March 10, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



213 



Gray, will hunt wily reynardwith a capital pack which they 

 secured from Virginia. The last two snowstorms have in- 

 terrupted the sport temporarily, and the. foxes, that is if any 

 have escaped, have been having a few days off, Not far from 

 thirty-five foxes have been shot on the mountains and plains 

 this season. Collector Bailey has shot seven, Horton half a 

 dozen, Sharpe eight, the Owen twins from twelve to fifteen, 

 and De Gray half a dozen. From eight to twelve dogs hunt 

 in the pack and the sport is superb. 



e « • • 



Altcar Club Business Meeting 1 . 



At the business meeting of the Altcar Coursing Club, held 

 on the evening of Feb. 21, the following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year: President, L. F. Bartels, Denver, Col.; 

 Vice-President, Mitchell Harrison, Colorado Springs, Col.; 

 Secretary and Treasurer, S. W. Vidler, Colorado Springs, 

 Col.; Executive Committee: Frank B.obinson, Goodland, 

 Kas.;Dr. J. M. Van Norman. Denver, Col.; F. A. Withers, 

 Pueblo, Col. Members of the Coursing Board: T. W. Bar- 

 tels and S. W. Vidler. 



The secretary reported seventeen members in good stand- 

 ing. A special vote of tbanks was given to the press for 

 their interest in trying to further the interests of coursing. 

 Also to the citizens of Goodland for the courtesies shown to 

 the club. Adjourned to the call of the president. 



• • • • 



National Fox Hunters' Associations. 



Louisville, Ky., Feb. 27— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 We would be. pleased to have you publish the following news 

 note: The committee appointed by Admiral Jouett, presi- 

 dent of the National Fox Hunters' Association, to draft a 

 constitution and by-laws, will meet shortly at the bunting 

 lodge of Francis J. Hagan, Esq., near Louisville. The com- 

 mittee consists of Dr. A. C. Heffenger, Roger Williams, W. 

 S. Wade, Willis C. Goodman, W. S. Walker and F. J. Hagan. 

 The committee will also draft rules and regulations for the 

 conduct of the field trials and consider the most suitable 

 location for the national meet to be held this fall. They 

 desire to have expressions of opinion on these subjects from 

 every hunter, and ask every one interested to favor the com- 

 mittee with their views at length. Letters should be ad- 

 dressed to R. D. Williams, Lexington, Ky., the chairman of 

 committee, or to H. L. Means, secretary of the club, Louis- 

 ville, Ky. Haert L. Means, Secretary. 



■ • • • 



HUNTING AND COURSING NOTES. 



The celebrated Kinney -White pack of Worcester, Mass., 

 has been meeting with misfortune. While hunting a couple 

 of weeks ago Fly, a very hne Walker bitch, broke her hind 

 leg, and on last Tuesday, while hunting over nearly the same 

 ground, their young July dog, Jumbo, was run over by the 

 cars and killed. Fly's leg has been set, but the break is a 

 bad one and it is doubtful if she will ever again be herself in 

 the hunting field. She was one of the leaders of the pack, 

 very fast, with an excellent nose, great endurance and an 

 abundance of fox sense. Her loss is a severe one. 



» • ■ • 



Mr. Turpin, the well known secretary of the Brunswick 

 Fur Club, has just been presented with a hunting horn by 

 Mr. D. M. Morris, of Camp Point, 111. "It is a beauty and 

 beats anything of the kind I have ever seen." There is no 

 reason to believe, that ''Bradley's" well earned record for 

 modesty is in danger, for though he may now blow his own 

 horn it will be for the benefit of his hounds and not their 

 owner. 



• * » « 



Messrs. George Goddard, David M. Eearle and A. B. F. 

 Kinney, of AVorcestor, and J. L. White, of Milbury, all 

 .members of the Worcester Fur Co., had a good hunt Feb. 27, 

 with the noted hounds Logan, Aggie and Ben of the Kin- 

 ney-White pack, and Joe J., owned by Mr. Goddard. Mr. 

 Goddard shot a fox in Purgatory county in front of the 

 hounds; three other foxes were started, but the hunters failed 

 to kill. 



• • ■ ■ 



The Worcester Fur Co. closed its fox hunting season Feb. 

 28. Henceforth no foxes will be killed in the vicinity of 

 Worcester except by farmers. The unwritten law, which all 

 sportsmen respect, makes March 1 the beginning of the 

 close season. The season just ended has been the most suc- 

 cessful the company has ever known. The secretary has the 

 record of 169 brushes, and possibly a few more may be 

 reported, as some of the sportsmen were out the last day. 

 The best previous season's record w r as 137. 



The Hempstead Town Council have decreed that no more 

 bagged foxes may be hunted in the township. This is sure 

 to be unwelcome news for the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, 

 which has been in the habit of turning down foxes; but those 

 having made good their escape are said to. have become en- 

 tirely too numerous for the health of the neighboring farm- 

 ers' poultry. If this is the case, there should be some good 

 natural hunting down Hempstead way. 



defying. 



A curious problem in measurement is mentioned in the Field, in 

 t be case of a yacht on the Clyde, of the ''fish torpedo type," the after 

 end being conical, or more properly cigar-shaped, with circular cross 

 sections. For convenience of construction, about Sin. of the point or 

 after end is built as a part of the rudder, making a ball and socket 

 junt with the actual end of the boat. The. question arose whether 

 this conical end, which was of solid mahogany attached to the brass 

 plate of the rudder, should be measured as part of the waterline 

 length. The matter was referred to the Y. R. A., which decided that 

 as the cone was .'solid, and did not add to the buoyancy or power of 

 the boat, it should not be measured as part of the waterline, but that 

 if it had been hollow, it should be so measured. The Meld very 

 properly points out that under such a ruling a boat might be built in 

 two halves, one oE course being solid wood, and claim to be measured 

 for but half of its length. 



To us the decision seems weak in that it does not touch the real 

 principle involved, the carrying out of the fair and legitimate form of 

 the boat; as distinguished from a plane surface of no material bulk 

 used purely for steering. In the case in question the use of the cone 

 was to carry out the lines of the hull to a fair ending, and as such it 

 should have been measured. So far as the mechanical point of hang- 

 ing the rudder, while it might have necessitated the ball and socket, 

 portion, it did not call for the main part of the small cone, which was 

 added solely for the sake of a more perfect form of hull. Under such 

 a ruling it would be possible, and probably advantageous, in the case 

 of the ordinary sawed-off eatboat with immersed transom, to affix to 

 the latter a solid block of wood shaped to carry the lines to a fair 

 ending and thus avoid all drag and dead water. This piece, of course, 

 would not be measured, but might, be of material addition to the 

 length. Knotty questions of this kind are not uncommon in yachting, 

 but if a really satisfactory solution is to he found it. must be hased on 



some definite principle, such as, in this case, of the form of the hull' 

 rather than on abstract points of detail or construction. 



The report that Valkyrie will return home in May for want of any 

 suitable adversaries on this side, has caused "Thalassa" to train his 

 heaviest guns in The Meld on American yachtsmen. After indulging 

 in some very severe and disagreeable remarks, he ends as follows: 

 "The only possible excuse which can be urged in defense may be that 

 these American Cup defenders require so many extra hands to keep 

 them up to their canvas even in moderate weather, that they are un 

 suited for regatta racing around a coast. If so, it would appear that 

 cup defenders are not even 'racing machines,' because they cannot 

 be raced under the ordinary circumstances attending a series of re- 

 gattas. They seem to form a class by themselves, and apart from any 

 other useful purpose than the defensd of the Cup." 



In the last sentence, at least, Thalassa is perfectly right, and this, 

 with one or two other circumstances, offers very good reasons why 

 they may not be in commission next year. American yachting is, as 

 Thalassa evidently does not know, radically different from British, in 

 that racing is local rather than general; there is no such thing as a 

 racing circuit, as in Great Britain; and at present at least, there are 

 no racing classes wi^h any claims to vitality. At. the "best, the racing 

 is but desultory, the one great event is the New York Y. C. cruise in 

 August, covering ten days, with five or six cruising runs, prizes being 

 given in each class for such yachts as may care to compete; and two 

 or three special races, such as the Qoelet cups. As a rule, the spring 

 races are local affairs about New York, the regatta of the Eastern 

 Y. C. attracting few yachts and often none to Boston; and in the 

 fall there are a few regattas and special races. In place of thirty or 

 forty starts, few large yachts average ten in a season unless in a Cup 

 year. 



Even at its best, and just now it is at its very worst, the season's rac- 

 ing offers comparatively little as few owners of large yachts race them 

 steadily aud regularly in all the races open to them. In the case of 

 the Cup defenders there is an additional reason for not racing them in 

 the ordinary regattas, in that they are a most useless and undesirable 

 class, built for a special purpose and entirely unsuited to the require- 

 ments of even the wealthier 3'achtsmen. 



The origin of the so-called 90ft. class, none of which thus far have 

 been much over 87ft., was purely accidental, the length of Genesta, 

 the challenger of 1885, calling for a defender larger than the then 

 existing singlestickers, all 70-footers. The success of the American 

 yachts of 80 to 85ft,, and also the success of the British cutter Clara 

 in the 53ft, class, led to the idea that Americans were stronger in the 

 larger, and weaker in the smaller, classes, and was the cause of the 

 peculiar requirements of the new deed of gift, which, if lived up to, 

 would restrict all Cup racing to yachts of 90ft. waterline. 



In view of the success of Puritan, Mayflower and Volunteer on the 

 one hand, and of Clara and Minerva on the other, it is not surprising 

 that Americans have striven to prevent challenges from smaller 

 yachts; but the result of this policy has been that with each suc- 

 cessive contest the winning yacht has been of a less desirable size and 

 type. 



Eveu when yachting is at its best, there is no place in American 

 racing for a singlesticker of over 70ft. waterline; the various Cup 

 defenders have been kept moving at times through special efforts 

 and unusual inducements to the class in the way of costly cups and 

 trial races; but as soon as the interest relaxes they are converted 

 into schooners. If there was no place in yachting for Mayflower and 

 Puritan there is certainly none for Vigilant and Colonia; they were 

 built in an emergency, not because any one wanted such yachts, but 

 because it was absolutely necessary that the club must have them. 

 They have cost much more than they are worth to yachting, and now 

 that their special purpose is accomplished there is no disposition to 

 waste further money in racing them. The only possible reason for so 

 doing would be in chi valrous appreciation of Lord Dunraven's desire 

 for more racing on this side; and it is by no means certain that this 

 reason, and no other, may not set the whole fleet a sailing by May. 



A Cruise On the Miramichi. 



A LEAF PROM FEDORA'S LOGBOOK. 



A glance at the map will show that the lower Miramichi, on the gulf 

 coast of New Brunswick, is an ideal water for small yacht cruising. 

 The lower reach of the iiver, with Bay du Vin on one side and Neguac 

 Bay on the other, is 12 or 15 miles wide; and a line of low islands and 

 sand-bars called beaches, shuts this expanse of water in from the 

 gulf. The water is from 10 to 50ft. deep, with no obstructions except 

 shallows that make out from certain points, and the bottom is gener- 

 ally soft. How placid and pretty this broad expanse of sheltered 

 water is in fair weather; and what a contrast it presents to the outer 

 bay when an easterly gale is sending white-coated rollers to thunder 

 against the beaches; but when it is vexed by a strong westerly wind 

 it kicks and snarls and jumps in a way that makes the yachtsman long 

 to be outside on the open sea. 



It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon when Fedora, flying the pennant of 

 the Vice-Commodore of the Miramichi Y. C, cast off from her moor- 

 ings at Chatham for a three days' cruise. The storm drum went up 

 as she was passing the signal station, but her crew did not entertain 

 the thought of turning back. They had planned this cruise for days, 

 and had found it difficult to get out of their offices to start, and now 

 were not to be stopped by a storm drum. Sandy, who had had con- 

 siderable experience about Prince Edward Island, had confidence in 

 the boat. Stanley knew nothing about yachting, and trusted the 

 others to get the best of the storm. And the skipper rather enjoyed 

 the thought of a battle royal between the boat and the elements. 



Fedora was 22ft. 6in. load line, 8ft. beam and 4ft. draft, and carried 

 3,0001bs. of iron ballast inside. She was schooner rigged, and mighty 

 handy is the schooner rig for amateurs on a cruise. 



The light breeze freshened, and the yacht bowled along past Middle 

 Island, Black Brook and Bartibogue, past the groves, the grain fields, 

 the cavernous banks, the mills and the villages, in a style that gave 

 promise of reaching Bay du Vin Island Basin, where she was to anchor 

 for the night, early in the evening. The boys grew hilarious as the 

 motion of the yacht, the changing scenery, the pure air, aud the sense 

 of freedom intoxicated them. "Let us set the kites; up with topsail" 

 and main topmast!'' they cried eagerly, but the skipper's experience 

 and sense of responsibility made him remember the storm drum and 

 forbid the setting of light sails. 



Past Sheldrake Island, the site of the first leper hospital in Canada, 

 if not in America, went the yacht, with the wind so nearly dead astern 

 that it was necessary to jibe in order that the Point Cheval shoal 

 might be cleared. 1 he skipper looked to windward before giving the 

 order to haul aft the main sheet and saw the child of the storm drum 

 so close behind that jibing was no longer safe. There was a dark 

 line from shore to shore in the wake of the yacht, it was under her 

 keel in a moment, and the rigging began to whistle as the gale struck 

 it. The staunch little craft heeled before the blow, plunged ahead, 

 straightened herself up and raced onward. 



"Lower the mainsail." Down it came as fast as it could come with 

 the yacht before the wind, but a slack toppinglift got a turn around 

 the end of the gaff and held it when the sail was half down. Sandy 

 climbed up the mast a few feet and got the gaff clear in some way. 

 The skipper was watching his boat, anxiously calculating his distance 

 from the point, and wondering if there was water enough under him 

 to get safely over the shoal in the nasty chop into which the gale had 

 already lashed the water. No man can sail a craft properly and at 

 the same time watch the crew setting sails or clearing fouled 

 halliards. One thing at a time, my masters, and so the skipper reso- 

 lutely forebore looking at Sandy until the delicate task had been 

 accomplished. 



When the landmarks showed that the shoal had been crossed the 

 yacht was hauled up a little, getting the wind on the starboard quar- 

 ter, and headed straight for Bay du Yin Island, Foresail and jib 

 were aU the sail she needed, and under them she went like a racer. 

 Oak Point to port and Pointe aux Car to starboard were left behind, 

 and then came a six-mile stretch across the head of Bay du Vin. 



Darkness came on prematurely, the sky becoming black under a 

 pall of cloud, and the bay had grown pretty rough. But the wind was 

 steadier there was an absence of vicious squalls, the beacons showed 

 their lights aud the skipper knew the way into port. It was pretty 

 delicate work, however, to enter the basin in the intense darkness, 



The range lightB were crossed at what was judged to be a safe dis- 

 tance from land, and then the yacht jibed and hauled close in to the 

 island. 



It was necessary to skirt a low sandbar, which was invisible in the 

 darkness, and round its point into a basin that was equally invisible, a 

 background of forest adding to the impenetrable darkness. "With 

 nerves at high tension, and silently calculating the distance sailed, the 

 skipper kept her going ahead until he thought she must be off the 

 entrance, hauled sheets aboard, and stood straight in for the frowning 

 wall of portentous blackness. Sandy lowered the jib and stood by 

 the anchor. After standing in until the calm of the water and the 

 lightness of the wind spoke eloquently of shelter, the helm was put 

 down and an anchor dropped. 



Soundings showed five fathoms and good holding ground. This was 

 no proof, however, that the boat was too far from the land, as the 

 Basin is very deep and has bold water up to part of its shores. So the 

 second anchor was dropped, the tent set up (it being too warm for 

 three persons to sleep in the small cabin), lantern and oil stove lighted, 

 and supper served. The spread was not elaborate. Hot coffee (Truro 

 condensed), cold meat and bread and butter, with Bass's ale, was good 

 enough for the yachtsmen that night. 



A flash of lightning revealed the outlines of the Williston fish estab- 

 lishment close aboard, and the Skipper knew that he had anchored as 

 far in as possible. The lead showed that the yacht was not dragging, 

 and the cruisers went to sleep, though the novelty of a first night on 

 board and the thunder and lightning that set in made them wake 

 very frequently. 



It grew calmer toward morning, and they slept till after the sun had 

 said good morning to the heaving waters of the bay and basin. Where 

 did she lie? Between two fishing craft, having rounded the stern of 

 one of them without seeing either, and w T ithin forty feet of a line of 

 salmon stakes. The skipper, if boastful, might claim that it was the 

 accuracy of his calculation that had taken him so close to the nets 

 without fouling them, but it was only chance that had kept him from 

 running into one of the boats at anchor. 



The skiff was manned and all hands went on shore. It is a low and 

 level island, well wooded, with broad meadows and cranberry bogs. 

 The basin is a deep and safe anchorage but rather difficult of access'in 

 some winds. It is on the inside of the island and can be reached only 

 from the Bay du Vin side, the broad passage to the eastward being 

 very shallow. It is excellent salmon water, and there is a freezer and 

 icehouse for preserving and packing the fish caught here and brought 

 in from the other stations. 



One of the curiosities of the island is the veteran light-keeper, who 

 points out the grotto in which he used to live, with almost as much 

 pride as he shows one over the new house which the government has 

 ouilt for him and his second wife. 



By the time breakfast was over the wind was blowing hard and 

 threatening to blow harder. It was a sou'wester, and a nasty chop 

 was on the water. The yachtsmen had had a vague hope of catching 

 a few mackerel but gave it up. The sails were reefed and Fedora beat 

 up the channel, crossed the bar, stood out into the bay and cruised 

 about for three or four hours. 



The wind whistled through the rigging, the spray dashed over the 

 yacht, and the prospect of cooking a meal was so poor in so rough a 

 sea that Fedora was put before the wind and reached back into the 

 basin. The gale increased, and double reefs were tied down before 

 starting out in the afternoon. 



A strong adverse tide was met in the channel, and it soon became 

 evident that the yacht could hardly stem it in the teeth of the wind, 

 under her reduced canvas. After making a few tacks, without any 

 progress, she stood too close in to the main land to get out of the 

 strength of the tide and have somewhat smoother water to tack ship 

 in, and caught on an oyster bed while in stays. 



"Wear her! Help her around with the boat hook!" was the order, 

 and the crew pushed vigorously on the weather bow. It was the only- 

 thing that could be done in that gale and sea, and it was done at the 

 peril of having her driven hard and fast on the reef to leeward. As 

 she swung around the mainboom went over, a flying jibe, the yacht 

 heeled, slipped off the oyster bed (Sandy narrowly escaping a, plunge 

 bath), leaped wildly forward straight for the line of breakers a few 

 rods distant, then rounded up as the sheets were flattened, and, lying 

 well on her starboard side, headed far enough to windward of the 

 basin to show that she would make the entrance. She was in the 

 trough of an ugly sea, taking the tide-driven rollers on her weather 

 bow, and the sheets of spray that went up and over her as she plunged 

 into wave after wave were blinding for the helmsman. 



In port once more, anchors down and sails furled, the cruisers went 

 on shore for a ramble and a chat with the fishermen and light keeper. 

 They proposed taking a rest and starting for their home next morning, 

 but the weatherwise fishermen predicted an equally bad blow from the 

 same quarter for the morrow, and as the wind had somewhat abated, 

 it was suddenly resolved that a start be made at once, and part of the 

 distance covered that night, so as to make sure of getting home next 

 day. It was so late that a start had to be made at once, in order that 

 the channel might be cleared and the bar crossed before dark, and 

 supper was postponed as a secondary consideration. 



So with reefed jib and mainsail and full foresail Fedora left the an- 

 chorage and stucti her nose into the wind and sea. She was carrying 

 too much sail for comfort, but it was ali necessary for working out of 

 the channel, and w T hen a safe offing had been made the wind had fallen 

 considerably. It was very dark and there was a heavy head sea. No 

 attempt was made to cook anything, but Sandy and the Vice-Commo- 

 dore in turn went forward and fished cooked provisions out of the 

 larder. Instead of coffee, they were content to wash down their sup- 

 pers with beer, which they drank from the bottle. Stanley— poor 

 Stanley— wanted no supper. He had been wrestling all day with hi* 

 stomach, the bottom or which had been trying to get into his throat, 

 and his opponent had triumphed. Stanley was sick. 



Sailing in a sea of fire ! That was what Fedora was doing. The bay 

 was burning. Down in the depths were thousands of torchlight pro- 

 cessions. Tongues of brilliant flame leaped upon the bowsprit as it 

 plunged into the crest of a wave, and played around the end of the 

 mainboom as the yacht rose to surmount a roller. Tongues of flame 

 licked the bows and sides. Imagine a cluster of brilliants as large as 

 the waters within the range of vision, sparkling in the darkness as 

 brightly as in gaslight, and you will realize the scene that met the eyes 

 of the cruisers. It was a phosphorescent sea of the most brilliant and 

 variegated hues. It was a spectacle which the skipper, for one, would 

 not have missed for a great deal, and one which will never fade from 

 his memory. 



Above, a starless sky; around, an inky atmosphere; beneath, a sea 

 of Are. It wr s glory enough for a lifetime. 



The atmospheric pall was pierced by the Oak Point lights straight 

 ahead on the north shore, and after the yacht had been kept on the 

 port tack a couple of hours it was surely time for going about. But 

 there was no shore in sight, and the light looked very far off when 

 soundings showed the shore to be quite near. 



"Beady, about ! Hard a-lee! Sheets I" Around she comes in fine 

 style, the skiff falls into line after making a wild plunge to windward, 

 and a long reach is made toward the other shore. Another reach 

 back until the lead shows 8ft. of water, and Stanley asks if the boat 

 is to be run ashore, so intense is the wall of darkness in which the 

 bowsprit is buried, and another board off shore is maje. And now 

 the Pointe Cheval shoal, which lies right ahead, troubles the skipper's 

 mind, and he is cautious about standing off too far. After a mile 

 has been made, the lead is cast, and when it shows 8ft. the yacht is 

 put upon the port tack again. So with short boards and the free use 

 of the lead, the main channel is crossed and recrossed until Sheldrake 

 Island light and the range of the Oak Point lights show that the shoal 

 has been passed, and then a long reach is made for Napan Bay. 



As the tide is now running ont and the wind getting light, the yacht 

 barely escapes missing the mouth of the bay and being forced to 

 anchor on the upper edge of the shoal; but she holds the weather 

 gauge of Pointe Cheval, and getting into shelter, rounds up and 

 anchors when the lead shows 8ft. of water. Sails were snugly furled, 

 the tent set, coffee served, an anchor light hung up and the unbroken 

 sleep that comes on the second night of a cruise, after the wakeful- 

 ness of a first night on board or in camp, came without waiting to be 

 wooed. 



Morning. Where is the gale that the fishermen promised? Not in 

 Napan Bay. A cloudless sky, a bright sun and a gentle west wind. 

 Keefs were shaken out, anchors lifted and sail made at once to take 

 advantage of the flood tide, as progress would be slow indeed above 

 Sheldrake Island against wind and tide. The yacht reaches out of 

 the bay, makes two or three short boards to pass the island, takes a 

 long reach across to Bartibogue church, ventures in so close as to 

 catch her heel in the mud, but is quickly poled off, and after passing 

 Black Brook, is able to lay her course close hauled for home. Coffee 

 is made, eggs are boiled, canned meats are opened and the last meal 

 of the stormy cruise is eaten. Smooth water, a favorable tide, a gentle 

 breeze, plenty to eat and drink, but alas! the end of the cruise so near. 



No two cruises are alike. Fedora has been on more eventful ones, 

 and pleasanter ones, but the phosphorescence has burned the memory 

 of tnis one into the mental log book of his skipper, and he has chosen 

 it as the theme of this yachting yarn. If he has succeeded in making 

 the reader catch a little of the spirit that animated him on the cruise, 

 the story will not be wholly devoid of interest to him who has felt the 

 exaltation and the joy of yachting life. J. L. Stewart. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press eachweek on Tues- 

 day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 us at the latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 



