14, 18.02.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



45 



effort and spreading sail along the slim, narrow canoes and yawls, 

 to get probibly 40 or 50 per cent, more area than could be carried 

 in a Pintle sail such as "Cayuga" uses; and as 1 have before said, 

 the object of the lost foot or so of overhang in the design is to ad- 

 mit of a good-sized mizen being set efficiently without the use of 

 a bumpkin and so that the sheet shall be in no danger of fouling 

 the steering gear, as often happens in canoes. In a comparatively 

 wide boat, such as "Cayuga's," the high center of effort is less 

 avoidable and even desirable as counteracting the tendency to 

 "squat" in running before a breeze, which such a model would 



The "spoonbill" style of boat has no doubt many excellent qual- 

 ities, and for its own waters and purposes it would be no doubt 

 very hard to equal it in general type, but for opeu waters and 

 general cruising I should prefer to put the same amount of tim- 

 ber into a longer and narrower boat and to cut the canvas into 

 two or more pieces. 



In explanation of the rather peculiar lines of the design in your 

 issue of Dec. 25, 1 may say that she was intended for a general 

 purpose boat to be used occasionally as a singlehauder. Being 

 obliged to leave a large well to accommodate three or even four 

 persons, steering gear and a central position for the crew of one 

 was inad missable, hence the very full lines aft to carry his weight 

 without too much change of trim. It was also a sine qua non that 

 no ballast should be necessary, hence the flat floor. The model 

 would undoubtedly have been much improved by cutting the 

 foregripe away, as in the later design; but such things were not 

 in fashion at the time and builders were afraid of innovations. 

 While not what I should build for my own use even for the local- 

 ity, the boat answered her owner's purpose well. The rig is now 

 a cat with a single gaff sa'l, and for reasons given above is per- 

 haps more suitable for afternoon sailing than the yawl with such 

 a short beamv boat. Henry K. Wicksxeed. 



Cobottrg, Ont., Jam 5. 



A CENTERBOARD FOR CANOES. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



I send you herewith a rough sketch of a housing centerboard, 

 which I intend to adopt in a new canoe that I hope to have built 

 upxteeasou. It leaves the whole of the (5ft. cockpit free to move 

 around and to sleep itt, 



I think it Alls the bill as nearly as anything can be got for a 

 cruising canoe or yawl. , . 



Board 7ft. 8hi.x6m x3-1Gin. boiler steel, and should weigh about 

 J'olbs. Keel is to be 3m. deep below garboards, and flooriug m 

 four removable pieces, in case I want more leg room while sail- 

 ing or paddling or rowing. N. Sidsbee. 



Boston, Jan. 7. 



BROOKLYN C. C— The annual election of officers of the Brook- 

 vn O C. bas been held with the following result: Com.. Charles 

 P. Weeks; Vice-Corn., M. M. Davis (re elected); Purser, M. V. 

 Brokaw (re-elected seventh time): Meas., D. A. Nash (re-elected). 

 Messrs. M. V. Brokaw and F. L. Dunnell were elected trustees 

 for three years. President Board of Trustees, Robert J. Wilkin; 

 •Secretary, Frank L. Dunnell. The committees have not vet been 

 announced. The annual dinner will be held at the Clarendon 

 Hotel on Jan. 1:5: the annual cruise will occur May 27 to June 6, 

 and will probably be from Hancock, N. Y., down the Delaware. 

 The annual regatta will be held on June 25,— Unqtja. 



Secretaries of canoe clubs are requested to send to Forest and 

 Stream their addresses, with name, membership, signal, etc., of 

 their clubs, and also notices in advance of meetings and raoeS, and 

 report of the. same. Canoeists and all interested in canoeing are 

 requested to forward to Forest and Stream their addresses, with 

 logs of cruises, maps, and information concerning their local 

 waters, drawings or descriptions of boats and fittings. and all 

 terns relating to the sport. 



SmaU Yachts. By C, F. Kunhardt. Price $10. Steam Yachts and 

 Launches, By C. P. Kunhardt. Price $8. Yachts, Boats and 

 Canoes, By C. Stansfield-Hieks, Price $3.50. Steam Machinery. By 

 Donaldson. Price $1.60. 



Yachtsmen who do not see what they want under this heading 

 will please lookuuder the hatches of the Canoe, peep into the 

 Kennel, squint down the barrel of the Rifle, open the Fish Car and 

 Game Bag. inquire of the Sportsman Tourist, and if their yearn- 

 ings are still unsatisfied, push their explorations into the Editorial 

 and Advertm no Departments. 



INTERNATIONAL RACING.— The Boston correspondent of 

 the English Yachtsman has attempted to break the present dead- 

 lock over the new deed of gift by assuring that paper, on behalf 

 of "leading American yachtsmen" whose confidence he claims to 

 possess, that a challenge unaccompanied by the dimensions would 

 be aecepted. He says: "It is evident that the British yachtsmen 

 have not given careful consideration to the old and new deedB of 

 gift of the America Cup. Americans are strongly of the opinion 

 that the leading British yachting journals ha ve deliberately mis- 

 represented the tenns of the new deed, and have not fairly placed 

 its terms before the public." We are not aware of the identity 

 of the "leading Amerie la yachtsmen" who have empowered the 

 FacMsman's correspondent to speak for them; but, as we showed 

 some time since when the proposal to omit the dimension clause 

 xvas made in Boston, the New York Y. C, has no power in the 

 matter as long as it stands by the new deed, and it can take no 

 official cognizance of a challenge which doe3 not contain the four 

 required dimensions. This point has been brought up three times 

 in recent years, in 1884, '85 and '86, the decision of the club in each 

 case being that it could recognize no letter nor notice of challenge 

 unless it came at the exact time and was framed in the exact 

 form laid down in the deed of gift. 



Unlike the genuine deed of 1857, in which the first step was a 

 mutual agreemeut by the two parties, the new deed, now pro- 

 nounced so much fairer to the challenger, requires that at the very 

 outset he must bind himself to certain dimensions and furnish 

 them to his opponent, after which lie may ask for a "mutual 

 agreement" and he thankful if he gets anything more than 

 "generous concessions." There has undoubtedly been a great deal 

 of misrepresentation over the terms of the new deed, but that is a 

 point on which its friends and apologists cannot say too little. 



If the correspondent in question will himself give a careful con- 

 sideration to the original donors' deed and the new "lawyers' 

 deed," he can hardly fail to see that in the first the challenger and 

 holder are on an equal footing, while in the second the challenger 

 must at the very outset bind himself to impossible conditions, 

 and place the dimensions of his vessel in the hands of his oppo- 

 nent with no guarantee that she will not be outbuilt in some 

 manner. 



As a matter of fact even the sponsors and warmest friends of 

 the new deed are heartily Bick of it now, and would gladly drop 

 the dimension clause and accept a challenge on termB equally 

 fair to both parties, but there is only one way in which this is 

 possible— by heaving the whole document over the side with the 

 hopethatitmay sink so far that some day it mavba forgotten, 



and thus relieve the New York Y. C. of the odium of having given 

 birth to it. 



In commenting editorially, the Yachtsman says: "The new 

 deed of gift is not a legal document, and has absolutely no binding 

 power, and it is felt in England that it was an unsportsmanlike 

 thing to draw up such an instrument, even if our friends across 

 the water were not sufficiently versed in the law to know of its 

 illegality. The reason for such a step may not be clearly under- 

 stood in England, but if the American press will state what those 

 reasons are, not in any wise mincing matters, it will be found that 

 Britishers will be ready to weigh them impartially." 



If the correspondent of the Yachtsman is in earnest, and really 

 wishes to throw light on the new deed, let him take up its history 

 from the beginning, say in the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 30, in 

 the middle of the last race between Volunteer and Thistle, fol- 

 lowing through the various incidents of the same evening, the re- 

 ceipt of the notice of challenge from Mr. Sweet, the hurried call 

 for a special meeting on the following Monday, Oct. 3, the details 

 of the resolution there adopted, the appointing of a committee, 

 and all that followed down to the meeting in November, at which 

 the members of the club were told for the first time what had 

 been done in their name. This bit of history remains to be writ- 

 ten, and when it is there will be some interesting reading for 

 both American and British yachtsmen; in the meantime the 

 dimension clause is in the new deed to stay and it will take a very 

 sharp lawyer to kill the one without at the same time destroying 

 the other. 



CANOE-YAWLS AND HALF-RATERS.— Even the great naval 

 war between the United States and Chili which is now waging 

 fiercely in the daily papers is throwu in the shade by the conflict 

 between the two rival types of the Lilliputian navy, the canoe- 

 yaw 1b and the half -raters, which is agitating yachtsmen in Eng- 

 land. The so-called canoe-yawl of the controversy is by no means 

 what we have been accustomed to under this name, but, as will 

 be seen from another page, she is a morf ydite craft derived from 

 the American sharpie, skipjack and sneakbox. These extreme 

 skimming dishes, of a type that will doubtless awaken a feeling 

 of relationship in the breast of the designer of the Red Jacket, 

 Bouncer, Watermelon and Chippeway, have shown great speed 

 on the Thames, at Oxford and in other places, and also on Hen- 

 don Lake; and late la3t summer several invaded the sailing 

 ground of the new half -rater class, miniature "fin keel" cutters of 

 elaborate design and build, used about Southampton. The war 

 over the respective merits of the two now wages furiously; while 

 one party cries out "sink" the other retorts "capsize," and none 

 can say what the end may be. Each type seems well adapted to 

 racing in a special locality, but while the draft of the half-raters, 

 about 3f t„ keeps them away from the shoal waters in which the 

 canoe-yawl has flourished, the latter are able to reach the sea- 

 coast by rail, if necessary, and defy the half -raters in their chosen 

 waters. 



WADENA.— The new steam yacht Wadena, the property of 

 Mr. J. H. Wade, of Cleveland, O., has been in Boston for the past 

 month, where a number of alterations were made by the Atlantic 

 Works. In spite of the glowing descriptions of the yacht which 

 have appeared while she was building, she is in many respects a 

 failure, after making all allowance for a first attempt, as well as 

 for the evident intention to do good work. The design itself is 

 defective, the displacement being so small that the yacht is far 

 below her lines, the side lights being uncomfortably near the 

 water. In addition to this, the design is lacking in harmony and 

 symmetry. Some parts of the work, such as the plating, are well 

 done, but neither this detail, the "specially designed" furniture 

 nor the elegant and elaborate interior, including, according to 

 one description, a "musical conservatory" with a real piano, can 

 make up for the serious faults of design and the lack of sea-going 

 qualities, which are likely to be severely felt before the yacht com- 

 pletes the voyage around the world, for which she was built. 



PAPPOOSE.— The 37f fc. Burgess cutter Pappoose, the first boat 

 of the 40ft. class, sold last year to Mr. Davenport Galbraith, of 

 Erie, Pa., on Lake Erie, has found a new owner in Mr. John Mott 

 of Oswego, N. Y. The report which has been widely circulated, 

 that Pappoose has been purchased for racing, and in particular 

 to defeat the Fife boat Yama, of the same class, owned by Com. 

 Ames, of the Oswego Y. C, is entirely incorrect, as Mr. Mott will 

 use her only for cruising, and will enter none of the circuit or 

 flub races. While Yama is the more modern boat and has an ad- 

 vantage in construction, a raee between the two would prove 

 interesting, th6 opinion of Eastern yachtsmen being that Pap- 

 poose would prove the faster. The question is not likely to be 

 settled by actual trial, as Pappoose will not fit out for racing. 



YAR ANA.— The British racing fleet, already small enough in 

 numbers in the classes above 40 rating (60ft. l.w.l.) has lost 

 another of its best yachts, the Watson cutter Yarana, a very 

 successful craft of 66ft. 1. w. 1., built in 1888. Under a new name, 

 Maid Marion, transferred from another yacht, and a new owner, 

 she has sailed an unsuccessful season, and is now at Fay's yard, 

 Southampton, for alterations to fit her for the cruising classes. 

 This leaves hut four yachts over 60 rating— Iverua, Valkyrie, 

 Columbine and Blue Rock, and it is questionable whether Iverna 

 or Valkyrie will fit out for racing next season. 



TACKING SHIP.— There are many good fore-and-aft sailors, 

 and not a few clever yachtsmen among them, to whom the hand- 

 ling of a square rigger is a mystery, and who will be able to learn 

 something from the interesting description of the work of tack 

 ing a ship, on another page. Our readers will doubtless remem- 

 ber the stirring poem on the same subject, by Walter Mitchell, 

 published in the Forest and Strkam, The description here 

 given will make clear the technical accuracy of the poem, one of 

 its notable features. 



FOREIGN BUILT YACHTS.— A decision has been rendered in 

 the Conqueror case, which, so far as it goes, is favorable to Mr. 

 Vanderbilt, though the main point at issue has not yet been 

 reached. Gen. Coggs well has just introduced a bill in Congress 

 providing for the admission of foreign built yachts on payment 

 of a duty of only 15 per cent, of the purchase price, they being 

 allowed to fly the American flag, but not to secure an Ameri- 

 can registry. 



YACHTING FIXTURES. — We would remind the clubs that 

 dates for the coming season are now in order, and we will be glad 

 to publish any fixtures received. A little careful work now on 

 the part of each club will prevent a hasty scramble for dates at 

 the beginning of the season, with the accompanying clashing, 

 which is so undesirable. 



ELKCIRA.— Mr. L. Q. Jones, of Hartford, Conn., has taken his 

 auxiliary naphtha yawl Electra to Florida for the third season. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Jones will cruise on the west coast. 



YACHTS VS. SAILING BOATS. 



THE question of drawing a line between yachts and sailing 

 boats is one that comes up frequently id different localities, 

 and usually gives trouble htfore it is finally settled. It has arisen 

 within a few years about New York through the entry of genuine 

 sandbag boats, but fitted with the lightest possible cabin trunk 

 by way of an excuse, and thus gaining an entry into the cabin 

 classes intended for legitimately built cabin boats. At present 

 the sailormen of the Thames and Solent are embroiled in a some- 

 what similar warfare over two different types, while during the 

 summer there has been a discussion in the St. Lawrence Y. C.. of 

 Montreal, over the eligibility of an unballasted open sailing boat 

 to sail in the regular class for small yachts. The yacht class, of 

 which Valda, whose lines were published on Dec. 24, is a member 

 includes what are commonly called "open boats" about New York, 

 but which are yachts in build, rig and ballasting, though of light 

 draft and mostly without cabin trunks. The sailing boats include 

 Thora, recently described in our pages, and the modern racing 

 skiffs of the St. Lawrence River. 



The question of classing these craft together or separately has 

 been submitted to us, with a request that other yachtsmen would 

 give their views, and though the matter has just been settled 

 by the club, there can bo no objection to an expression of opinions. 

 It is often desirable, in order to make up a class of respectable 

 size, and to induce as mauv as possible to take part, that a num- 

 ber of different types shall be classed together; in fact, in many 

 localities racing could never be established on any other basis, 

 owing to the small number of craft of any one size or tpye. At 

 the same time there are serious objections to such an arrange- 

 ment, and when possible it should be avoided. In the case of open 

 boats and cabin craft, for instance; each is built for a specific 

 purpose, their uses differing greatly; and each in its way is an ex- 

 cellent boat. While the majority of the cabin craft are slower 

 than the open sandbaggers, they can have plenty of racing among 

 themselves, with an accompanying improvement of model and 

 rig. The advent of an open boat among them by virtue of a light 

 cabin trunk fitted to evade the rules, will in all probability put an 

 end to the class, or if not it will lead to the buildirg of a type 

 having neither the speed of the open boat nor the accom modatlon 

 of the others, a mongrel that does more harm than good. 



There are times when much may be learned from the close, 

 competition of two or more different types, but as a rule the in- 

 fluence which, under any hard racing, each must exert on the 

 other is only detrimental. A fair comparison of the merits of the 

 different competitors is often impossible, from the fact that one 

 special type, though inferior in essentials, is better suitted to local 

 conditions than the others, and thus makes a better showing in 

 the races. In the Solent-Thames controversy, to which we have 

 alluded, it is claimed by the Solent men, and apparently with 

 reason, that their "fin-keel" half-raters, miniature yachts of 

 elaborate design and construction, are far better suited to loeal 

 conditions, racing in the open waters between Southampton and 

 the Isle of Wight, than the fiat, saucer-shaped skimming dishes, 

 derived from the American sharpies, sneakbox and skipjack, 

 that under the name of canoe-yawls have proved so fast at Oxford 

 and on the Thames about London. These canoe-yawls have raced 

 this fall on the Solent with good success against the local type, 

 the half-raters, audit is now proposed to separate the two. The 

 Hue just drawn by the Montreal yachtsmen between their two 

 classes is an arbitrary one, but will probably meet the desired 

 end; though not of general application. A yacht is limited to a 

 minimum beam of one-third the wateriine, or she must carrv 

 SOIob. of ballast for each foot of wateriine. The boat class has a 

 minimum beam of one-quarter the wateriine, with no restriction? 

 as to ballast. 



OFF CAPE ELIZABETH. 



BY DR. W. H. WINSLOW. 



T KNOW of no more trying place for a small yacht to get in by a 

 X run up or down the coast than Cape Elizabeth. The larger craft 

 generally give it the go by and sail from the Shoals or New Castle to 

 Booth Bay, or in the reverse order, in a clay's ruu; but little fellows 

 like to keep near shore, it is too long a ruu for one day, and Portland 

 is made for a night's rest and a good harbor, and it "is often made 

 then with difficulty and danger. I have myself sailed past it in a 

 small yacht seven times, picking the kiudest and most favorable 

 weather in the morning and getting into a peck of trouble before 

 night. I changed members of the crew so often that, being myself 

 the only one not changed,! concluded I must be the Jonah, but i risked 

 being swallowed by a whale instead of going ashore, and, therefore, 

 have something to write about. 



We were bound east and ran up along the coast as far as Rich- 

 mond Island with a moderate southwester, but. as sunset drew near 

 the wind hauled around more and more to the north until we had 

 to trim in sheets fiat, off the Cape. The sun set in a wicked sky and 

 the wind increased rapidly and. abreast of the lights, we struck an 

 ugly sea caused by the tide against the wind and went bowsprit 

 under at every jump. It was an awful strain upon the gear and, 

 with only jib and mainsail set, I expected to carry away something 

 soon. With every plunge there was a roll to leeward 'aud the sea 

 swept along the lee rail a foot deep. My poor boys were all sick 

 and wretched. One lay along the weather side, one aft of the cock- • 

 pit, one below, all heads down and stomachs iu their throats. Jack 

 asked if we would live through it; Bert lifted his eyes aloft occasion- 

 ally and shuddered, my man forward clung to the' mast aud jumped 

 over the seas, and I closed my teeth aud worked the tiller painfully. 

 It blew harder and harder, a reef ought to have been nut in, but two 

 of us were not able to do it. aud it was imperative to "carry the sail 

 to get to windward and to get in out of the gale, or be driven off to 

 sea and perhaps lost. So we plunged on until we ran under Cusbing's 

 Island, into easier water, then beat up the channel past Portland 

 Head, running great risk of getting ashore in r\>-~. .Vk—**. i>vi 

 anchored at 9 P. Jtt. 



A hard gale blew all night, and over the supper we cooked, we 

 congratulated each other and filled our empty stomachs. Only mv 

 man and I knew the great risk we had ruu and the narrow escape 

 we had made from going to Davy Jones's locker. 



Another time. in company with some smart yaents we sailed out of 

 Portland and away for Portsmouth, The sea was heavy from a dying 

 gale, the wind was light and tide running i&to tho harbor. We all 

 worked out under the land puffs and got outside of Ttundy's Reef 

 and abreast of the lights, when it fell calm, the main boom took 

 charge, the vessels became unmanageable and the current and swell 

 set us all shoreward. Kites were set and boats taken ahea,d with 

 little effect, there seemed a magnetic attraction between the shore 

 and the yachts, and we rolled and drifted steadily towards the 

 breakers. Fortunately we had stood off pretty well aud wore out- 

 side all the other craft and got the first zephyrs of a southeast breew 

 which helped us off and finally down the coast to Wood Island at 

 dark. So great was the peril, that several large and elegant 

 schooner yachts were obliged to anchor and pav out most of their 

 cables to hold themselves from shipwreck. 



On another occasion we ran past the cape, bound in, the breeze 

 was moderate from the southwest and a heavy sea running. After 

 passing Trundy's Reef, we had to jibe, but, considering ihat too dan- 

 gerous, I brought the yacht to the wind, tacked and payed off sheets. 

 The plunging was severe and wheu the mainsail was nearly out a 

 terrific plunge and rise threw the mast forward so heavily that one 

 backstay pulled a long bolt out of the rail and both mast runners 

 broke their lanyards like ropeyarns. A trifle more strain and the 

 mast would have gone over the bow. 



Again we started south in September and found a, southwester 

 outside when it was northeast in the harbor. The sea was rather 

 heavy but we plunged on until past Richmond Island and well into 

 the light off Old Orchard, when the wind and sea increased and it 

 became such a hard strain upon the yacht to get to windward that 

 we up helm and ran back before dark. 



The next morning we had the same kind of work, got mad over th6 

 Constant opposition to our cruise south, aud kept at it until we 

 reached Wood Island. The sea was long, deep and heavy, indicating 

 a hard blow to the southeast, or else the approach of one, and we 

 wished to get as far in as possible. We beat through quite a fleet of 

 fishermen and coasters lying just inside Negro Island and anchored 

 between the monument and spindle. The jib was down and we were 

 about lowering the mainsail, when a breaker arose four feet high and 

 a few feet from us and went thundering in upon the beach. As the 

 yacht settled down the heel just touched bottom, and there was yet 

 another hour's ebb. The chart showed 16ft., we drew 7J4ft, and it 

 made us shiver to feel the jar. Three of us, experienced sailors, 

 looked pale and frightened. 



"We can never float here, aud shall be swamped," I shouted. 



"No, let us get out while we can," replied Arey. 



"Heavens! look at that breaker starting almost under eur bilge," 

 said Johnson. 



■•Stand by the jib halliards; run up the anchor I Quick out with it, 

 men !" The anchor was up in a minute, the jib hoisted, sheets to 

 windward. "Heavens! She is on bottom now! No, she swings; she 

 moves, she is pointed outward, and is safe!" 



We ran through the fleet, watched the heavy breakers along shore, 

 saw the sea break upon Negro Island ledge, fathoms below low tide' 

 scanned the threatening southeast sky and started back to Portland 

 with free sheets. We passed through the numerous reefs off the 

 Cape, having made the bell buoy, were almost upon Bulwark Shoal, 



