March 24, 1887.] 



awav. Soon he arose and began walking away from me. 1 has- 

 tened to cross over a little arm of the bay and took my eyes oft ol 

 him for a moment; when I looked again he was gone. After along 

 walk over the fluff;, 1 saw the same or another bird across the 

 stream 40yds. away, and as he strutted a little preparing to fly, 1 

 letgoatliimand killed him. The tide was running m strongly, 

 the water was nearly up to the tops of my Ions wading boots, and 

 I was in imminent danger of being swept off of my feet and 

 drowned; but I wanted that snipe and J got him and returned to 

 the land side, thinking what a fool I was to take so great a risk 

 for such a trifle. He was the goal of my ambition just before, and 

 "his price was above rubies.'" I've no doubt some sportsmen will 

 be disgusi 6d at such a pot shot and my not giving the bird a. chance 

 bv shooting him on the wing. The birds did not give me any 

 chance. They always sot up and flew away from me before I 

 could get within 30yds., and I had not fired a shotgun since I hunted 

 curlew in Florida during the war. 



The next day was pleasant, the sea had gone down, the wind 

 was west; we hoisted the mainsail and watched the tide flow in 

 and the Ashing schooners preparing for sea. We started when 

 they did, about 8 A. M., knowing they would take the best tunc 

 of tide to keep clear of the rocks off Folly Island. Once lairly 

 outside, we set the gafftopsail and spmaker, and sailed along 

 freelv and pleasantly bv Wood Island, Old Orchard, Richmond 

 Island and ( 'ape Elizabeth, where we had fought our way against 

 a head wind and a. hard sea last year, made the buoys all right, 

 and ran into Portland, and were anchored and cleared up before 

 3 P. M. 



Ill running in. I noticed a long line of breakers ahead and kept 

 more off shore. It was simply the surf upon the main shore, 

 which shone so brightly across the water as to seem much nearer 

 than it was in reality. Often have 1 shifted my course in dread 

 of rocks beneath some summer flash of the sea, to find that it was 

 far beyond my course. 



The Portland Club has several new yachts, particularly one 

 35ft. cutter, built somewhere down East and said to be fast,. She 

 has enough lumber in her for two vessels of her size, and spars, 

 rigging and top works are uncouth and clumsy. Dr. Bray's 

 Tempus is a very comfortable craft of the old sloop modei, just 

 large enough for housekeeping and not too large to go around in 

 the island channels, and the owner and family spend many a 

 warm night of summer at. some breezy anchorage down t he bay. 

 Dr. Bray is Fleet Surgeon of the Portland Club, and a very gonial 

 and hospitable gentleman. He has cruised extensively to the 

 eastward, and believes that Casco Bay is about, the. best place in 

 Maine for a summer sail. While I agree that the bay has fine 

 waters and lovely isles, i think Penobscot Bay has many advan- 

 tages over it in landlocked waters, wild wooded shores, and few 

 inhabitants. 



Peak's Island is a great cooling off place for Portland and 

 neighboring cities, and the northern shore is covered by pictur- 

 esque cottages, hotels, skating rinks, theaters, boat-houses and 

 gardens. Excursion steamers run there from the city every hour 

 or two until midnight, and swarms of people may be seen' upon 

 their decks and along shore, enjoying the sea breezes and the 

 dreadful clang of the brass bands. We spent a. couple of days off 

 the island in company with the schooner Magellan Cloud. S. B. Y. 

 C., whose jolly Captain Moses kept, up the prestige of our organ- 

 ization by firing the morning and evening gun, which we duly re- 

 spected in hoisting and hauling down colors. The island enjoy- 

 ments suited the boys, but I prefer less civilization and noise. 

 The tide runs strongly along the shore, and we got aboard one 

 evening just in time to find the Pilgrim with cable up and down 

 drifting off into the bay. The bottom was soft and it took us an 

 hour to find a place where our 351bs. anchor would hold us, though 

 it was flat calm and there was no swell. 



The third day after our arrival a heavy gale began from the 

 southwest and shifted to the southeast with heavy rain and fog. 

 The fog sirens at the cape and steamers' whistles were blowing 

 day and night. We rigged a, tent over the, cockpit, housed the top- 

 mast, let. go another anchor and went below, where we remained 

 nearly all the time for two days, listening to the patter of the rain 

 and the music of the wind in the rigging, writing up the log, read- 

 ing back numbers of the journals and sleeping "rocked in the 

 cradle of the deep." We were in no hurry and enjoyed the bad 

 weather and the rest that we were obliged to take. A yachtsman 

 ought not to be in a hurry unless to make a safe port at night or 

 in a storm. His restless spirit should be calmed by the surround- 

 ing waters, and the pretty sails that propel him ought to remind 

 him that he is the sport of the wind and cannot play the autocrat. 

 In proportion as he adapts himself to the environment will he de- 

 rive pleasure from his expedition. If he is in a hurry lie had bet- 

 ter travel by a regular line of steamers or invest in a steam yacht, 

 and abandon bis pretensions of fraternity with the true blue. 



We experimented with the tender to find where she could be 

 kept from chafing. When astern she would come up at the turn 

 of the tide or change of the wind and bump the stern, or swing 

 around under the counter and grind and bump spitefully, as if 

 she were lonely and wished to come aboard. When fastened to 

 the end of the main boom she acted in the same contrary manner. 

 We fastened the bow close to the end of the bowsprit and the 

 stern to a bowsprit, shroud. This was a good place except when 

 there was some pitching, then the ropes would draw taut, and 

 make a noise that would keep us awake, and sometimes the boat 

 would get under the bobstay and saw a way till we could stand the 

 racket no longer. With a bow and stern line to the boat alongside 

 and numerous fenders between her and the side of the ship, she 

 lay very well in quiet water, but a little sea or the swell of a 

 steamer would disarrange the fenders and the boat would bang 

 up against the side and make frightful scratches in the paint. 

 Then we lowered the spinaker boom, used the spinaker sheet, and 

 hauled the bow of the tender out to the end and let her swing 

 clear, and were delighted at our immunity from chafe and noise. 



A tender is a useful nuisance anyway when one cannot take her 

 on deck or up to the davits, and this is impossible in single-hand 

 yachts. A tender for a 25ft. yacht ought to be a good sized keel 

 boat for many reasons. There are plenty of places where one 

 must use her in considerable seaway to make landings, to tow her 

 consort off the shore or a reef and to carry three or four persons; 

 she ought to ride the seas smoothly, without swinging or filling 

 when being towed, and to have enough stability not to frighten 

 ladies who venture aboard. A boat to fill these requirements 

 should be from 10 to 12ft. long. The Pilgrim's is a 13ft. cedar keel 

 boat and I think a smaller one would not have followed the painter 

 in many of the wild storms we encountered. I came very near 

 starting out last year with a folding canvas canoe. Observations 

 of several convinced me such a tender would not do in the rough 

 waves of the New England coast. Neither would a punt. 



Careswkt.t.. 



ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



New Bedford T. C— Commodore, Richard H. Morgan, cutter 

 Ilderim; Vice-Commodore, Edgar B. Hammond, cutter Medea; 

 Rear-Commodore, Nathaniel Hathaway, sloop Addie; Secretary, 

 Edgar R. Lewis; Treasurer, E. Stanley Willis. The clubs has a 

 membership of 170 and a fleet of 54 yachts. 



Empire Y. C— Commodore, John S. MaeDuff; Vice-Commodore, 

 Daniel O'Brien; Rear-Commodore, Louis McGown; President, 

 Richard Cullen; Secretary, Charles Friend; Treasurer, James 

 Mulligan; Measurer, A. J. Brush; .Judge Advocate, H. Ketcham; 

 Fleet Surgeon, W. W. Tungel, M.D.; Chaplain, Chas. W. Hunter; 

 Steward, John Fennell; Sergeant-at-Arms, John O'Brien; Regatta 

 Committee, J. My nan, A. J. Brush, Charles Brandt. I'. Clifford, P. 

 J. O'Brien, John Fennell, Andrew Curry, and Charles Raubs; 

 Board of Trustees, P. Myhan, Harry Hill, Richard Cullen, William 

 Kinsey, John S. MaeDuff, A. J. Brush, John A. McManus and 

 Robert Lang. 



Essex Y. C— Newark, N. J.— Commodore, H. W. Jourdan; Vice- 

 Commodore, Geoige Nenninger; Secretary, H. Bamberger: Treas- 

 urer, H. Nenninger: Measurer, B. Mullaney; Financial Secretary, 

 Gr. Krullschmitt; Board of Trustees, L. H. Crane, Phillip Long and 

 Robert T. Clark. 



AMERICAN Y. C— The American Y. C. have purchased a site 

 on Milton Point or Penningoe Neck, between Rye Beach a nd Port 

 Chester, on the New York shore of Long Island Sound. They will 

 at once erect a large club house and an iron pier. The grounds 

 will be reached by a horse railway from Rye, 1V^ miles distant. 

 The club course will be altered to start opposite the house and also 

 to finish there, a triangular course being substituted for the pres- 

 ent straight [one. The price paid for the property is reported as 

 $25,000 and bonds for a considerable amount have already been 

 taken to defray the entire cost. 



WEST LYNN Y. C— Commodore. Ozro Ridout; ice-Commo- 

 dore, E. F. Rich; Fleet Captain, Win. Sproul; Secretary, Edwin S. 

 Brown; Treasurer. F. G. Olin; Measurer, S. F. Guilford; Regatta. 

 Committee, Walter Sawyer, P. S. Ridout, E. H. Howe, J. A.White, 

 T. F. Parker; Finance Committee, W. H. Warren, W. J. Walsh, 

 P. Lynch; Amusement Committee. F. G. Olin, R. H. Burden, E. F. 

 Rich. 



CHANGES OF OWNERSHIP. — Clytie, schooner, Mr. Anson P. 

 Stokes, has been sold to Mr. Alanson Tucker, of Boston Enter- 

 prise, cutter, Mr. H. V. R. Kennedy, has been sold to ex-Com. 

 Hogins, Atlantic Y. C, former owner of the Agnes. . . . Lois, sloop, 

 formerly Kangaroo, has been purchased by Mr. F. Beames. 



AN ENGLISH SINGLEHAND YACHT. 



Editor Forest, and Stream: 



I greatly enjoy the yachting department of the Fokest and 

 Sx&EAM,and in return 1 send an account of a little craft I recently 

 had built, as it will be of interest to the readers of the Pilgrim and 

 Coot cruises, especially as although so small I designed her with 

 a view to having a splendid hard-weather cruiser, and she has 

 more than borne out my expectations. My idea was to have the 

 largest boat I could handle alone in all weathers, a really good, 

 powerful sea boat, and large enough to afford comfortable accom- 

 modations for my wife and self for long cruises. After one season 

 over about 2,000 miles of water, and under, of course, all conditions 

 of sea and wind, 1 can unhesitatingly pronounce her a success. 

 Her dimensions are as follows. Length over all, 25ft.; beam, 8ft.: 

 draft of water, 4ft. Sin. She is decked all over except steering 

 well, and is rigged after the Bawley boats of the Thames, with a 

 mainsail without a boom, as this allows of a brail being used, a 

 very useful thing on a singlehander, enabling the sailor to bring 

 up without lowering mainsail, to gybe with safety in bad weather, 

 and being convenient in many other ways. She carries one head- 

 sail set on a bowsprit 5ft. 6in. outboard. The mainsail has 17ft. 

 hoist, 15ft. head, 19ft. foot. As will be seen, being a deep-draft, 

 powerful-bodied boat, carrying nearly six tons ballast (inside), 

 she could carry twice the amount of sail, but for all weathers I 

 do not care to handle more alone, and being a good model as soon 

 as it blows she is fast, and in rough water blowing hard goes to 

 windward grandly. I do not want to go into a controversy of 

 shallow vs. deep boats, but 1 think in small yachts at any rate 

 that deep draft boats are the best, as a shallow draft could hardly 



live in the same sea, and certainly not get. to windward as she 

 can. 1 have tried both types and in small vessels there is no com- 

 parison; the deep boat feels like a powerful, rushing, hard-driven 

 boat, whereas the other feels a beaten-down, spanking, knocked- 

 to-leeward-at-every-jump sort of a boat. This is badly expressed, 

 but the practical sailor will know precisely what I mean. In my 

 cabin I have 5ft. 9in. headroom; cabin is 14ft. long and comfort- 

 ablv fitted with stove, lockers, pantry, and everything necessary 

 for making a floating home of her. Forecastle Oft. (an. long, for 

 sails and spare gear. She is a very jolly little boat, and tor my 

 purpose could not be better. I do not know whether her type 

 would do for American waters, but perhaps her description may 

 "be interesting to my "cousins" who love blue water. Roamer. 



CORONET AND DAUNTLESS.-Up to the time of going to 

 press no news of the arrival of the racers has been received, though 

 they have been twelve days out. The steamer British Prince, 

 which arrived at. Philadelphia on March 17, reports that at about 

 9 A. M. on March 14 in lat. 40° N. and long. 64° W., a schooner yacht 

 under full sail before a westerly wind was sighted. An hour 

 later a second schooner was sighted, which showed H M J Q, the 

 Dauntless' signal. Coronet was llmin. to the eastward and 13min. 

 northward of Dauntless, the distance from Sandy Hook being 540 

 miles. The steamer Erin also reported sighting the two on Sun- 

 day night about 230 miles out. The steamer Rugia also reports 

 passing a schooner on March 18, but it does not seem probable that 

 it could have been one of the racers. A severe easterly gale has 

 been reported off the British coast, and it is piobable that it will 

 meet and delay both. 



