THE CRUISE OF THE RESTLESS. 



WARREN E. KELLEY. 



Lake Erie has an evil reputation. It is 

 noted for violent squalls, and being the 

 shallowest of the great lakes it takes only 

 a short time to kick up a nasty sea, which 

 tests the seagoing qualities of even the 

 largest lake steamers ; but this feature 

 really adds to the excitement and adven- 

 ture that all amateur mariners are eager to 

 encounter and overcome. 



We left Buffalo in August, in the gaso- 

 line launch Restless, 30-foot hunting cabin 

 boat of the whaleboat type, bound for Put- 

 in bay, a snug little harbor on South Bass 

 island, 250 miles from Buffalo, made fa- 

 mous by Perry's victory. It was here that 

 the sturdy Commodore captured the entire 

 British fleet, and announced his victory in 



from the West, it is a bad lee shore, with 

 no shelter. The only harbor of refuge be- 

 tween Buffalo and Erie, 85 miles, is Dun- 

 kirk, which is about half way. 



The North shore is sandy, with many 

 sheltering points, and several good har- 

 bors. The progress of a sailing yacht being 

 uncertain, makes it liable to be caught in a 

 bad situation on the South shore ; but with 

 a launch making 8 or 9 miles an hour, the 

 run between these ports can be made safely 

 by keeping a careful lookout. 



The weather v/as fine when we left Dun- 

 kirk early the next morning, so we did 

 not stop at Erie as intended, but pushed 

 through to Ashtabula. We needed no 

 alarm clock to call us for an early start 



r^mme&mm^^^:" , 



iii m 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY D. W. MATTESON. 



A FRESH WATER REGATTA. 



the famous dispatch, "We have met the en- 

 emy and they are ours." 



It had rained torrents until noon, and 

 while there was not much wind, it was one 

 of those uncertain August days when it is 

 hard to tell what will happen next, but we 

 shaped our course for Dunkirk, 40 miles 

 up the South shore, where we arrived be- 

 fore dark without incident. 



Before the advent of the small power 

 boats, it was customary in cruising on Lake 

 Erie to follow the North shore to Long 

 Point, 63 miles, and from there to cross the 

 lake to Erie, and continue up the South 

 shore. Any wind-jammer will still give 

 this advice, not realizing that conditions 

 are entirely different with a launch. 



The South shore of Lake Erie is bold and 

 rocky, for the most part, and as the storms 

 swing from Southeast to Northwest by way 

 of North, the strongest wind usually being 



the next morning, as night was made hid- 

 eous by the loading of steamers at the coal 

 docks where we tied up. They run cars up 

 a high trestle, then turn the car bottom- 

 side up and let the whole load drop into 

 the vessel with a bang that makes sleep im- 

 possible. We should have stopped at Erie, 

 where they say the spirit of sleep pervades 

 the whole atmosphere. 



We had forgotten an important part of 

 our outfit, a small folding table, and while 

 at Dunkirk we telephoned back to Buffalo 

 to one of our party, who was to meet us at 

 Cleveland, to bring it along. We also told 

 him to have a barrel of gasoline at the dock 

 in Cleveland by the time we were due there. 

 When we reached Cleveland we expected 

 to find Ed astride of a barrel of gasoline, 

 with the table under his arm, waiting for 

 us on the dock; but he got mixed on our 

 instructions, and it took us the best part 



97 



