Jan. 81, 1884] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



17 



ocTr tiic? ZPo 7*7; - 



A NOVEMBER 



SEVEN-TONNER. 



DASH IN A 



[continued.] 



AFTER driving through the Brothers passage sheet; were cheeked 

 all round, and merrily the cutter bowled along, going through 

 clear as a knife, scarce leaving a ripple in her wake. The' wind had 

 sensibly abated with the sinking of the sun, and only at times did 

 dark streaks chase over the broadening expanse of the waters as we 

 flew across Flushing Bay. Abreast of Hunt's Dock, a sort of land- 

 mark, known to East River racers as the finish of many a hot con-. 

 test, a black hull was made out steaming upon us rapidly. It re- 

 quired but a glance at the way she loomed up to make her out one of 

 HerresholTs far-famed high speeds. She stole up on our weather 

 and screwed noiselessly by like a fleeting: appa rat ion, pursuing the 

 even tenor of her way straight as an arrow without a quiver to the 

 hull nor a throb from the engines. In form she was a beauty, and in 

 style she was smart, for with the rig of a three-master and a vellow- 

 washed stack, orthodox and a 1' Anglais, there was an air about this 

 steamer which put us in mind of tue nobbiest screws 1.0 be met with 

 abroad. She turned out to be the first Parmelia. but recently returned 

 from Michigan waters, and now the property of Mr. TV. p. Douglas. 

 N. \. Y. C. Like all the fferreshoffis, she was light as a feather, with 

 . peculiar ro the Bristol conceptions, and with her 

 high side, straightish sheeraud long, easy body, a very good sea boat 

 withal, who could drown out any of the sprawling, low-waisted things 

 Which New Yorkers have been brought up to consider good steam 

 yachts. She was bound to Little Keck Bay, and had aboard a num- 

 ber of passengers, who looked lost and forlorn as they stood on the 

 quarter-deck m great overcoats, shivering, against the bleak, cold 

 scenery in the background. 



A steam yacht is after all an anomaly which cannot easily be 

 classed There seems to be nothing for any one to do or with which 

 to occupy one's mind, so you are forced to take it out in gaping. 

 unless you are amateur mechanic enough to strip long togs and 

 revel in grease and ody smells, keep an eye on hot boxes, and listen 

 for thumpings in the mysterious inner of cylinders and steam chests. 

 Oi maybe the doctor has recommended a warm climate and athlet- 

 ics, in which case you go in for a roast with furnace doors open and 

 fire up with a shovel which I coula scarcely lift. Or perhaps you 

 dote upon the intricately scientific and love to riot in square roots, 

 Marriott's laws, parallel motions, vacuums, cushionings, back press- 

 ures, slips of all kinds, helical curves, tnrnsts and frictions, and the 

 endless snares and complexities of steam engineering. Or possibly 

 you pride yourself on piloticai proficiency, and a trick at the wheel, 

 sheering all over the river, with toots at the whistle to vessels going 

 by. is the redeeming attraction for the mint of money expended. I 

 can imagine all this being ve.y great fun. Once upon a time I used 

 to stand upon the bridge, lord of ail I surveved. and know the pleas- 

 ures of skillfully navigating a steam vessel over trackless seas and 

 along coasts unknown, with the chart and lead as their interpreta 

 tion. But this listless screwing up a river and then screwing down 

 again, without taking a hand in the mechanical management of the 

 vessel whose decks you tread, is to me the feeblest kind of a pas- 

 time and as a sport quite beneath mention. Yet that is the style in 

 which steam yachting is altogether pursued in this country, so after 

 all. owning a tea kettle resolves itself into a match at doing the most 

 gaping, the most tired, ennuied and helpless looking object in this 

 World is the American owner of steam tonnage. Nothing can be a 

 greater bore to him than "yachting,"' for it means only a crowd col- 

 lected aft. the steward actively making the rounds, a bottomless 

 consumption of viands and w-ines. with the pleasure of paying there- 

 for, the usual contest of insipid jokes and lubbers" yarns.'and a sur- 

 feit of swagger and exaggeration as to the speed of the partic- 

 ular rattletrap for which you happen to have paid double her 

 value. I contess it makes me very tired to talk about the speed 

 of steam yachts with their owners. Experience teaches me to 

 divide their estimates by two and then there is generally margin left 

 betore hard pan is reached. It is conveniently customary to get 

 knots and miles mixed up. and for land miles the owner has a weak- 

 ness. The number of steam yachts in America which can maintain 

 an average of 10 knots are exiTemely scarce. Those which can reach 

 12 knots can be counted on one's fingers, and few, if any, can make 

 more on a stretch. With the exception of some Herreshoff launches, 

 we have no such things as "high speeds" in the country and the 17 

 to 25 knot vepsels exist only in the wild imaginative powers of 

 '•quick transit" schemers, "mastless dome vessel'" quacks and like 

 humbugs. Let the sanguine possessor of a skinny knife blade set his 

 faff rail log unbeknown to the bmlder, and with normal boiler pressure 

 and his fanciful dreams of railroad speed will sink as fast as the 

 mercury in the vacuum gauge of the condenser. For mere travel, as 

 Implements of locomotion from place to place, the fleet of so-called 

 steam yachts in our waters will serve as well as anything else. But. 

 as affording indulgence in a maritime life for the sake of sport, give 

 me the genuine steam cruiser, built to cover the greatest distance at 

 sea upon a minimum of power and coal consumption. Put me on the 

 bridge, m the engine room or even in the stoke hole, and I can see 

 some point to the whole business. But ask me to own one of the low- 

 waisted, light-draft knife-blade imitations, whose only recommenda- 

 tion is-tlieir visionary investment with a speed which cannot be main- 

 tamed, and I respectfully decline to become party to any such im- 

 becile pick-nicking, The steam cruiser as well as the steam cruising 

 yachtsman are hardly yet to be found in America, but time will de- 

 velop that sport with us in the near future, just as the present is 

 witnessing the transfer of affection from smooth-water dawdling in 

 sailing craft to blue-water cruising. 



It is now high time 1 got buck aboard the cutter. Night had fairly 

 set m, and the silvery stars winked at us through the frosty atmos- 

 phere above. I he moon had not yet risen, but the sky to the north- 

 ward was lit up with flashes of bright Lorealis every now and then 

 as broad pale shafts warmed with reddish glow shot up from the 

 horizon, illuminating feebly our surroundings for a few moments 

 then as suddenly expiring, only to appear again. We had been reel- 

 ing off knots and fathoms with the quartering wind, keeping the 

 Schuyler light on our weather bow, sheering a tiifle. now and then lo 



five a good berth to some lumbering couster seeking hard to buck 

 Oth wind and tide for an anchorage in Flushing Bay before trying 

 the irate on the next ebb. There was a frisky little ripple off I hroggl 

 .Neck denoting the meet of the two floods, one coming through Long 



Island Sound from the eastward, the other, the favoring current, we 

 brought with us pouring up from the Atlantic through the pent up 

 rocky intricacies of world-known Hell Gate. We kept off half a 

 point to be sure of clearing the black spar buoy until we could make 

 out that sentinel in the dark. "Now boys, aft to the mainsheet," 

 chee'ily echoed fore and aft. In a moment three hands had collected, 

 one threw- oft' the turns and passed the hauling part along to the rest, 

 while the fourth, our man with the iron grip, tumbled across into the 

 lee waist ready to give head sheets a pull. Rapidly we closed in with 

 the buoy which was bobbing up and down, and chasseviug across in a 

 double shuffle all to itself. As we reached up abreast, it was "La 

 with the boom, trim flat headsheets."' No sooner said than done, for 

 the bracing air made all hands take to hard work with a will. It is 

 strange how old yachtsmen tumble into their respective berths by in- 

 tuition without any prearranged programme. 



Our heavy weight selected the heaviest jobs and no one interfered. 

 The others tailed on as required, and mvlong apprenticeship at un- 

 ravelling knotty questions peculiarly fitted me for cleariug turns and 

 giving the gear a fair lead. Upon these lines we settled down at once, 

 and al! through the cruise the same policy was obeyed. Whether the 

 heavy mau thought it a square deal or not is unknown. Ashe did 

 not grumble or kick, no one else was going to do it for him, and I 

 disliked to disturb the peace of the family too much to get into his 

 way. So that mainsheet cleat came to be "considered my "share, and 

 quite an affection sprang up between us. If slacking away or pre- 

 paring to flatten in called for no muscular contortions, the duty was 

 highly responsible, as every one knows who has tied up his thumb in 

 the turns or let the parts get away through his butter fingers. "Haul 

 again, once more, another pull, 60 1 belay." and the boom was in two 

 blocks, j'b trimmed down and foresail flat as a board, almost chafing 

 the mast and clump blocks scraping the deck. It is always so. Never 

 knew it to be different. The moment we had got everything two 

 blocks, down came the wind in vicious blasts out of revenge, as if to 

 ts.ke the starch out of us, and luff skipper out of his wits and boat up 

 on the bef.ch, or compel us to check all round and half spdl to save 

 our bacon, fetching to leeward;way below your scientific calculations. 



This time the wind got awfully fooled. It had tackled a cutter, and 

 the cutter just smiled all over as she prettily hove down to business, 

 never sailing planksheer under even in the hardest of knocks. That 

 wind retired disgu.- ted. It had been accustomed to frightening the 

 flat traps and making light sport of such flimsy game, had come for 

 us cheeky fellows with topsail mastheaded in' the muchly mistaken 

 notion that we would flinch like the rest of its victims. 'We had to 

 pinch for all we could to fetch up to our objective anchorage off 

 Byles's Yard on City Island, and the yacht was raninied through 

 everything without let up. Sheets were belayed all roimd, crew 

 loafing about decks with minds perfectly at ease, and the skipper 

 toying with his hand lightly on the helm. No one said boo to the 

 blasts. No one cared a continental for the ire of old Boreas and the 

 cutter cared less than anybody else. Every time she was hit she 

 merely rolled down slowly and easily, looked higher than ever and 

 gathered additional way, which ehe carried along through the flaws 

 without check. Such sailing was glorious. It was her game and her 

 play. A cutter sails best on her side, and the further over she is 

 pressed the faster she foots and the more she soaks bodily out to 

 windward as long as you do not overcrowd her with sail beyond what 

 her form will admit to advantage. So far as her heeling is con- 

 cerned, I will back a cutter to put in her best licks to windward when 

 rail to, don't care what fairy tales theorists may compose to the con- 

 trary. I derive my conclusions from actual test, which knocks the 

 stuffing out of theory every time. No one ever discovered that 

 Madge "slid off"' or could not hold her wind in the memorable tan- 

 ning she inflicted upon the sloops some seasons ago. nor can any 

 authentic cases be mentioned where a good cutter can truthfully be 

 charged with greater lewardly tendencies than any other kind of 

 vessel. Fact seems to be they have enough to hold on with and to 

 spare, and maybe, as the lead goes down when the yacht rights, the 

 top is cuffed over to windward as well, and then the pressure on trie 

 sails when heeled way over has not as much effect to drive sideways 

 as when nearer the plumb. 



Yes, but how do you explain the Newport race of last August" 

 Well, we are now driving along nicely, fetching under the lee of Citv 

 Island, so I may as well answer that question, foreign as it is to this 

 log. Three cutters started in that race. No one found the least fault 

 with Bedouin's close wmdedness. nor has it ever been hinted that she 

 did not hold as high as the sloop Graeie after the leeward mark had 

 been turned. No one found any fault with Maggie on that 'core for 

 she was beaten by Vixen through faster footing, and that only. But 

 Wenonabhad to make a hitch up to weather the committee 'at the 

 finish, and upon this a great deal of fairy tale has been spun, all the 

 performances of the same and similar yachts upon this and other 

 occasions being entirely overlooked. They flatly contradict the 

 charge that Vvenouah lost the match for lack of 'weatherly powers 

 like those of the centerboard sloops, and as we have it direct from 

 credit .ble source that Wenonah's masthead had to be nursed, and 

 that she suftered more than the others through the backing of the 

 wind, her defeat is sufficiently explained without drawing upon any 

 imaginary sltortcoiniugs in respect to close- wmdedness which cannot 

 be ; reconciled with numerous other tests and the fall races which 

 f.llowed. 



But we are closing in on the land now and have to keep w its about 

 for coming to. It was dark as pitch mixed with a little whitewash 

 and difficult to separate beach and water, but the twinkling lights 

 along the shore served as beacons. The wind got the worst of the 

 fight with the cutter and had subsided, so that we skinned the island 

 at an easy jog. But where was Bvles's yard, who could tell* No 

 fences could be seen, no houses could be made out. nothing but a low 

 wall of general blackness. All of a sudden the cutter got a last little 

 blast over the trees, aud the skipper being on his feet peering into 

 darkness with the helm slack between his understanding, the yacht 

 first bowed down a couple of strakes, then with a long sweep rounded 

 up, slowed and rattled tier canvas head in the wind. She had come 

 to right oft the yard which had seen her birth, like the steed who can 

 smell his stable miles down the road. "Here we are, and here I am 

 going to stay. If you galloots don't know where I belong, time I 

 showed you.'- We did not argue the point with the yacht but took 

 the hint. After dropping the lead in Safins, word was passed to 

 stand by and let go the port) anchor. It went to the cook's gentle per- 



suasion. Then there was a short musical racket of rattling chain as 

 it battled its way through the hawse hole ami the active man. assisted 

 by his cousin, had the jib on deck and the bunt snugged up at the 

 same instant, the foresail having been taken off upon closing in with 

 the land. "Hold on forward, wait till she takes it." A moment or 

 two and the yacht gatnered sternboard aud then fetched up with a 

 scarcely perceptible snub as she taUed to the full extent six fathoms 

 allowed. The skipper stepped clear of the helm. The dash for that 

 evening had come to an end. "All hands furl sail,'" was the next hail 

 from the quarterdeck. "Topsail clewline, hand by the halliards. 

 Clew up. tio the halliards, clew down!" After some tugging, the 

 extent of which is known only to the active man. the jibheader was 

 snugged down on the cap in a pucker, fisherman fashion, and so left 

 for the night, as an early start was ccntemplated next morning. I 

 broke out the gaskets from the sail-room below and passed them over 

 the boom, beef forward getting a top up on the lift, while the skipper 

 shipped the crutch to receive it. After dropping into proper housing, 

 the mainsheet was hauled taut aud made fast to prevent the boom 

 getting adrift. In the meauwhile gear had been cast off from the jib, 

 the cousin held the bag and others rammed the sail into a snug bun- 

 dle, which was then tossed down the hatch into the sail-room for the 

 mgnt. Foresail was furled, the clew lifted clear of all by a tricing 

 line forward the mast. Mainsail next received attention. 'Halliards 

 were let go and the gaff came down by the 1 run, with that clicking of 

 the patent blocks which it, sweet as music to the nautical ear. All 

 hands ranged along one side, leech was passed in. topsail sheet not 

 forgotten, and then with an ••altogether, boys." the bunt was rolled 

 up and lifted on top of the boom, the gaff settled riding the sail, and 

 the gaskets speedily tied. "Cook down below. Clear up the decks 

 fore and aft. Just imagine yourself half frozen through, hun* 

 a bear awakening from his winter's doze, smoke curling out "the 

 Charley Noble giving rise to gastronomic anticipations, and the last 

 command which pipes down for the night souuds as welcome as the 

 clock in the steeple when it strikes five to free you from the slavery 

 of money grubbing for the day. "'Every man a rope." sol turned 

 to my old love, the mainsheet, and under the cover of darkness 

 coiled it away against the sun in a tangled mass with the leadline. 

 The active man, of course, had the riding light, regular Fresnel lense. 

 triced up to the forestay, burning like a miniature sun, shedding 

 friendly beams over the forward part of the vessel, enabling me to 

 BUspect the grandest effort of the cook's life was being consummated 

 in the forepeak below. Once more the good little ship was quietly 

 riding to her chain in wonted fashion. We lay a cable's length from 

 shore pretty well protected, with the best of prospects for peaceful 

 slumber. Off our starboard quarter a sickly dickering denoted the 

 whereabouts of a sloop, smack or freighter, as the only company 

 close aboard. Other lights some distance off on our beam told of a 

 batch of schooners aud coasters waiting for purposes I cotdd not di- 

 vine. How they all make a living is to me a mvstery, seeing the com- 

 petition of endless miles of railroads ashore, and the numerous steam- 

 ship lines afloat. But there wnl always oe coarse freights, such as 

 brick, coal, lumber and hay to collect from out of the way ports, for 

 low freight rates, the loads all being poured into the vast maw of 

 metropolitan consumption, never to be appeased, but ever expanding 

 Coward the colossal. The night was extremely tine, the edge was 

 taken off the cold with the lull in the wind. The barometer had slowly 

 aud steadily been on the rise aud fine weather was prognosticated for 

 some days to come. 



But .what am I doing shivering on deck? The skipper had found 

 his way below. Warm and homelike the cabin lamp shone forth 

 through the glass of the skylight, and delicious odors rose from the 

 companion. Eight Sells had just gone. I was leaning back up to 

 the boom in a reverie upon the romance of yachting, ever and anon 

 glancing aloft into the gloom, seeking to follow the dim outline of 

 the cutter s jaunty rig as it faded away in the darkness overhead 

 From the bottom of my heart pity went out for those benighted 

 heathens on shore, to whom this noble, manly, hearty, life-renewing 

 sport, with its roving and devil-may-care, its "whole-souled Bohemian 

 attributes and benign, broadening influences is a sealed book, into the 

 leatesol which they will not peer, shuffling off this mortal coil with- 

 out as much as a dip into the paradise, at the gates of which they all 

 stand clamoring for that which is at their command within Did I 

 owe the fraternity of mortar and pestle a grudge and sought the 

 angulation of their fees: did I wish to starve them out of their living 

 I would spread broadcast o'er the land this new dispensation from 

 the fount ot life. Get afloat, get afloat, and don't be long in 

 doing it! Away with you from the noxious smells, contaminated 

 food, poverty-stricken atmosphere, petty cares and nervous 

 worries ot the hissing, poisoned swirl of city life. Turn upon 

 your prison pens, hing aside the load which is luring 

 to an early age and grave, and makes life one harrassine 

 burden beneath which all but the most rugged sink and few succeed. 

 Once more join bright glowing nature in her virgin purity, and wealth 

 of powers to receive in turn from the one great Mother of All life 

 which shall be hie, and not its counterfeit, strength of body and 

 force of mind, with the faculties for though; and action rescued from 



from fresh sea breezes, freighted to the gunwale with balmy, inch 

 ozone. One cruise breaks in the novice, the second sees all his fears 

 and aversions overcome, the third he starts upon with expectation, 

 the tourth nas wrought an enthusiast from the most dismal begin- 

 ning, and the fifth finds him laughing Medicus out of house and 

 borne, tor he will no more know the stupid, dizzy topheaviness aris- 

 ing from a torpid liver, nor the dull pains of injugestion, nor listLss- 

 nd pallid hue of countenance, nor nerves unstrung, uor wake- 

 ful nights, nor any of the evils to which flesh succumbs in the con- 

 tamination with that which is vile. 



"On deck there; better come down if you want any grub " was 

 shouted trom the cabin, and with one Jump I made for the hatch 

 tumbled down below, lauded in my place, and went for scpuse and 

 dough— please pronounce duff", it's the nautical for it, -In a way which 

 would have thrown aback that unknown scribe who ventured the 

 opinion, m an evening paper, that you could neither recuperate brains 

 uor body aboard of a cutter. I won't sa\ anything about the brains 

 perhaps there is no room for more, but as tor recuperating the body, 



