March 11, 1886 ] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



185 



INTERIOR PLANS OF M MERMAID," 



CRUISE OF THE COOT. 



xv. 



IT may be well to mention that the U. S. charts are known by the 

 small numbers engraved above the margin in the upper left hand 

 comer, and not by the large figures in the title, wbien refer to the 

 copper plate only. The Delaware from head of navigation to Lis- 

 ton's Point, some twelve miles below Delaware City, is plotted to a 

 scale of 1-30,000 on chart No. 126, the stretch from Trenton to the 

 northern limits of Philadelphia occupying a corner by itself. I found 

 it convenient to cut this out, and the rest was sliced up at Wilming- 

 ton. A correspondent in Forest and ?■ tream takes me to task for 

 tbis sub-division on the plea that cross bearings, etc., caunot be 

 taken. But as I cut the charts this objection does not bold, for each 

 section was complete in itself along the course of the river. In the 

 lower Chesapeake the width of the charts became so great that they 

 were cut across and also up and down the middle of the bay, or 

 nearly so. The hay is, however, twenty miles wide, and the eastern 

 shore being low is below the horizon, so that no cross bearings can 

 be taken. The prevailing winds being westerly, the Coot was navi- 

 gated down the western shore, and had no concern with the eastern 

 portion of the Chesapeake. Had she at any time stood across, the 

 eastern half of each length of chart could have been produced from 

 the cabin and locked in the frame before closing in with the shore 

 sufficiently to require its aid, the water in the middle of the bay being 

 so deep as to put the Coot off soundings while the change was being 

 effected. 



"Piscator," another correspondent, brings up the time-honored and 

 never-to-be-solved problem about stoves. All manner of propositions 

 have appeared to do away with the oil stove, but, so far, none seem 

 to have earned any recognition. The oil stove is in some respects a 

 nuisance, but much depends upon certain small provisions and the 

 skill of the person manipulating them. I have found nothing as yet 

 which is their equal. The chief objection to the pil stove arises from 

 the purchase of affairs devised for use on shore. In the nautical 

 stove the bottom should be of cast iron, cover and bottom all cast in 

 one, so as to prevent leakage, due to the seam where the cover is 

 screwed on to the base containing the fluid. No matter how the boat 

 may jump about, no oil will slop over in the solid bottom. A second 

 precaution is to seal up the aperture or bung hole in the rear, bore a 

 fresh hole in front and solder a small funnel three inches high into 

 the same. This does away with turning the stove about every time 

 you wish to fill, and the funnel gives notice when full and prevents 

 the oil jumping out. Third, set the stove in a tin drip tray, having an 

 edge of one or two inches turned up all round. Keep the kerosene in 

 two-gallon cans in the cockpit locker. If provided with brass hoods 

 to the tin spout and a screw cap on top, perfect control is insured. 

 Then only a little care is required to live along weeks without spilling 

 a drop. What trifling smell there may be you soon become used to, 

 and kerosene in any shape is not at all unwholesome. I should 

 strongly advise two small stoves rather than a large one, so that two 

 articles may undergo treatment at the same time. There ace several 

 stoves of this description in the market, among them the Dietz hot 

 blast and the Westlake & Richards, of Chicago, whose office is m 

 Fourteenth street, west of Broadway. A single wick will quickly 

 heat up the cabin of a small boat in the coldest weather. A few augur 

 holes and a can of water kept at a simmer preserve fresh and whole- 

 some air. Oil of high proof can be procured at every country store. 

 The expense all told will not average over 7 cents a day in winter 

 and under 5 cents in summer. Not the smallest advantage of the oil 

 stove is its ever- ready state, the absence of trouble in preparing for 

 a heat and the sudden stoppage of all heat by merely turning down 

 the flame, leaving no metal or embers to cool down. The oil is handy 

 in other respects. It will remove grease, paint or red lead from the 

 bands and heal the skin. It is also available for bruises or stiffness. 

 This by way of parenthesis. 



Chesapeake Bay is a noble sheet of water, more like an inland sea, 

 offering every variety of experience afloat and scenery along shore, 

 while ducks, fish, oysters, clams and crabs abound and are to be had 

 for the trouble of pursuit. To the great majority of New York 

 yachtsmen the bay is practically unknown except the name, other- 

 wise its beautiful natural attractions, its picturesque harbors, great 

 belPmouthed rivers and salt-water arms would be visited by squad- 

 ron? of vessels in spring and in fall. Imagine Long Island Sound 

 doubled in length, carrying its greatest width for two thirds of the 

 distance and the shores indented with scores of lateral branches like 

 Northport, Narragansett, Buzzard's Bay and Gardiner's, but carry- 

 ing a depth of ten to twenty feet clear up to their heads. Into this 

 great body allow river upon river to How, some of them measuring 

 seven miles across and disc ver to each of these numerous tributaries 

 wider than the Thames at New London, many in turn supplied by a 

 system of ramifying arms like the branches and twigs of a tree, the 

 arms as big as the whole of Northport Harbor. Line all these with 

 b AA bluffs, now clad with the verdure of forests, now tilled in broad 

 fields of prosperous farms, now steep and cliff -like in their frowning 

 ascent from the sea. Dot in great cities, towns, villages and 

 sett lenient*, nestled in the hollows at tide line along the beach, and 

 invariably moor a fleet of smart, rakish craft of moderate size under 

 the lee of a sandy hook or in the turn of a sheltering creek with others 

 standing off and on, their dredges towing astern, and keen-hulled 

 canoes with a strong trace of poetry to their hulls and rig bending 

 rail awash to brisk breezes, sundry ocean steamers and large square- 

 riggers and freighting schooners innumerable bound out, bound in, 

 an ever-changing panorama of life upon the scene, and you will have 

 something like the attractive picture which greets the eye of the 

 cruiser in the majestic Chesapeake. Imagine Long Island Sound on a 

 much greaer scale, more picturesque and nobler even to awe inspit ing. 

 such is the greatest bayou on our coasVhe paradise of yachting. IE New 

 Yorkers and Eastern men were familiar with the prospects of the'ir 

 own country instead of being provincials whose limited vision sees no 

 further than the comparativtlyjnarrow confines of Long Island waters 

 or Massachusetts Bay, cruising in the Chesapeake would be fraught 

 with benefit to yachts and owners. In the great hay vessels must be 

 seagoing in their build and fittings, for they may have to meet turbu- 

 lent waters and fresh gales with long distances to sail from shelter to 

 shelter. All the trading vessels of this region are well built, with 

 models, spars, gear and iron work especially adapted to seagoing 

 work. It is refreshing to contemplate the smacks and carriers, bold, 

 high sided, with deep waists and stout seamanlike air aloft. They 

 have an originality about them which is distinctively American. In 

 type and outfit they are to the manor horn, unlike the products of 

 the art in New York waters, which are but servile copies of the im- 

 portations of the old Dutcn settlers two centuries ago. While the 

 smack or working boat and even the fishermen of the East are homely 

 to a degree with a Cheap John look to spars and gear, lacking in 

 "blood" or "strain," the craft of the Chesapeake are all of them 

 sightly, well proportioned, and we'll fitted for any work. Some of 

 them are smart and stylish, with an air of "go" and a cut to their 

 rig which would figure with credit in any fleet of yachts. The Balti- 

 more pungie, with her beautifully moulded head, pure sheer, clean 

 run and high tuck, surmounted by a rig jauntier than that of the 

 famous old America herself, and sails equally as flat in their set, is a 

 sight as good as a feast. 



The Buckeye, another special creation of the Chesapeake, though 

 scarcely known to Northern men, flourishes heregiin great numbers. 

 And well she may. A more serviceable, handier, faster, economical 

 type of working boat has never been devised. Her merits are such 

 that she ought long ago to have been well known to every port on The 

 coaet. Fast at all times, she excels in ugly weather and a chop sea. 

 Long, narrow and often shoal, with great length of floor, she has the 

 steady behavior of a cutter, and with a load aboard, launches along 

 through the seas in a fashion which would make nine out of ten of 

 our sloop yachts look sheepish. She will point and fetch with the 

 best of them. One man and a boy make up the crew all told of a 60ft. 

 Buckeye, and I know of a 50ft. boat habitually sailed by her owner 

 alone. Besides these, there are all manner of canoes, half-decked 

 and open, sightly in form and with trim and tastefully cut sails. The 

 regular schooner is, of course, -well represented, and on an average 

 far ahead of the Northern conception of such craft. In short, the 

 high standard attained in the local practice in shipbuilding is a per- 

 fect revelation and a most agreeable surprise to the man whose ideas 

 have been wrapped up in New York as the source of all that is bright 

 and original. A cruise to the Chesapeake strips the eyes of the pro- 

 vincial from the great metropolis, and he learns that the rest of the 

 world has not been asleep, even though it is not huddled into a Babel 

 as big as his own city. The vessels of Baltimore and the South are of 

 such interest that I hope to give further details and plans of a tech- 

 nical character, as soon as the expected "warm weather'' puts in an 

 appearance. 



Sloops are not in great favor above York River, but are more popu- 

 lar about Norfolk and the James. Catboats are unknown. 'J hey 

 have been tried, but were found unhandy and unsafe in the open 

 waters of the bay. On my voyage down, the Coot was the recipient 

 of many sarcastic pleasantries. "Say Cap, what is the matter with 

 your jib." "Left, your jib home to be washed . Cap?" "Stick out your 

 jib wny don't you, Cap?" Be it Enown that half the population in 

 these latitudes answers to the appellation "Cap." To be a man of 

 any account, you must own a boat of some description. Just as the 

 farmer inland must have his wagon and team, the boat is in the 

 Chesapeake regions an implement of livelihood quite as essential. To 

 be boatless is to be without standing. A large fraction of the popu- 

 lation goes through life habitually in oilskins. A sou'wester and 

 rubber boots admit you to good fellowship and full confidence at 

 once, even to the extending of credit in the country stores, for a man 

 so apparaled must needs be a "Cap," and that is passport enough 

 for your responsibility. 



From Elk Pojut at the confluence of Elk River aad the Susque- 



