FOREST AND STREAM, 
655 
New Jersey State Sportsmen's Association. —The 
Committeeon the State tournament are hard at work per¬ 
fecting matters. The birds have been heard from, and 
President Eaton assures ub that the tournament will be 
held early in October, the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th probably. 
Eleven thousand birds have been gathered, and the prizes 
will amount to at least $2,000, 
HIGH WATER FOR THE WEEK. 
Date. 
BOSTON. 
New York. 
Charleston. 
h. 
m 
h. m* 
h. m. 
Sept. 18. 
0 
35 
io a 
6 15 
Sept, 10. 
1 
]« 
10 62 
10 
Sept. HO . 
6 
11 45 
10 58 
Septal. 
59 
morn. 
11 57 
Sept. 22. 
8 
68 
0 44 
morn.* 
Sept. 23. 
4 
1 50 
1 3 
Sept. 24. 
« 
14 
3 0 
9 13 
COMING FIXTURES. 
Sept SO—South Boston Y 0 Union Regatta. 
Sept —Quincy Y C Regatta, Nicholson Pennant. 
Sept 20—Dorchester Y C Union Regatta. 
Bept 22—Quaker City Y C Fall Regatta. 
Sept 22—Bay of Qulnto Y C Annual Regatta. 
Sept 28—Quaker City Y C Closing Cruise. 
Oct 15—Seawanhaka Y C Ocean Match, Center Cup. 
STEAM CATAMARANS. 
It is no uncommon occurrence to find old and oft-dis¬ 
carded “inventions” re-invented over and over again 
and set aside as fast or as slow as the vanity or mulish 
propensities of the’average specimen of humanity will 
permit. The steam catamaran has long been a hobby 
with that class of individuals who live and exist entirely 
in themselves, oblivious to the progress of the world 
around them. Like perpetual motion schemes, this very 
ordinary and not in the least mysterious or even ingeni¬ 
ous device, is forced upon the public’s attention from time 
to time as the fecundity of the bucolic mind ripens unto 
the idea. Successive attempts at building fast steam 
catamarans do not differ in slipshod reasoning at all, but 
only in the wonderful results anticipated, which vary in 
indirect proportion to the capacity of the inventor’s brains. 
Thus it is that those who least understand the problems 
they claim to have solved serve out to the unprofessional 
press the wonders of their forthcoming feats in speed 
with the least compunctious as to possible disappoint¬ 
ment, and the' more or less gullible country audience 
jumps at the flattering, ambitious thought that their own 
little burrough should have produced such a profound 
genioua to whose capacities the world is soon to bow. It 
is not surprising, therefore, to read of still another at¬ 
tempt to obtain the impossible by complacently setting 
aside well known laws of nature, and trying over again 
what has been proven a failure a score of times even to 
those who will not reason by induction, but arc only to 
be convinced by a lost reputation and an empty pocket- 
book. 
Two master-minds of a village on the Hudson are even 
now engaged in enlightening a turbid world upon the 
prineiples of naval design, having boldly taken hold in 
the shape of constructing a “ steam catamaran," The 
logic employed, upon the strength of which somewhat 
visionary results are anticipated, and heralded far and 
near before accomplished, is about of the very flimsiest 
and unpretentious kind. We will not for a moment sup¬ 
pose that Messrs. Ward & Stanton, of Newburgh, who 
are said to furnish the engines for the new prodigy, take 
any stock in the affair, other than the precautions neces¬ 
sary to secure payment for their share in the work. It is 
hardly likely that the talent of a draughting office can be 
found to be abetting such a questionable piece of engi¬ 
neering. The logic employed by the inventers is this: 
—Sailing catamarans are known to be exceedingly fast, 
much more so than single hulled vessels, ergo, why not 
put steam into, or, we should perhaps say in the vernacu¬ 
lar, “ onto ” a catamaran ? The natural’sequence would 
be, that she could steam much faster than anything else 
alloat because the sailing catamaran sails faster than any¬ 
thing afloat! Strange that this idea has not struck the 
world before, and that it was left to “ the theories of a 
Mr.-, and the practical experience of another Mr. 
■-" of a country town, to discover the possibilities hid¬ 
den in the secrets of two hulls instead of one. That such 
experiments have been tried often enough, that many of 
them were known, even in the town referred to, to have 
ended in failure, were matters of minor consideration, 
for those experiment, though good enough in their way 
and undertaken by some of the ablest engineers of Europe, 
just lacked that little bit of extra genious which is depen¬ 
ded upon to reverse the results of former years in favor 
of the two good citizens who have undertaken to startle 
he world afresh. 
• 4 It is a disagreeable task to disabuse these gentlemen of 
their fondest hopes, and in a few lines to show them 
where their logic is so weak that the enterprise will prob¬ 
ably fall through at that spot; but we have received a 
number of inquiries from persons whose imaginations 
have been fired at the thought of thirty miles an hour in 
a steam catamaran, and that they may not be led astray 
by designing schemers, their attention is invited to the 
following:— 
Sailing catamarans are exceedingly fast under favor¬ 
able conditions, because they combine in their construc¬ 
tion excessive stability, or sail carrying or driving power, 
with a minimum of resistance, owing to their very fine 
lines and small area of “wetted surface.” That is the 
whole secret and nothing more. If we now turn to the 
application of steam to such double-hulled craft, it is at 
once evident that the factor of enormous driving power 
in proportion to resistance disappears, for we ha ve to sub¬ 
stitute steam-engines for sail area.; in other words, weight 
in place of stability. The excessive stability of the cata¬ 
maran, which is one of her chief points as a sailer, alto¬ 
gether vanishes as a benefit as soon as we apply steam, 
Further, with a given weight of engine a lighter displace¬ 
ment can be obtained from the single hull than from the 
double, for the latter may he said to have four sides, 
against the former's two, to say nothing of the cross brac¬ 
ing and increased weight of a large deck area. The com¬ 
bined weight of hull and engine will be less in the boat 
of ordinary type than in the catamaran. Now, as in the 
new venture it is proposed—and much stress is laid upon 
this fact by the local Wiseacres—“to have the ordinary 
hull split in two, the halves being placed about fifteeu 
feet apart and the boarded perpendicular sides being ex¬ 
actly parallel to each other/’ it follows that no finer lines 
will be obtained than iu a single hull, for the outside lines 
of a single hull need not differ at all from those adopted, 
if both hulls arc supposed to he brought together along 
amidships. To sum up, the steam catamaran, which we 
believe is now well under way, has not a single point in 
her favor over launches or steam yachts of the usual style 
of construction. There is not only nothing whatever 
upon which to base the extravagant claims to a speed of 
nearly thirty miles in this revamped experiment, but on 
the contrary, in every direction is she inferior to the sin¬ 
gle-hulled steamer. "In the first place, her “ lines” are no 
finer; second, she has more wetted surface by nearly 50 
per cent.; third, both of these causes of resistance are 
still further augmented by her greater displacement; 
fourth, at the high speed intended the “feathering” pad¬ 
dle wheels of small diameter which are supposed to con¬ 
stitute still another point of recommendation are decid¬ 
edly objectionable, and a loss will result from “back 
pressure” as the buckets dip vertically in the water, some¬ 
thing verv well known to engineers, and the explanation 
of the fact that feathering wheels have not been gener¬ 
ally adopted. Add to these drawbacks the questionable 
action of the “race” from the midship wheels between 
the hulls tending possibly to produce a lower water level 
aft than forward, and a hydrostatic “head” in conse¬ 
quence, and the determination “if she shows an astonish¬ 
ing speed, this mariuejwonder will be called the Surprise ,” 
is one which will certainly be justified. But what a lot 
of money and time might not have been saved to the two 
enterprising persons had it ever occurred to them before 
commencing their steam catamaran to lay their vague 
plans and expectations before some one conversant with 
such matters beyond the successful wielding of a broad- 
axe ! When steam catamarans can be built any faster 
than ordinary single-hulled vessels, the world will stand 
on its head, ami that time lias not yet come. 
The Greenpoint Yards.—T he new establishment of 
Piepgrass at Pottery Beach, Greenpoint, is now about 
finished and in working order. He has built a most com¬ 
plete yard for shipbuilding purposes, and is ready with 
his new facilities, etc,, to construct any amount of ton¬ 
nage. to haul out, repair and lay up whatever comes 
along. The yard is entirely fenced in and has a large 
basin attached, protected by booms On all sides, The 
mould loft and joiner shop is 75 feet Ipng, lias a commo¬ 
dious office and draughting room at one end and a spar 
shed, blacksmith’s shop, two sets of ways and all neces¬ 
sary facilities in the yard, Piepgrass has in hand for the 
winter a sea-going steam yacht, a good deal of outside 
work, steam tug, racing sloop of some 60 feet, and much 
other work in the way of cutters in prospect. Greenpoint 
promises to become famous in the annals of American 
yacht building, for right adjacent to the yard described, 
Mr. J. J. Driscoll has his shops, and as both these build¬ 
ers have turned out fine and staunch work we may ex¬ 
pect to find Greenpoint yachts figuring extensively among 
our racers and cruisers of the future. Mr. Driscoll has 
about finished a new racing sloop of 28 feet length. 
The Isltp Yard. — The chances are that Mr. Alonzo 
Smith will put together a big lot of work this winter in 
the way of new yachts. He has now one under way for 
Erastus Corning, of Albany, and she is to be a beauty iu 
the way of extra finish, such as inahogony waterways, 
hardwood and nickel fittings throughout. Sloop rig, 
with racing sails and a shifting cabin. Length over all, 
39 feet 6 inches ; beam, 13 feet 6 inches ; hold, 3 feet 0 in¬ 
ches, with about 2 feet 6 inches water without board. 
Smith is figuring also on several yachts for neighboring 
ports aud the Lakes. The success of Niantic this season, 
though not in racing trim, was a decided feather in his 
cap and shows that able-bodied yachts with “ two ends ” 
have not yet had their day by a long piece. To be fast, 
a yacht need not be a mantrap of a smoothing iron. 
The Uncle Sam.—T he crazy and profitless attempt 
made by one Captain Goldschmidt and wife to cross the 
Atlantic in an ill-modelled, ill-fated little boat of some 
fifteen feet long has resulted in disaster, the boat and her 
rig going to pieces the first gale they struck. Once in s 
while these stupid ventures succeed, but the failure of 
just as many should deter others from such crackbramed 
undertakings unless they have a properly modeled and 
well-rigged boat under them. These cheap step nasty 
affairs are not equal to the work imposed upon them. 
Big Sharpie. — Mr. Minot Smith is new building at 
Port Jefferson, L. I., a big sharpie, intended for Florida 
•waters. She is fifty-six feet long a yd thirteen feet six 
inch beam; has raking stem, elliptic stern, and will be 
schooner rigged and fitted with two centre-boards, one 
forward and the other abaft tlie cabin. 
Atlantic Yacht Club,—T he annual pennant regatta 
of this club was sailed ou Wednesday, September 17th. 
Start flying, 10 minutes grace; two yachts to start m each 
class or no prize. Course for classes A, B, O, from Bay 
Ridge around Southwest Spit buoy 81, thence around 
lightship and home. Class D will round a stakebont 
near Gedney Channel buoy, and classes E, F and G return 
homo direct from the Spit. No limit to time of race ; 
time allowance based on mean length; working sails 
only. Judges—J. B. Morgan, J. L. Marcellus and H. L. 
Dodge. For further information apply to Fleet-Captain 
W. W. Richards or aboard the Commodore’s flagship 
Agnes. 
More Disasters. —Reports reach, us every week of dis¬ 
asters to yachts, invariably by capsizing, and the drown¬ 
ing of many persons. Just as long as we adhere to the 
present type of light draft yachts, so long will the victims 
go to Davy Jones’s by the score every month during the 
season. 
Columbia Yacht Club.— The race for the champion 
cup presented to the Columbia Yacht Club was sailed as 
appointed Sept, 9th, and brought many fast open boats to 
the line. We look for a material increase in the number 
of entries for similar events in the future, and should the 
Columbia Yacht Club repeat the experiment next year, 
and throw open the races to jib and mainsails as well, or, 
in other words, still further liberalize their races by dis¬ 
carding rig distinction in their “open” matches, as well 
as give all bands a chance at a limited outlay by prohibit¬ 
ing^ shifting ballast, their races will become one of the 
principal events of the season among the smaller yachts 
in this neighborhood. The management of this club is in 
excellent hands, who seek only its advancement and best 
interests, and they can, therefore, well afford to experi¬ 
ment in the direction indicated. If the style of racing 
we counsel is found incompatible with American preju¬ 
dices, it is easy enough to return to the old way of doing 
things, a frigate’s crew, sandbags and all. 
The race for the champion cup, donated by the Derby 
Silver Plate Co., was open to all cat-rigged yachts, eight¬ 
een to twenty-five feet long. Course, triangular, from 
club-house, foot of East Eighty-sixth street to mark off 
Pleasant Valley, thence to mark off Weehawken and re¬ 
turn ; sail over three times ; distance, fifteen miles. Time 
allowance, 11m. to the foot; crews restricted to one hand 
for every three feet of length. Judges : Com. Dilks, W. 
B. Y. C.’: ex-Com. Nobles, C. Y. C., and Jacob Varian. A 
flying start was effected a little after noon, with 10m. grace 
to cross the line. The Garrison led across, with Pinafore 
close aboard ; then a long interval, and Willie, Dilks and 
the rest followed suit. Tlie wind was moderate from 
N. N. W., with the tide the last half of the flood. As the 
the last five yachts did not manage to Cross within the 
ten minutes, they were all handicapped. Strange that 
skippers of experience cannot handle their craft to better 
advantage. It was a long and short leg to the first mark, 
and when it was fetched Dilks and Dean had drawn out 
ahead, Carrie Taylor and Rosy IT. good third and fourth. 
With the wind on starboard quarter, the second mark 
was made in the same order, Dilks gradually spinning 
out her lead. The first round was made without change. 
Tlie wind had kept hacking to the west, and lightened 
up. Rosy H. put in some some effective tide-cheating, 
aud went into second place by the time the next round 
was completed, but upon the wind freslining again 
dropped to fourth. The final round was devoid of further 
events, and a fine day's racing, witnessed by large crowds 
from the bluffs on shore, terminated as under, the 
champion cup going to Jennie Dilks :— 
Elapsed Corrected 
Denut Ji. Time. Time. 
Name. Club. Ft. In. H. .11. S. II. M. S. 
Jennie Dilks. . . West Brighton. .21 07 4 12 25 4 12 25 
Geo.B. Deane..nuclsou River...21 10 4 25 48 4 21 441 
Willie.Hudson River...20 08 4 82 50 4 23 20 
Carrie Taylor... Pavonia.19 11 4 27 45 4 20 45 
Rosy IT....Jersey City.18 00 4 28 25 i 18 88* 
The Garrison, Pinafore and Warren withdrew. 
Yacht Bertie Jardine, North Beach, Barnegat Inlet, 
Sept. Ilf h, 8 o'clock, P. M .—A party of four, consisting of 
J. B. Bergen, G. H. Wild and Dr. R. F. Borden of Red 
Bank, N. J., and C. E. Hill of Newark, N. J, came down 
on Monday, the 8th, for a few days’ fishing and snipe 
shooting, aud up to the present have found all that heart 
could wish for. Plenty of snipe, the party getting from 
forty to sixty birds daily, and it has not been good 
weather for snipe either, the wind being fresh from tho 
N. W„ with but little variation, while the Captain, J, ) 
Dorsett, than whom no better posted man on Bartta* 4 ® 
and its attractions can be found, says that it reo:. 
southwesterly wind to bring them in good. Fi^’jfi 
also been more than excellent; plenty of we- arul 
barb. To-day blue fishing was tried with »? - ,l & success, 
not only by the party, who got all they r - “ted °‘ mce 
ones, many on the average from four t seven pounds, 
‘V. • 1 - u 1 _ unfit* l,n<. n.lur* fhu 
being Sol. Stout’s, who got • - - , - 
lbs. the smallest, to 11 lbs. tfi 'largest. Tlie flats and 
beaches have been remarks!tree from mosquitos and 
the party have had a mo. ••ojoydbte time and praise 
Captain "Dorsett and ts-DarUe w the highest terms. 
They intend to leave “ borno to-morrow, and say that 
for genuine sport P->'' gat beats the world. 
Racing at OU ,? j “Land.—A match was sailed on the 
Sound ftant r*h, open lo catboats under fifteen feet. 
Course tehWon by Estelle, E. A. Willis, Port 
WnshintrlA'. beating Nettie, second, A. F. Vail, of City 
Island; v .7 S. T. Pell, of City Island ; Centennial, 
anil T> '- I’ddie, B. Blizzard, of New Rochelle, and Lizzie 
q ( • jelin, of New Rochelle. 
BOSTON YACHT CLUB. 
The thirteenth annual regatta of the Boston Yacht 
Club was sailed Saturday, September 0th. Owing to a 
total lack of wind the first class could not be got off at 
all, and it was not until 2 p.m. that the signal was made 
from the schooner Sprite for the second class to get under 
way. This is much to be regretted, as the ent 
been quite full and extra inducements were offered in 
the way of prizes to the owners sailing their own yachts. 
This feature of giving the gentleman helmsman neat lit¬ 
tle trinkets for handling their vessels outside of the reg¬ 
ular purses is something to be commended, as personal 
interest and rivalry is thereby encouraged, The races 
wore for schooners and sloops over thirty-eight feet, for 
same measuring twenty-six feet to thirty-eight feet, and 
for sloops measuring eighteen to twenty-six feet length. 
Course, from a point near judges’ boat off the club-house, 
down the Westway, leaving Thompson’s and Rainsford’s 
islands on the starboard, Long and George’s islands and 
Point AUerton buoy, No. 3, on the port, through the 
Narrows, leaving George's and Gallop’s islands, Nix’s 
Mate buoy, and buoy No. 7, off Fort Independence on 
the port; thence to the point of starting. Nothing was 
left undone by the Regatta Committee—Messrs. Thomas 
Dean, J. Alfred Mitchell, Geo. S. Rice, Frank A. Drew, 
and S. L. French—to insure a successful race, but the 
lack of wind at the start was against them and reduced 
tlie starters to a fraction of the entries. The yachts of 
the second class, after drifting slowly up to tlie line, werq 
