396 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 8, 1887. 



A POSSIBLE CHALLENGE FOR THE CUP. 



WE understand from reliable sources that Mr. Jamieson is 

 about to "build a 90ft. cutter to challenge next season. A 

 rumor has been circulated of an intended challenge from St. 

 John, New Brunswick. The only basis for such an absurd report 

 is the fact that Mr. David Lynch, a shipbuilder of St. John, has 

 been in New York on business and visited the model room of the 

 New York Y. C. 



A MILITIA OF THE SEA. 



THE efforts now making by the peace congress toward an era 

 of arbitration and the peaceful settlement of all international 

 differences may in time bear good, fruit and pave the way to a 

 state of society in which wars shall be less frequent, if not en- 

 tirely unknown; but Whatever degree of immediate success may 

 attend these efforts it. will be many a year before the question of 

 defense ceases to be one of the most vital that a government must 

 face. The period of great wars bus probably passed away for- 



aiSSHI'lbia^l" 11 nu-KL niijiucrauv «... - — ~jrr~*7?'~-q _ 



and social advancement become moro general, the influence ol 

 the great nations of the earth as a body is now apt to be more 

 strongly exerted than ever before against a recourse to arms be- 

 tween two of their number; while the greatly increased efficiency 

 of all the machinery of warfare is certain to exert a restraining in- 

 fluence of its own in favor of peace, as well as to make war, if it docs 

 come far briefer than in the days of long marches and hand to hand 

 encounters, in spite of all this, however, it is littlelikety that the 

 coming generation or even the next will see merchant keels laid 

 in the navv vards, car wheels cast in the gun foundries or the ex- 

 tensive steel plants that furnish the armor plating of to-day de- 

 voted solely to pacific uses. The necessity for adequate means of 

 self-defense is apt to exist, for a long time yet, and however strong 

 the tendencies toward a peaceful state of society may b», they 

 have not thus far attained a prominence which would justify any 

 nation, however powerful, in recognizing their existence by a 

 relaxation of its efforts toward the perfection of its army and 



n< Sitiiated as it is with a vast territory whose frontiers are largely 

 made up of two great oceans, with comparatively harmless neigh- 

 bors on either hand, and isolated in a great moasure from the 

 danger of international complications or a sudden attack, the 

 United States enjoys a measure of security that is not possible 

 whore half a dozen great powers are crowded together, jostling 

 and pushing, with many conflicting interests, and where an inci- 

 dent that would be but trifling in the interior becomes at once of 

 imposing proportions if on the frontier, or where a false rumor or 

 a sudden political excitement in one capital may throw the whole 

 continent into war. 



The difference in these prime conditions finds a corresponding 

 state in the military policy of the United States as compared with 

 the European powers, and has permitted an apparent neglect of 

 preparations for defense, which is almost an invitation of an 

 attack. It is well for us that such a policy is p issiblo, that the 

 vast cost of standing armies, with their demoralizing effects, has 

 been saved, and that the conditions have been such that we have 

 been able to look on and learn from lessons in armament and 

 naval architecture for which other nations have expended mil- 

 lions; but, at the same time, this apparent immunity from attack 

 brings its own danger, in that it leads to a neglect of all prepara- 

 tions for defense. Fortunately for us, it has so happened that 

 to-day, while we have been spared the enormous outlay which 

 England alone has made, within the last dozen years on experi- 

 ments with guns, armor and ships of war, much of which was 

 necessarily wasted, we are enabled to avail ourselves of the same 

 knowledge, and almost without cost; but, at the same time, it is 

 past dispute that we have incurred a most serious danger through 

 that policy, which found us but three years since absolutely with- 

 out a navy. With each steel plate rolled to-day in American mills 

 for American war ships, even with each rivet driven, the danger 

 is decreasing; and under the vigorous policy of the present. Admin- 

 istration it is likely to be past before many realize its extent, but 

 it teaches a lesson that should never be forgotten. It iB not neces- 

 sary to turn back many leaves in history to learn that no nation 

 can ever bo secure which relaxes for a moment its efforts for de- 

 fense, and that however distant war may seem, there is no guar- 

 antee of peace so effective as the knowledge on the part of your 

 adversaries of the fact that 5 on are fully prepared for war. 



The means of defense which a nat ion must rely on are of two 

 kinds, material and moral; and while it is the former with all the 

 pomp and circumstance of war, the brilliant uniforms, the impos- 

 ing battalions, the Krupp guns aud the ponderous stecl-cJad ocean 

 warrior, that most men would rely on, it is in its moral means of 

 defense that America must always place the strongest dependence. 

 This it was that in '76 created an army from a scattered body of 

 peaceful farmers and mechanics, an army almost without the 

 materials of war, but which defied and conquered the trained 

 officers and the hired soldiers, the brains as well as the brute 

 strength that were brought against them. Drill aud discipline, 

 along military training and perfect equipment, availed nothing 

 against the frontiersman and farmer, earnest, united and deter- 

 mined to be free. Again, nearly a century later, the call to arms 

 went forth and the answer came back from ocean to ocean in one 

 cry, "We're coming, Father Abraham. live Hundred thousand 

 more." History furuisnes niauy instances of battles won through 

 skilled generalship and superior training and equipment, but 

 against, them are scores of others in which the victors were a clan 

 or a people, united in thought and action and lighting for their 

 homes against all the odds that military skill could bring against 

 them. , 



The two then go hand in hand, and no nation can call itself safe 

 which has not, besides the best of tools and materials of war, the 

 moral support of a large body of its citizens, ready at the word 

 to lea ve all else and work with heart as well as hand for its defense. 

 This principle has long been recognized in the land defenses, and 

 the militia of the several States offers an auxiliary whose value 

 has been tried not only in the rebellion, but ou a smaller scale in 

 the local disturbances that arise at times in all communities. It 

 may seem ridiculous to compare a business roan, with other pur- 

 suits and interests, who gives a few hours a week for a period of 

 five or seven years to military training, with old soldiers whose lives 

 have been spent in forts and barracks; but it is to the former no 

 less than to the latter that America will turn in time of need for 

 the nucleus of the great national army which experience tells 

 that she will soon be able to organize. 



The expense of a standing army similar to those of European 

 nations and largo enough to garrison the United States would be 

 enormous, but that would be the least evil attending such a sys- 

 tem. The demand on the industrial forces of the country for the 

 support of a large body of non-producers, the demoralizing effects 

 of so man v men in a state of comparative idleness, and the power 

 given to the party having control for the time of such an army, 

 dependent on it in a measure for pay, are evils of the greatest 

 magnitude which our surrounding have enabled us to avoid. The 

 standing army of the United States to-day is a mere handful, but 

 beside it stand a body of trained officers capable of handling an 

 army of vast proportions, thousands of veterans ready again to 

 step into the ranks, and back of them the militia, soldiers in spirit 

 and thought, though never yet under lire. How they will stand 

 the first long march or the first bivouc iu the rain is a small mat- 

 ter, the great point is that they are. ready, and the past experi- 

 ence proves that they will fight. On land the nation is prepared, 

 the brains, the hands and the backbone are there, and the matter 

 of equipment and the final training in the hard duties of actual 

 war are comparatively trilling. The raw material is ready, and it 

 is, as.old officers will testify, of the best. 



But how about the navy ? Looking at its history for the greater 

 part of the period since the war, there is little ground for any 

 feeling but disgust aud disappointment that this once magnificent 

 arm of the service should have become shrunken and palsied, its 

 vessels rotting, its navy yards left to slime and weeds, the mate- 

 rial part dead, and onlv the spirit, kept alive by those who trod 

 the decks with Farragut at Mobile. Bay, or fought withWorden on 

 the Monitor. 



No American, even the farmer of the "Western prairies who 

 knows no sea save the long miles of rolling grass, and in whose 

 mind the word ship is associated only with the old "prairie 

 schooner," can read the history of the navy of the United States 

 with a feeling of pride and enthusiasm; nor can he be blind to the 

 defenseless condition the country was in but yesterday, or fail to 

 rejoice in the change now fairly inaugurated. To repair in two 

 years the neglect of twenty, to replace a worn out fleet by a new 

 one fully up to the requirements of modern science, is a difficult 

 task; but nevertheless the work of reconstruction, in spite of 

 many difficulties, is well under way, and there is every grouud for 

 hope that a very short time will see a new and modern navy, fully 

 up to the requirements of times of peace; while si ill more encour- 

 aging is the fact that back of the new vessels and guns is a plant 

 fully equal to any demands of war. Not with ships and guns 

 alone is the nation provided, but with means of duplicating them; 

 the last two years has witnessed a most marvelous development 

 of the great metal industries in immediate response to the demand 

 made by the Navy Department, and even now America is inde- 

 pendent of other nations for her steel and Iron for guns, for ship 



plates, for heavy armor plate, and for all the machinery for 

 modern navv warfare. The new plants established and the old 

 ones improved arc now capable ot turning out everything from 

 the raw pig iron to the finished rilled gun, of a quality that more 

 than meets the very high requirements of the N avylDepar tnjenfc; 

 and more than all, the work of preparation has been done with a 

 rapidity thoroughly American. Within the Navy itself the 

 reforms are many and radical, not the least being the recon- 

 struction of the navy yards, and the enlargement of their facili- 

 ties to suit the requirements of the new fleet, so that war vessels of 

 the first grade may be built and docked by the department, inde- 

 pendent of private enterprise. The actual work of construction, 

 however, is being done very largely by private firms, at various 

 points on both coasts, and in a manner that is highly encouraging 

 to our native industries. The blast furnace, the steel works, the 

 rolling mill and t he shipyards have each found in the Government 

 a customer, whose requirements, while they tax the skilland in- 

 ventive powers, are sufficiently well paid for to offer every in- 

 ducement toward the elevation of the standard of American in- 

 dustries. As to the machinery of defense, there is every prospect 

 that ere long it will be not only fully commensurate with all 

 present needs, but that the means will be at hand for its expansion 

 to meet any call that may be. maae by a sudden probability of 

 war. 



The question then comes up, Where are the sailors to man the 

 ships and guns? and the answer is far from satisfactory. Even if it 

 was desired now to establish a large standing navy it is tolerably 

 certain that the men are not to be had, while in the event of a 

 sudden call the case would be much worse. The extinction of 

 our mercantile marine was naturally followed by the dispersion 

 of itB seamen, many going under other flags while others left the 

 sea and sought a more certain means of livelihood ashore. The 

 whaling fleet, available in 1801, with its t ried and hardy mariners, 

 has now passed away, and it is hard to say where we should turn 

 for seamen in eveut of sudden need. 



From a population of sixty million there should be no difficulty 

 in recruiting a far greater number than would be needed, the 

 love of the water was bred in our ancestors too strongly for even 

 an absence of a generation or two from the soacoast to eradicate 

 it; but in order to draw seamen from the people at large it is 

 essential that the moral means of defense be utilized to its fullest 

 extent. To do this it is necessary to keep alive that love of the 

 sea, that pride in our naval history and in the national marine, 

 that has always been the heritage and safeguard of English- 

 speaking nations. The intense and universal enthusiasm awak- 

 ened by the success of Puritan, Mayflower and "Volunteer in 

 yachting has an important bearing on this matter, and points to 

 the possibility ot further progress iu the same direction. The 

 national sentiment of admiration for these vessels, and of pride in 

 their achievements, is most surprising when we consider that it is 

 found in localities far distant from the water, where sailing is 

 unknown, and among classes in sympathy with the sea or with 

 yachting. The resulthas been to make yachting more thoroughly 

 a national sport than it has ever been, and to awaken an interest 

 in it even in localities distant from the water. 



The hint given in this way has not been lost on } T achtsmen, and 

 it is from them that the first movement for the strengthening of 

 our naval contingent has come. The idea of a naval militia is not 

 new, it is found abroad, and has been suggested in this country, 

 but nothing had ever be en done toward the practical carrying out 

 of the idea up to the past winter. At that time the Seawanhaka 

 Corinthian Y. C. of New York, was busy with a wide and far 

 reaching scheme for the improvement and education of its mem- 

 bers in all pertaining to seamanship and navigation, and in the 

 course of its discussions the idea of a naval reserve was suggested. 

 The subject, was but briefly alluded to in the report of the special 

 committee last winter, as the question of a club house was then 

 paramount to all others, but it attracted the attention of Rear 

 Admiral Gherardi, U. S. N., Commandant of the Now York Navy 

 Yard, who wrote a most encouraging letter to the club, in which 

 he summed up the subject, as follows: 



"The long delay has so reduced our strength afloat that the 

 ships that have been authorized to be built, "though seeming an 

 increase, scarcely make good the deficiency created during the 

 past few years by the decay and withdrawal from active service 

 of the many wooden vessels built to meet the exigencies of the 

 late war, and give adequate employment to our officers and 8,000 

 enlisted men and apprentices now constituting our naval strength. 

 These new vessels differ from the old in being full-powered steam- 

 ships, some with rig and spars to carry a fair spread of canvas, 

 the majority, however, fitted with only military masts, with 

 electric lights and machine guns in the tops. This change of rig 

 aud armament can in no way affect that very essential quality of 

 the man-o'-wars man, seamanship, and the problem that we will 

 have to meet in case of another war, not an improbable occurrence, 

 will be how to recruit the Navy with capable seamen. With our 

 merchant marine almost gone this becomes a very serious ques- 

 tion. Tlie late war brought with it the sweeping away of our 

 commerce; the patriotic seamen without employment happily 

 found the Navy a field to exercise their training, until its strength 

 reached 00,000 as well trained, efficient and reliable men as ever 

 did arduous duties afloat. But n nv where shall we look for help? 

 The comparatively small number of able-bodied men engaged in 

 maritime pursuits under our flag, gives hut a limited field to in- 

 crease our naval strength. The only available body of men, it 

 seems to me, outside of the fishing and coasting fleets, are amateur 

 sailois, the gentlemen of the yacht clubs, who would form a body 

 of intelligent aud efficient officers. Your voluntary enrollment 

 as a naval reserve, with the exemptions aud rules similar to those 

 accorded to the militia of the several States, would prove a ser- 

 vice of the greatest maritime strength to the Government in case 

 of war. Your proficiency in seamanship and general nautical 

 knowledge would render your instruction, by the officers of the 

 Navy, in the many duties on board an armed vessel, an easy and 

 agreeable task. This once accomplished, your value would be 

 particularly felt; in organizing a naval force from the blue jackets, 

 unfortunately, of nearly every nationality but our own, that find 

 occupation in American bottoms." 



Aletter to the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Wm. C. Whitney, met 

 with a hearty response, the aid of the Department being promised 

 in furthering the scheme, and Commander B. H. McCalla, 

 l T . S. N„ being detailed to visit New York aud consult Avith the 

 committee. As a result of the discussion, the following points 

 outlining the general policy of the movement were laid down: 



First— The whole scheme must be, not of an honorary, but of an 

 essentially utilitarian character, in order to obtain the dignity 

 and \ alue necessary to insure its success. 



Second— The yachtsmen enrolled in a Naval Reserve must form 

 a distinct and separate class, and be fitted to serve in positions of 

 authority. . - 



Third— The inducements and rewards must be worthy and 

 valuable. 



Fourth— The men, not the boats, are of paramount importance. 



Fifth—The needs and representation of all sections of the yacht- 

 ing public must be considered. 



At the suggestion of Commander McCalla, the committee 

 opened a correspondence with Senator W. ('. Whitthorne, of 

 Tennessee, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, who 

 had introduced a bill in the last Congress providing for bounties 

 to merchant vessels built with a view to adaptation to naval uses 

 in case of need, and also to establish a naval reserve of merchant 

 seamen. Mr. Whitthorne at once fell in with the new details of 

 the scheme relating to the pleasure navy, and an extended 

 correspondence between him and the committee followed, the 

 result being that important additions to the original bill were 

 suggested by the Seawanhaka C. Y. C. It is recommended that the 

 Naval Reserve be divided into three classes, the Mercantile Naval 

 Reserve, composed of reserves derivable from the merehan t 

 marine, the class contemplated in Senator Whithorne's original 

 bill; the Coast Defense Naval Reserve, composed of fishermen, 

 live-saving corps and men of similar pursuits along the coast; and 

 the Naval Reserve Volunteers, composed of yachtsmen. In the 

 full and exhaustive report lately presented to the club by its 

 spocial committee, the plan is outlined in these words: 



"In view of the value and availability of the men of the Coast 

 Defense Naval Reserve it was intended that their training and drill 

 should be so arranged as to interrupt in the least degree possible, 

 their regular avocations, by suitable arrangements as to time,place 

 and length of drill, and if practicable to limit as the name implies, 

 their duty to a defense of the coast liue. Thus it was hoped to 

 render the service attractive, while the necessary compensation 

 for their time while under training might be reduced to a mini- 

 mum. 



"At the same time they should enjoy the same privilege as to 

 computation of pay, bounty for continuous service, bene lits due 

 to length of service and the privilege to fly a distinctive flag, 

 under the same conditions as the Mercantile Naval Reserve as 

 provided in Mr. Whitthorne's bill. 



"The. yachtsmen composing the Naval Reserve Volunteers should 

 first be enrolled as cadets, and within two years of their enroll- 

 ment qualify by examination before a proper board for tho duties 

 of ensign and upon such qualification shall obtain that rank. 



"That after two years' service as eusigns they may qualify for 

 and obtain the grade of junior lieutenants, and junior lieuten- 

 ants after three years that of lieutenant. But that the number 

 of lieutenants shall be limited and that the examination of this 

 grade shall be competitive in character. Also that this same 



principle should apply if any higher rank were deemed advisable. 

 It was intended that this limited number of officers of higher 

 rank should act as a board representative of the interests of this 

 branch of the Reserves. 



"That members of the Naval Reserve Volunteers may be called 

 out for drill during two weeks in each year and shall be required 

 in addition to follow such a course of instruction aud study as 

 may be deemed necessary by the board. That they shall receive 

 no compensation except when called out by executive order for 

 active service aud shall then be subject to the provision of Section 

 7 of the Whitthorne bill. 



"That the name and grade of members of the Naval Reserve 

 Volunteers shall be borne upon the navy list, together with letters 

 significative of the subjects in which they have severally qualified. 



"That they shall wear the United Stales Navy uniforms of their 

 grade, together with a distinctive mark to he determined by the 

 Secretary of the Navy, indicative of the Naval Reserve Volunteers. 



"That they shall salute aud be saluted by officers of the navy, 

 but shall in every ease take rank after those of an equal grade. 



"The yachts owned and commanded by members of the Naval 

 Reserve Volunteers shall, in case of war or emergency, be at the 

 disposition of the Government, and that the owners thereof shall 

 be entitled to compensation as provided in Section 4 of the afore- 

 said bill. 



"That they shall fly an ensign to be determined by the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy, distinctive of the Naval Reserve Volunteers, 

 which ensign will carry the full rights of, and shall he recognized 

 as a flag of the United States. 



"That the said owners and commanders of such yachts shall be 

 subject to the following regulations and enjoy the foUowing 

 privileges, to wit: 



"1. They shall report their yachts, together with such particu- 

 lars as may be required, to the Secretary of the Navy. 



"3. They shall obtain permission from the Secretary of the 

 Navy, or such person as he may designate, before leaving with 

 their yachts the waters of the United States, and shall report to 

 him the return of their yachts from foreign waters, and when so 

 returning thev shall not be required to make a port of entry. 



"8. The commissions as officers shall stand in lieu of, and ex- 

 empt them from taking out yacht licenses, sealettors or clearance 

 papers. 



"That any unlawful act or misdemeanor committed under 

 cover of the above mentioned flag of the Naval Reserve Volun- 

 teers shall be punished by dismissal from the service m addition 

 to the usual legal penalties; and that any person unlawfully dis- 

 playing the said flag shall be punishable by a line not to exceed 

 one thousand dollars." 



At this stage of the work it is not possible, nor indeed neces- 

 sary, to decide on the practical det ails which must govern the 

 successful carrying out of the scheme, but throughout the past 

 summer the club has been at work collecting statistics of the 

 number in each of the proposed classes from which recruits could 

 be drawn, in securing full information in regard to similar work 

 in England and on the Continent, and in thoroughly preparing 

 the way for immediate action when the time arrises. The first 

 step, the presentation of the amended bill, will be taken as soon 

 as Congress is again in session, and there can be no doubt, but that 

 it will be willingly passed. This much done, the work of organiza- 

 tion will be considered, and the co-operation of all the yacht clubs 

 will be invited, in order that yachtsmen as a body may unite with 

 the Navy Department in the furtherance of the work. At the 

 same time the other divisions of the new service will be organized 

 as far as possible, and the many details of training and practical 

 instruction will be provided for. 



Of course, this will not be the work of a day, many minor diffi- 

 culties will be met, and progress at first is likely to be slow until 

 a popular feeling in favor of the movement is strong enough to 

 make itself generally felt. It is from the people themselves that 

 the real support, for such a movement must come; even with the 

 most earnest efforts on the parr, of the Government. its success 

 would not. be assured, or even if established solely by Government 

 aid this would not be sufficient. It must be a movement of the 

 nation at large in the direction of its self-defence on the seas, 

 recognized and supported by all classes.^ 



The objection may be raised that it is impossible to make sailors 

 and seamen without long sea service, and that the practical in- 

 struction of the new body will be attended with unusual difficul- 

 ties from the fact that little time is afforded its members for such 

 service; but this objection relates rather to the material than to 

 the moral means of defense. Granted that the skill and experi- 

 ence acquired by naval officers only after years of hard service 

 and a severe course of study cannot be obtained by civilians in the 

 way proposed; the main point of the measure is in no way affected. 

 It is not proposed to provide officers and men to man the ships at a 

 moment's notice from this body, but rather to create the raw 

 material if it may so be termed, from which to construct a navy 

 in time of need. The aim of its projectors is to create a body of 

 men fully capable of naval service, but abivc all thoroughly in 

 sympathy with the national navy, participating in its esprit du 

 corps, sharing its interest in all professional matters, and ready at 

 any time to hasten to its aid. Such an auxiliary body will in turn 

 have hack of it the moral support and enthusiasm of a very great 

 part of the nation, the whole forming a bulwark of defense that 

 no sum of money expended iu the hire of trained seamen, however 

 competent, could give. The value of such a body, its practical 

 utility in time of need, have been fully demonstrated by the par- 

 allel case of the national militia., and now it is proposed to cxtcud 

 the same advantages to the navy that the army has so long en- 

 joyed. That it can be done there is no reason to doubt; and now, 

 when the national pulse heats high over the triumph of American 

 yachts on the seas, when tho work of reconstruction of the navy 

 is gotta: on in the seaports of tho Atlantic and Pacific at the same 

 time, and when the question of the national navy is prominently 

 before the country, is the time for its successful inauguration. 



A LANDSMAN'S CRUISE ON A CUTTER. 



AN Editor of my acquaintance, in partnership with a young 

 man whom we will call Smith, sails a. yacht, the G. B., 

 habitually, in the waters of the East River and Long Island Sound. 

 On a Saturday last summer the Editor invited mo to go sailing 

 with him. The yacht lay in Echo Bay, at New Rochelle, 17 miles 

 from New York, and the Editor promised to meet me at the Grand 

 Central Depot, so we could go out together, it was a muggy day 

 when I took the horse-cars at Eighth street, and before I reached 

 the depot a car-horse dropped, overcome by the humidity. I got 

 there a little too late to see my train go out, but in good season for 

 the next one. The Editor hadn't waited for me, and I went to 

 New Kochclle alone. It is a historic town, and contains tho old 

 Paine farm and the Paine monument, but the cars don't go within, 

 a mile of Echo Bay, and that distance I footed. From a bluff in 

 Hudson Park I saw the G. B. rocking at anchor, looking some- 

 thing like a white duck in a mill-pond. A small yawl, painted to 

 match the yacht, floated alongside at. the end of a boom. A yellow 

 signal with a red crescent in the middle waved from the mast- 

 head; a little brass cannon glinted across the starboard rail; a 

 sailoi'lied chap in. a seaman's cap (rhyme not intentional) sat for- 

 ward on the roof of the cabin; and, resting his arms on the mam 

 boom and gazing shoreward through a binocular glass, 1 recog- 

 nized the Editor himself. After striking several attractive atti- 

 tudes, waving my hat, wiping the perspiration from my brow, 

 and adding such other gestures as I thought would probably lead 

 to my identification, I was pleased to see the Editor get into the 

 yawl and commence making demonstrations toward the shore. 

 He took me on board the yawl and thence to the yacht. 



The G. is a keel sloop 25 or 30ft. in length and 9ft. in beam, with 

 four sails— mainsail, topsail, staysail and jib. She needs f>ft. of 

 good water to sail in, and she has some SOin. of freeboard, as they 

 call that part of a vest el's side which is above water. In the cen- 

 ter there is a cabin 10ft. long and 6ft. wide, with a snug forecastle 

 or galley or kitchen forward, and lockers along both sides and 

 aft. Oii both sides are cushioned seats, dubbed transoms, to sit or 

 sleep on, between which is a short table that stands on two legs 

 screwed into the floor, and shuts up like a lemon squeezer. The 

 chap sitting on the roof was Ollick, a Finnish sailor. He is the 

 crew of the G. B. He has sailed in deep water on square- riggers 

 and f ore-and -afters, and knows all about working a vessel, but the 

 occupation he dotes on seems to he rubbing up the brasswork, 

 scouring the lamps, polishing the little cannon and cleaning the 

 paint and varnish. In conversation ho is profane beyond the 

 bounds of necessity. It grieved me to hear him do so much swear- 

 ing when there was apparently no occasion for it; it looked as if 

 he was wasting italics that would be needed in a emcrgenoy. 



Tho Editor dressed me in a flannel shirt, a slouch hat, and soft 

 slippers that wouldn't scratch the deck; and gave me some re- 

 freshment. Then we sat down and waited for Partner Smith, 

 who came later Smith, and the Editor, and the crew are three 

 quite dissimilar persons. The Editor is inclined to be fat, and 

 follows his inclination in that regard. Smith's tendency to he lean 

 is gratified; while the crew is small, and short, and lithe. They 

 also have different methods of making their several ways about 

 the boat. Smith scrambles there, the Editor rolls and slides there, 

 and the crew squirms his way about. I introduced a new method 

 by making a sprawl in the general direction, and then gathering 

 myself up. This system affords great facilities foT holding on. 

 At 5 o'clock we made sail. It was understood that, so far as I 



