1 88 



RECREATION 



a gale and had kicked up an ugly sea. We 

 should have stopped here, as this is one of 

 the historic points on the lake. Off the 

 southern end of this island the first naval 

 engagement of the Revolution occurred on 

 October II, 1776, and on clear days the 

 wreck of the "Royal Savage," one of the 

 English fleet, may still be seen resting on 

 the bottom. But the traveling spirit was 

 on us and we hoisted sail. The breaking 

 waves frequently came in over both gun- 

 wales as we tore along, there being only 

 about five inches of freeboard. On reach- 



ancing the canoe as much as possible with 

 our own weight, we now gave little atten- 

 tion to the sea, but put all our strength 

 into efforts to reach the beach. The over- 

 loaded boat made but slow progress, how- 

 ever, and we were still a hundred yards off 

 when another large wave broke completely 

 over us and I felt my seat sink from under 

 me. Over we both went, but after taking 

 a few strokes were agreeably surprised to 

 find that we could just touch bottom. We 

 rushed the canoe, which was full of water, 

 in through the breakers, and when she 



Dipped Our Paddles for the Other Shore 



ing Crab Island, just outside 'of Platts- 

 burg, we ran in under its lee and debated 

 as to whether we had better try to cross 

 to Cumberland Head, a mile and one-half 

 away. This meant paddling directly across 

 the wind, but as we did not relish the idea 

 of spending a day in camp, we decided to 

 make the attempt. 



This run proved to be the most exciting 

 open-water canoeing I have ever experi- 

 enced. The waves were running four and 

 five feet high and continually breaking be- 

 fore the strong wind. By careful paddling 

 we avoided the combers until we were 

 about half-way across, when we ran into 

 waves which had an unbroken sweep from 

 Split Rock Point, thirty-five miles to the 

 south. Even here we shipped little water 

 until we saw bearing down upon us an im- 

 mense wave, which from my position in the 

 stern I saw would' break just as it reached 

 us. I tried frantically to turn stern on, 

 but too late. The wave caught us on the 

 quarter, and picking us up, rushed us for- 

 ward on its crest, then broke, filling the 

 canoe half-full, the water pouring in over 

 both gunwales. The probability of ship- 

 ping another wave was greatly increased 

 by the water that weighed us down and 

 robbed the canoe of its buoyancy, and we 

 were still a half-mile from shore. Bal- 



grounded set to work to unload as quickly 

 as possible. After getting the outfit all out 

 and spread over the rocks, we found to our 

 satisfaction that the canvas bags had made 

 good and that nothing had been lost 

 through our mishap. The canoe covering 

 had been cut in several places from pound- 

 ing on the rocks. After repairing these we 

 spent the rest of the day in drying out 

 that part of our dunnage which had not 

 been protected from the- water. 



Lake Champlain can, I find, kick up as 

 ugly a sea in as short a space of time as 

 any body of water I have ever been on. 

 Mr. Benjamin, ex-Minister to Persia, at 

 whose camp we stopped on our return, told 

 me that though he had traveled long dis- 

 tances on sailing vessels in different parts 

 of the world, he had never sf;£n as wicked- 

 looking waves as he saw cwning over the 

 breakwater at Burlington one day in the 

 late fall. 



An early start the next morning enabled 

 us to cover some thirty miles, reaching 

 Rouse's Point, where we made camp north 

 of the town with one foot in the States and 

 one in Canada. Here we heard the first 

 French, for though the town is three miles 

 this side of the line, fully half of the in- 

 habitants speak that language. 



Early the next morning we paddled up 



