be prepared for as many surprises as he who marries a 

 pretty girl of sixteen. In either case he will at first find Mb hands 

 rather full. 

 And now as to canoeing on our bay. 



Oh, friendly wisfacrea— you, I mean, whose solemn warnings 

 once disturbed my mind's quiet— do you really think that you know 

 that splendid sheet of water? that you are familiar with its shores? 

 that in your shells and catboats you have seen all that is worlb 

 seeing, and done all that is worth doing ? Ah, you do. Very well- 

 But listen a moment to a short tale, which, in the words of the 

 immortal Mr. Barlow, " as you have never heard, I will now pro- 

 ceed to relate," of a supposititious canoeist living— let us say in 

 Brooklyn, and then retire to tho sanctity of your boat-housea, or 

 crawl into the dark, mysterious regions below your half-deck, and 

 commune with your hearts. 



Let ub suppose him an early riser— I like to think well of my 

 friends — and that, after a hasty bite and a drink of water, he runs 

 down to the boat-house to improve his wind. His boating toga 

 quickly donned, the canoe launched, and he ia off. If the 

 water ia smooth, well and good ; if rough, so much the better, for 

 while the shell owners idle about, and gloomily watch the water 

 .shiugover the float, he is driving his boat, at the waves, his spir- 

 its rising, and blood warming with every paddle-stroke. A mile or 

 so down the shore he finds a quiet spot, lands, and treats himself 

 i an invigorating swim, aud then, fresh aud glowing, and hungry 

 i a hawk, paddles back to breakfast. 



In the evening we find him again in his boat ,but the day has been 

 arm and his work hard — altogether he feels somewhat demoral- 

 ized ; so he pipes all hands to make sail, shapes his oourse to suit 

 the wind, and as the boat Blips smoothly along, leans back com 

 fortably, stretches his tired logs, aud smokes hia after-dinner 

 oigar, at peace with all the world— even those fiendish tugs. 



Bye and bye the shadows fall, the light on Bobbins' Beef winks 

 faintly, then shines clear and bright across the bay, and the moon 

 ) over the treee on shore. He is reBted now, takes in his tiny 

 aails, plies the paddle, and soon floats under tho shadow of the 

 bluffs. Then the bow is turned homeward, and lazy strokes carry 

 boat and man past well-known rocks and trees and houses, look- 

 ing new and strange in the white moonlight. Here he finds a 

 party of boys bathing, and paddles arouod and among them amid 

 yelfa of delight and much splashing of water ; there he spies a 

 ipoony cquple out for a moonlight row, and tantalizingly hovera 

 about them, just within earshot ; stops, perchance, at a watereide 

 house of call for a glass of beer, and finaUy reaches home and 

 sleeps the sleep of tho just. Hot so bad. eh r 



On some Saturday afternoon our canoeist loads his boat for hie 

 first cruise of a night and day. Aud this will be ber manifest : 

 One rubber blanket, 1 air pillow, 1 fishing rod (jointed), 1 Hob 

 Boy cuisine, 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 knife, 1 fork, 1 epoon, 1 water can, 

 1 coffee pot, 1 frying pan, 1 box peyper, 1 do. salt, 1 do. sugar, 1 

 do. butter, 1 do. matches, 1 do. tobacco, 1 do. coffee, 1 camp light, 

 1 bottle alchohol, G bottles bear, .leans soup, 5 lbs. potatoes, 1 can 

 corned beef, 2 loaves bread; 1 fruit cake, (i oranges, 1 lb. cheese, 1 

 roasted chicken, 1 overcoat, 1 extra pair trouBsrs, do. shoes, do. 

 aocks, 1 boiled thirt with fixings, 1 hair brush, 1 comb, 1 tooth 

 brush, 1 looking glass. What, messieurs, you smile. I have been 

 there ; moi qui 'oous park. A week later ho will again load her, 

 and thus will her manifest read. One rubber blanket, 1 pea jacket, 

 1 tin box, containing 2 lbs. corned beef (pressed), },\ lb. cheese, % 

 lb. butter, matohes and tobacco ; 1 can water, 1 loar bread, 1 flask 

 brandy and 1 dirk knife. Experience is everything. 



And on those Saturday afternoons and Sundays, on the infre- 

 quent holidays, and during the week's vacation which he manages 

 to secure, his cockle-shell glides and dancea and creepa, under 

 sail or paddle, over the ieugth and breadth of the upper harbor, 

 past the forts at the Narrows, through Gravesend Bay ; outside 

 Coney Island Beach, with its mammoth hotel, and thousands of 

 jolly bathers frolicking in the hot*; and behind it and Barren 

 Island, through tortuous, shallow, nameless creeks to Jamaica 

 Bay; through Rookaway Inlet, aud across tho heaving water to 

 Sandy Hook ; up along through Sandy Hook Bay and the Horse- 

 shoe, past the frowning Highlands, bearing aloft the brown twin 

 light-houseB ; up and down the North and South Shrewsbury; pas 

 long stretches of sand, Port Monmouth aud Keyport ; over Kari- 

 tan Bay, and past the mouth of tho river. Or, down along tba 

 South Shore of Stateu Island, past Elm Tree Beacon and Great 

 Killa and Prince s Bay. the wharves of Perth Amboy ; and up 

 through Staten Island Sound, bo like a quiet English river in its 

 low, grassy shores and smooth water and aleepy hamlets, to dirty 

 EHzabethport ; over the dreamy surface of Newark Bay, and in 

 the heart-breaking tides of the Kills. 



When he ia hungry or sleepy, and near an inn, if a wise man, he 

 will seek it and eat a hot meaJ, or creep betweeD cool sheets and 

 rejoice ; or if away from civilization , he will munch hie cold food, 

 and wash it down with water from the can and a sip from the 

 flask ; or boach hia boat and lie down in her, and amoke hia pipe 

 and be thankful. 



When the yachts are out and the wind fair, he will hoist sail 

 and follow them, albeit some distance aBtern, mildly but firmly 

 declining all proffered ''tows ;" and when tho breeze chops around 

 dead ahead, or a flat calm eusues, ho will take to his paddle and 

 politely return those kind offers of assistance, particularly if night 

 is falling and a thunder-squall coming up. 



He wdl occasionally gel aoaked with rain or spray, and have to 

 sleep in a wet jacket, and the sun aud wind will burn and tan him; 

 but he will eat like a bear, and aleep like a lop ; his lungs will ex. 

 pand, his eyes grow bright, bis muscles hard, his step light, hia 

 spirits buoyant. And iu a season or twu ho will kuow every eddy 

 and tide, every covb aud creek and inlet, every rock and shoal, 

 headland and light, wharf and beach, restaurant and tavern, 

 between Brooklyn and Roekaway, the Battery and the Hook. 



W. M. C. 



The Agents' Hekai d. -The Agnis't Herald is a pepar 

 devoted to tl -uts all over the country. 



Having had some experience with it we can highly commend its- 

 value »B an advertising medium. 



