m 



FOREST AJND STREAM. 



Poetland Taoht Clto .—Officers of the club for 1879 

 Oommod.rc, John P. Thomas ; VrcwCOinmodore, Alfred K. 

 Paul ; Fleet Captain, John E. Bradford ; Secretary. George 

 Doane Rand ; Treasurer, Fritz H. Jordan ; Measurer, A. K, 

 P. Cobb ; Trustees, Com. John P. Thomas, ex officio; 0. W. 

 Goddard, A. M. Smith, 0. B. Somerby •, Membership Com- 

 mittee, C. G. Richards, S. B. Kelsey, T. Hale. Chase, Sec. 

 Geo. Doane Rand, ex officio; Regatta Committee, Com. John 

 P. Thomas, ex officio; J. Hall Boyd, B, J. Willard, T. K. 

 Jones, G. W. Rich ■ Room Committee, J. Hall Boyd. 



THE NEW YORK REGATTA COURSE. 



Editoe Forest and Stbeam : 



As your valuable paper has taken bo prominent a place in yacht- 

 ing matters, I would lute through it to present a subject for con- 

 sideration to the New lork, Brooklyn and Atlantic Yacht Clubs. 

 After an experience of about thirty-four years by the N. Y. Y. C. 

 of making their races out, by and around the S. W: Spit, would it 

 not be well to take a retrospect, and see if they can still feel just- 

 ified in clinging to the old track ? Has it not proven a very un- 

 satisfactory course to sail over if races are made with any desire 

 to test the sailing qualities of the first-ciass yachts of these clubs? 

 The writer has been on most of the annual races of the N. Y. Y. 0. 

 for fifteen years past, either aa a participant in them or spectator 

 on one of the steamers. I think fully one-third of the races in 

 that time have proved complete or partial laUures, principally 

 from trying lo turn the Spit Buoy either when going or on the re- 

 turn. With this statement I would suggest to these clubs that 

 this year they try the course down the Bay (Swash Channel) 

 and around the Scotland Lightship, and thence to the Hook 

 Lightship— or to the Hook Lightship first. This course would 

 give a better opportunity to test actual sailing qualities and cea- 

 manship, as it would involve some close-hauled work with any 

 wind, and avoid the doldrums so ofteu experienced near the Spit 

 Buoy. M. A. T. 



The proposed change would take our racing craft out to sea 

 a little more and show up their weaknesses. For our part we 

 would go further than our correspondent and advise sailing 

 club matches from the Hoak twenty miles to sea and back, 

 though we arc well aware of the improbability of getting three 

 vessels to the line when it comes to real work outside. We 

 are not yet ripe for that sort of yacht racing. 



tion of the highest aims of yachting and will vanish as suddenly 

 as has the opposition lo the yawl in San Francisco. 



Many years ago when we battled single-handed for the cause 

 of that rig our schemes were lightly spoken of as visionary. 

 How visionary the annihilation of the clumsy sloop rig and its 

 replacement by the yawl bear testimony. When the love of 

 adventure and a pride in seamanship shall have taken a firmer 

 hold of the yachting public, when the arts of sailing and navi- 

 gation shall be held in higher esteem than picnics, fireworks, 

 Jolly good times and the like, then will the Butter model not 

 only be accepted, but welcomed as the yawl rig has been in 

 San Francisco, by even the most stubborn. 



THE QUESTION OF TYPE. 



New Yoke, March 7, 1879. 

 Editoe Foeest and Stbeam : 



You seem to me a little unfair to email sloops in your article on 

 Freda. You compare that 5-tonner to boats like the Lee, Brown, 

 etc., and triumph over the unfortunate who should meet -Freda 

 in a breeze in such a craft. The Lee, Brown, etc., are only sloops 

 in rig; they are sand-bag sailboats in class, and only fit for oertain 

 work. In their proper place they are effective enough, but are. 

 cabin trunk or not, useless for cruising. A fairer comparison 

 would be with Midge or Julian, and with them I question whether 

 the 5-tonner would show so great a superiority. After having seen 

 the sailing of both sorts of vessels, I would bet on the sloop in 

 any ordinary weather. As for really bad weather, any man who 

 gets caught in it in any sort of a small craft is to be pitied ; but I 

 question whether the sloop hove to would not live as long as the 

 cntter. G. M. 



The impression that small yacts are necessarily uncomfort- 

 able and dangerous in heavy weather is the natural result of 

 experience in just such vessels as Julian and Midge, and leads 

 to the erroneous idea now prevalent that small boats are fit 

 only for sheltered waters. It is to combat this impression that 

 we wish the cutter model introduced, so that comfort and 

 safety both may be obtained in any weather at a small ex- 

 pense in a small yacht, enabling the many to take to the sea, 

 and not only the few who are fortunate in the possession of 

 big craft. How well a small craft is able to go through high 

 seas, if properly modelled, we know full well from our own 

 experience, to which may be added the testimony we publish 

 in this issue in the shape of a letter from England as well as 

 from "Freda's " doings as under ; 



It was blowing very hard ; all the racers had snugged down 

 to two or three reefs, and in many cases trysails, they being 

 bound to Dartmouth. We were told we would be swallowed 

 up in the sea off the Berry, so made all snug before starting 

 by setting our trysail, double-reefed foresail and storm jib and 

 making all secure on deck and below. There certainly was a 

 very big Bea on, which was all the better for us as we had 

 plenty of room between it to go up and down ; so much so 

 that I am sure we made better weather of it than the Oimara 

 Cover 100 tons!), as when she passed us I often lost sight of 

 her bowsprit, and her fLiesail looked just a little damp. A 

 good many big racers who passed us came very close, on pur- 

 pose, as they said, to see, how we were getting on, since 

 we seemed " quite comfortable," which was quite true. We 

 got into Dartmouth as dry as any of them. 



Surely pretty strong evidence for Freda's seagoing abilities. 

 The idea that small boats are uncomfortable will not hold. 

 They are, on the contrary, easier and safer than larger vessels, 

 when properly modelled. 



Imagine the terrible commotion the cork-like proclivities of 

 the American sloops who try to climbs over everything in- 

 stead of easing through it, would create in the seaway Freda 

 thought less of than the hundred tonners: Apart from this, 

 they are so poorly and lightly built that they would speedily 

 wreck themselves through their own straining and jerky work- 

 ing did they ever attempt to make rpugh waler and weather 

 a matter of business and not an occasional exception, We are 

 anxious to see the cutter introduced in our waters to render 

 Ci uiaing at sea in small boats a possibility and because we de- 

 sire to see yachting in America advanced from mere dawdling 

 Child's play to a manly, intelligent and instructive pastime; 

 the difference between the two being just about the measure 

 between the sloop and the cutter. 



The opposition to the cutter proceeds from a false concep- 



OUR CORINTHIAN CUTTER. 



Linn, Mass., Jan 10, 1879. 

 Editor Forest and Stbf.am: 



Having read "Martin Gale's" rejoinder, I will tell him what 1 

 "really did mean" when I said his boat would not have displace- 

 ment enough to carry four tons of lead in "such a place." Ac- 

 cording to '.bo draught in the paper, his boat would have a keel 

 about Soft, long, of an average depth of 18in, The average thick- 

 ness of a keel of the size generally used in a yacht of that buUd, 

 below the garboards, would not be over 4in. That would give a 

 keel bolow the garboards measuring 18in.x4in.x25ft., which is cer- 

 tainly as much as keel yachts of that size generally have. In this 

 keel he proposes to buUd, or hang, 4 tons of lead, or B,flO0 lbs. 

 He would, in building snch a yacht, probably leave some wood 

 below the garboards, or he would have a very light keel, indeed. 

 If he Bhould leave Sin. below the garboards his keel would meas- 

 ure 15in.x4in.x25ft, Now, a cubic foot of lead weighs about 700 

 lbs., in round numbers, and 4 tons would make over 11 cubic feet, 

 aud would require a keel 15in.x4in.x27ft., nearly, to contain it ; or 

 if he allowed no wood at all below his garboards, and made his 

 lead ISin. deep, it would stUl take over 22ft. in length to contain 

 it. Besides his 4 tons of lead in his keel he would have to carry 

 from 2 to 3 tons inside to get his 9 tons displacement ; and from 

 tho shape of her floor timbers this would also have to spread a 

 long distance fore and aft to get it under her floor, and this in 

 connection with a lead keel nearly as long as the boat. Any man 

 who ever ballasted a boat and tried it in a seaway, knows that 

 boat ballasted in such a manner is bound to " dive like a loon ;" 

 and topsides Oft. high instead of 3 would not keep her deck dry. 

 A boat to be dry, able, fast and work well has got to carry her 

 ballast as near the centre of buoyancy as possible, and not hang- 

 ing to the ends of her keel. I do seriously deny that the smaller 

 English yachts are any abler, faster, or more comfortable than 

 our deep centreboarders untd it has been proved by actual trial, 

 which, I believo, has never yet been done. I have written nothing 

 hi any previous communication against the cutter rig, but I have 

 said that, everything else being equal, the centreboard hull is 

 is abler, faster and more comfortable than tho keel. Even our 

 fishermen, the most conservative class of sailors in the country, 

 are beginning to build their vessels with centreboards instead of 

 keels, but on the same general lines, and I think they are well 

 satisfied with the change. It seems to be the fashion among a 

 certain class of yachtsmen to invariably olass a sloop hb a flat 

 centreboard boat, and that if a boat is spoken of as a cutter she 

 must be deep of necessity. Can't you impress the fact upon 

 yachtsmen that the rig does not modify the hull, but the hull 

 often dictates the rig ? I find from descriptions of English yachts 

 that nearly the same style of hull is rigged indiscriminately as 

 cutter, yawl, schooner, or lugger, more according to the fancy of 

 the owner than the lines of the hull itself. Gkahpbs. 



FACTS ABOUT THE CUTTER. 



Greenwich, Kent, England, Feb, 25, 1879. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



In Forest and Stream of Jan. 23 I observe a letter signed 

 "Podgers," in whioh the writer seems to be under the impression 

 that when, on long passages, we encounter adverse winds and a 

 heavy sea, it iB our custom to heave to and suffer ourselves to be 

 drifted to leeward. In the course of a tolerably long experience 

 this has never happened to me, nor to any sea-going yacht of fair 

 draught of water that I am aware of. 



My notion of heaving to for bad weather on a passage is to back 

 one of the headsails, lash the tiller, and trim the other sails bo 

 that the vessel, lying close to the wind, will forge ahead at a suf- 

 ficient speed — say one or two miles an hour — to be under command 

 of the helm in case of need. Vessels that by reason of their build 

 or other disabUities cannot do that, had better be in port. 



The very interesting discussion upon the comparative merits of 

 small American sloops and of small sea-goiDg English yachts is 

 confused by your correspondent's letter; because, after referring 

 to me and to my first book (" Down Channel"), he starts upon an 

 imaginary competitive cruise, and gains an easy triumph by assu- 

 ming that we sail in vessels whose midship section is represented 

 by the letter V, and that we must heave to when the wind and sea 

 are strong ahead. This is, however, erroneous. My three cutters, 

 bnUt at intervals of about eight yoars, had a full U shape section, 

 as have most other cutters. Leo was i% tons, 4ft. draught, 33 

 cwt. blalast; Sirius, 11 tonB, 6ft. draught, 7 tons ballast; Orion, 

 IB tons, 7ft, draught, 11 tons ballast. The latter has been length- 

 ened 6ft. by the stern, and is now a yawl of 19 tons. 



In the first I sailed 5,000 geographical miles in the open sea, the 

 longest oruise being 1,380 miles; in the second, about 9,000, the 

 ;estcruiBe 2,640; in the last about 18,000, longest cruise 2,200. 

 I recollect heaving to only four times in the sense of your corres- 

 pondent's letter— once in the Sirius in a heavy sea off the Land's 

 End, with three reefsdown, during the night; oneo in the Orion. (cut- 

 ter), running up channel, with three reefs down, during the night; 

 and once reaching under close-reefed mainsail (four reefs) in the 

 Irish Sea, during the night ; and once in the Orion (yawl), beating 

 down channel, when we took the mainsail off her at dusk, and 

 hove to under third jib, reefed foresail, and reefed mizzen. In 

 the early morning the foresheet horse was oarried away. The 

 foresail was taken in, sheeted with tackles and hoisted again. 

 Next the mizzen bumpkin went short off under the taffrail. As 

 this accident necessitated stowing the mizzen altogether, we set 



the mainsail with three reefs in it, and beat down to Beachy Head, 

 fifteen miles further, against one of the heaviest galoe r encount- 

 ered in my experience. It was very problematical if tho anchorage 

 would be avaUable when we got there, bnt as we were bound to 

 Scotland, and I oonsider it demoralizing to turn back, I preferred 

 to take my chance. I mention these particulars as a proof that, 

 in regard to the power of tho vessel, there was no necessity for 

 heaving to at all ; but having resolved not to proceed further than 

 Beachy Head while the gale lasted, and being afraid to attempt to 

 anchor there without daylight to show if it would bo prudent to do 

 so, I preferred heaving to with plenty of sea-room until morning. 

 The two other instances in the Orion were, as before stated, fair 

 winds. In the case of the Birius, we had been turning to wind- 

 ward two days aud nights under double-reefed mainsail, and for 

 the last few hours before arriving off the Laud's End under three 

 reefs, wind S. W. , with thunder and a tremendous sea. As every 

 sador knows that the Land's End under such circumstances is not 

 a place where we should sail in the dark, it was only a matter of 

 common prudence and of comparative comfort to heave to until 

 daylight to leeward or its irregular and strong tidal currents. 



Your correspondent says he will endeavor to procure a copy of 

 my first book. To save trouble to himself and others I think it 

 right to state that "Down Channel" is sold out, I shall probably 

 reproduce it some day in an improved form if the demand for 

 facts as have come under my observation seems to warrant it, 

 which will bo decided by the sale of the more recent book, "Orion ; 

 or, How I Came to Sail Alone in a 19 ton Yacht," 



I have read somewhere, or have been told that one of my books 

 is lacking in stirring incidents. That I repeat it here is a proof 

 that 1 do not object to the criticism. To the mind of a skilled 

 yachtsman the relation of a persevering and successful oruise is 

 presented in a different aspect ; but the unskilled are naturally 

 more entertained with a cruise in which you " swing the boat to 

 adjust compasses" before starting on a little craisB out of the 

 river, take an observation for latitude in the neighborhood of a 

 light-house; encounter in shoal water snoh high and heavy seas as 

 Perry and Maury never saw in the Atlantic ; and having put up a 

 text in the cabin signifying your complete dependence upon Prov- 

 idence, turn tail at every breeze of wind to prove it, To those 

 who delight in positions obviously critioal, the meeting of the tides 

 at sea with two waves breaking toward each other and engulfing 

 the boat — although to be true to nature they should break in op- 

 posite directions— is not an ineffective illustration, albeit some- 

 what alarming to the neophyte who contemplates taking to sea- 

 sailing as a pleasant recreation. 



It stands to reason that cruises of the latter description will bo 

 more lively reading, since the enthusiastic impressions of those 

 who publish after their first thousand miles of sea-sailing are so 

 innocently erroneous in regard to speed and technical details, that 

 they have a fund of matter to draw upon for the delectation of 

 readers which is denied to others who, hampered with knowledge 

 derived from experience, are bound to be careful in their writings 

 aud illustrations not to violate the laws of nature ; and if they 

 are interested in the encouragement of pleasure cruising at sea, 

 are equally bound not to gratify the tasto of readers for the mar- 

 velous at the expense of truth, by depicting a number of exciting 

 and impossible dangers which may have the effect of deterring 

 others from taking to a sport that would be much enoouraged by 

 yachtsmen publishing their experiences— provided that they were 

 careful to write only what they knew to be true. 



B. T. McMullek. 



GAME IN "SEASON IN MARCH. 



Hares, brown and gray. wild duck, geese, brant, etc. 



yOB FLORIDA. 



Deer, Wild Turkey, Woodcock, Quail, Snipe, Bucks and Wild Fowl. 

 "Bay hirds" generally, Including various Bpecies of plover, sand- 

 piper, snipe, curlew, oyBter-catoher, surf bu-.is, phalaropes, avocets, 

 etc., coming under the group LinuicoUv or Shore Birds. 



—Mr. J. D. Dougall, London, England, manufacturers of 

 well known superior Express rifles, calls our attention to the 

 fact that his guns continue to show wonderful superiority at 

 the Monaco competitions. Mr. flepwood, the winner of the 

 Grand Prize, shot with one. So also did the three first prize 

 winners for the Prix d'Ouverton. 



Massachusetts.— The Raymond Sportsman Club had a 

 large attendance at Beechmont, Friday last, in the glass ball 

 shoot for the champion medal. Score, twenty-five balls each, 

 sprung from three Bogardus traps, eighteen yards rise, Bogar- 

 dus rules: Schaffer, 23: Edwards, S3; Jones, 22; Gillett, 

 22; Wetherell, 22; Blanchard, 21; Bates, 20 ; Kirkwood' 

 20 : Loud, 19; Smith, 18; No. I, 17; Watts, 17; Rogers, 

 12 ; Bennett, 9 ; Dimick, 7. The tie was shot off at twenty- 

 one yards rise, and was won by Mr. Schaffer by breaking five 

 straight balls. 



The Woboesteb Spobtsman's. Club.— This club, of Worces- 

 ter, Mass., have elected the following officers: President, 

 George B. Buckingham ; Vice-Presidents, William 8. Perry 

 and A. P. Pond ; Secretary, Sledman Clark ; Treasurer, G. 

 J. Rugg; Executive Committee, A. L. Rise, E. S. Knowles, 

 A. G. Mann, S. R. Hudson. 



New YonK—Eldred, Sullivan Co , March 10,— Some quail 

 have wintered here this last winter in barn-yards j they have 

 been fed by the farmers. Daniel Hallock killed 13 foxes last 

 winter. J. m. Bbabixy. 



T?BSSBit.r&sjjL—Ihigdah, March 12.— This and the adjoin- 

 ing townships of Kennett and Pocopson we think difficult to 

 beat as a trapping locality for skunk. Norris Jackson, tho 

 first lr pper of skunk iu this vicinity, caught over fifty this 

 season ; but his daily trips ivnt too bard on him, and be took 

 pneumonia, and after three weeks died. Orr Bro^., of Union. 

 ville, have caught over 130. They catch them altogether with 

 dogs. While the dog is taking their attention, they slip up 

 aud pick the skunk up by the tail, in which manner they are 

 inoffensive and are killed by a stroke on the head with a 

 small club. S. Harlan's Sons, of Kennett Square, have 

 caught nearly 100, and a number of others around have caught 

 from five to twenty. They mostly use " chokers," but a few 



