836 
.FOREST ANEL STREAM. 
[April 26, igoi 
Our Boston Letter. 
Boston, April 21— In the trial races at Bridgeport to 
select a challenger for the Seawanhaka cup, Boston will 
be well represented. There are three boats now under 
way, and one has been finished. ~ The advent of Mr. Frank 
B. Crowninshield to the Seawanhaka field should be hailed 
with delight by the other yachtsmen who will compete, 
for he is an exceptionally clever amateur helmsman, and 
should make things interesting for the bunch." Burgess 
has the lines for Mr. Crowninshield's boat nearly finished, 
and it is expected that the work of construction will 
begin at once. The challenger which Mr. B. B. Crownin- 
shield designed for a syndicate headed by Com. T. H. 
McDonald has been finished and rigged, and, what is 
better still, has had a trial trip. As far as can be learned 
everything worked satisfactorily, but as she did not have 
any opportunity to go up against anything of her own 
type, there is not much that can be said yet about her 
speed. Everybody knows that her designer is clever, not 
only at drawing lines, but also at handling. .It is also 
known that her builder is away up on light construction. 
Good handling in the trial races will have to be combined 
with these two advantages and, of course, nothing can 
really be ascertained about the boat's merits as a whole 
until she tackles the crowd. The Burgess-designed boat 
for Mr. Horris Burgess and Mr. T. K. Lothrop, Jr., "is all 
planked and her deck is being laid. She will be in the 
water about May 1. The boat which Fred Lawley has 
designed, for whom nobody knows, or is thought to 
know at present, is also planked, and her deck is being 
put on. This boat should be ready about the time that 
the Burgess boat comes out. The boat for Mr. Frank 
Crowninshield will necessarily be a little behind the others, 
but it is expected that she will be out in time for tuning. 
The races for the Quincy cup do not seem to be stirring 
up quite the interest that they should, except among those 
who are directly interested in the challenge or the de- 
fense. Perhaps this is because the boats are not further 
along. None of the boats has been started yet, but it is 
likely that two will be set up this week, the Faxon boat at 
Smith's, and the Burgess boat at Fenton's. Nothing 
definite has been said about starting the boat for the sec- 
ond syndicate which was formed to defend the cup. It 
is understood that there are some few details yet to be 
arranged before this syndicate will build, and it was 
learned last week that one of the foremost members of 
the syndicate has been stricken with measles. If he is as 
youthful in the races as he is in the choice of his maladies, 
the other crew of the other boat will have to watch him 
closely. From the looks of the boats that are to be built 
to compete in these races, it seems to be deplorable that 
the proposed limit of 900 sq. ft. was not put on sail area. 
At this time nothing can be said about dimensions or 
general appearance, but it can be said that the boats that 
will compete- for the Quincy cup this year will be no orna- 
ments to the fleet of yachts in Massachusetts Bay, nor 
will thej' be calculated to elevate the science of naval 
architecture or the art of yacht racing. 
When the restricted Y. R. A. 21 -footers come out this 
season it will be seen that many of them are extreme in 
many ways, and it strikes me that this will be used as an 
argument by some yachtsmen who have been opposed to 
the Association. One of these boats, designed by Burgess 
for Mr. Reginald Boardman, shows in her dimensions to 
what extremes yachts can be carried under the rules. 
The principal dimensions of this boat are as follows: 
Length waterline, 21ft. ; over all, 38ft. lift, ; waterline 
beam, 8ft. ; extreme beam, 8ft. 31'n. ; extreme draft, Sft. 
ij^in. The draft to the rabbet is ift. 4Hm-> and to the 
centerline, ift. sin. Her overhang forward is 8ft. i?4in., . 
and aft, 8ft. n^>in. She will carry 746 sq. ft. of sail, of 
which 597ft. are in the mainsail and 149ft. in the jib. 
She has a lead shoe weighing 2,soolbs., and her displace- 
ment is 7,ii3.2lbs. Everything has been figured for light- 
ness while still complying with the restrictions. There 
will be no transoms or fittings of any kind in her cabin. 
It has simply been given the required inclosed space and 
nothing more. 
It does not seem that a boat whose length over all is 
very nearly double her waterline length is carrying out 
the principles which the Y, R. A, sought to establish un- 
der its restrictions, and if such features are objectionable 
they should be remedied in some way by rules. I do not 
at this time wish to infer that the attitude I have main- 
tained toward the Association is in any way changed. I 
am still as strong a supporter of it as ever; but features 
like this are sure to come up in the development of re- 
liable restricted classes and cannot be overlooked by one 
side any more than by the other. While it was never in- 
tended to bar flat-floored boats under the rules, it does 
not seem that it was intended' that extremes should be 
indulged in on overhangs. It may be that these scow 
boats, with their long ends, will prove all right, and that 
they will not suffer from pounding in a seaway, but it 
does not look that way. It may be reasonably argued that 
the prevailing winds in Massachusetts Bay are light, and 
in this case there would not seem to be so much objection 
to long-ended boats. Again, it may be that these boats 
will stand up. When spoon bows with more or less over- 
hang were introduced, there was a great cry against them, 
and it was said that the boats would pound themselves to 
pieces, but instead of doing this, they made the boats 
more seaworthy, and are now considered the proper thing. 
This, of course, refers to boats with moderate over- 
hangs. They have grown so much in favor that they 
are now being used on our coast fishermen, which have to 
stand the hardest kind of weather, and are hove to 
through many a storm If the extreme overhangs can 
stand the racket, no change can be called for, but the 
three new 90-footers of last year gave a very good ex- 
ample of what the pounding of a long, flat, forward over- 
hang will do to a yacht's construction. The officers of 
the Association have taken notice of the possibilities in 
the new boats, and that was the reason it was voted to 
watch the restricted classes closely during the coming 
season. If it should be found that any changes are neces- 
sary, there is little doubt that there will be a howl from 
the enemies of the Association, who do not seem at times 
to realize that the sport of yachting was not developed in 
a few years, and that it is impossible to get at perfect 
classes unless boats are built and raced under those which 
exist. 
The Duxbury Y. C.has arranged the following' list of 
fixtures for the season : 
June 21, Saturday — Club race. 
June 28, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. 
July 4, Friday — Club race. 
July 5, Saturday — Ladies' day. 
July 12, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. 
July 19, Saturday — Club race. 
July 26, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. 
Aug. 2, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. 
Aug. 9, Saturday — Club race. 
Aug. 16, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. . 
Aug. 23, Saturday— VY, R. A. open. 
Aug. 30, Saturday — 18ft. knockabouts. 
Sept. 1, Labor Day — Ladies' day. 
Mr. Harry W. Bates, of Boston, has chartered through 
the agency of Frank N. Tandy, the steam yacht Neckan, 
owned by Mr. H. C. Baxter, of Brunswick, Me. 
John B. Killeen. 
Our English Letter. 
The King has announced his intention of presenting 
cups; — value £100 — to the Royal Munster Y. C. and the 
Royal Northern Y. C. Cork is to be the scene of an in- 
ternational exhibition this year, and both the Royal 
Munster and Royal Cork clubs are making great efforts 
to secure a good regatta. As perhaps most of your 
readers know, the Royal Cork is the oldest yacht club 
in the world. It originally had the right of flying the 
white ensign, but this was transferred to the Royal Yacht 
Squadron Avhen it became fashionable. Of late years 
Queenstown (the waters of the Royal Cork) regatta has 
fallen off in the attendance of the racing fleet, for, like 
Liverpool, where the Royal Mersey Y. C. is situated, it 
is out of the track in doing the round of the regattas. 
Fixtures have become so numerous that yachts have con- 
tinual racing, and little enough time wherein to make 
their passages. Starting on the Thames they race for 
three days, then race to Harwich, further north, where 
two days' racing takes place. Then they come back to 
the Thames and race to Dover for the regatta there. 
Thence they make for the Clyde via the south coast and 
Irish Sea. On the Clyde there is a fortnight of con- 
tinuous racing. Then comes Belfast Lough on the east 
coast of Ireland, and, further south, Dublin Bay. After 
that Queenstown used to come, but of late it has been 
the custom to rush to the Solent for a scrub and prepara- 
tion for the three weeks' racing beginning with Cowes 
week. When that is over the racing boats sometimes go 
to the regattas along the southwest coast, but it is the 
fag end of the season and everyone is heartily tired, so 
that very often the last week -of August sees many of the 
racing fleet dismantling. 
Kariad still continues to give Sybarita little or no 
chance in the Mediterranean. If this should prove to be 
a light-weather season, Mr. Clark will find it but dull 
work racing the big yawl. She is a good light-weather 
vessel, but her rig is evidently all against her. Kariad 
heels much more easily, and of course she gets along 
better in faint airs. 
Mr. C. F. Herreshoff sails on Saturday, 12th inst., 
for New York, with his bride, and will not return to settle 
in this country. The loss is distinctly ours, and many 
who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance here will 
be sorry that he has so, decided. When Capt. Nat. lays 
his board aside there will certainly be a good suecessor 
to carry on the Cup-defending business. But long before 
that happens you will have lost the Cup. Sir Thomas 
Lipton means to have it next time, and "the third time 
is ■'he charm." 
Considerable interest was taken in the last designing 
competition over here, and the designs published are 
capital. The English competitors may perhaps be more 
at home in the next trial, for there they have a rule to 
guide them. It will be interesting to see what the com- 
petitors make out of it; some will probably get softening 
of the brain before deciding on the leading features of the 
boat. That is the tendency of all modern rules. Osten- 
sibly they are made to produce a good kind of boat, but 
their real function is to injure the intellect. Your rule 
looks quite innocent as compared with ours, but that L 
is a tnosflovely trap. The man who invented that must 
be devoid of all sympathy for his fellow creatures. 
The marine motor boom is still in full swing here. All 
the makers and agents have been very busy, indeed, in 
several cases stock has run out. When yachtsmen be- 
come more familiar with the engines, as they will this 
season, the demand cannot fail to increase still more. 
Many are holding back in order to benefit from the 
experience of others. The chief demand is for auxiliary 
power, but even on the placid waters of the upper Thames 
a great number of new motor launches are to be seen 
already this year. Yet for the Thames the ideal launch 
is electric, for charging stations are now numerous. 
Some of these river launches are superbly finished and 
fitted. Expense is absolutely unspared on them, and the 
finesi materials are used. The time for a trip up the 
Thames to Oxford — a most delightful voyage — is in the 
early autumn. 
An unfortunate canoeing accident happened on March 
29 on Loch Lomond, Scotland, whereby Mr. Jackson, a 
prominent member of the Clyde Canoe Club was 
drowned. He and two companions had camped at 
Inchmoin, and next morning they sailed, Mr. Jackson 
taking a different course from the others, to the ren- 
dezvous. Later on his canoe was picked up, but he was 
missing. A strong wind was blowing, and he was last 
seen standing out into open water. Two other fatalities 
are reported during Easter — one on the Mersey, where 
three yachting men were drowned through the capsizing 
of an open centerplate boat, and the other at Bembridge, 
Isle of Wight, where two men were drowned through a 
dinghy upsetting as they were trying to get up the 
anchor of a small yacht. 
Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan was waited upon, on the ar- 
rival of his ship at Queenstown, by the Lord Mayor of 
Cork and representatives of the Royal Munster Y. C, 
who asked him to bring over Columbia for the regatta. 
He replied that he would consider the matter and com- 
municate later. No doubt Sir Thomas Lipton will also 
urge him to consent, and if he does there will be no 
lack of special races for him. E, H. Hamilton, 
A [Month's dttiise— Maine. 
BY F. L. ENO. 
These eiart be no better incentive for a summer cruise 
than a few days of good hot weather. With the first warm 
rays of the April sun you begin to plan your vacation; 
in an underhanded sneaking sort of a way, however; you 
don't care that anyone should know you are looking so 
far ahead; but as the days grow longer and warmer, 
nature seems to send notice that she is at work again 
, at the same old stand, and as memories of the last sum- 
mer's joys come to you, you yearn to revisit the region 
which you associate with so much pleasure, and begin to 
figure accordingly. Your early sails are, in a way, pre- 
paratory for the cruise; and as the time draws near (how 
the days drag, the days that will fly so quickly when you 
are once away), you have the details of your departure 
down fine, and you begin to reckon on the weather a 
week before \cu start. 
The heated city becomes more and more distasteful; 
your office is a prison; you peer up at the sky with its 
fleecy clouds driving across and curse the four walls that 
hold you; air, sun, light, wind and sea' are waiting for 
you just outside your den, and you are sick of the pent- 
up, stuffy life of the town. The warm wind that draws 
in through your window, laden with the mingled odors 
of court and street, is at once a suggestion and a mock- 
ery of the breeze that is sweeping at that very moment 
over laughing waters and pine-clad shores a hundred 
miles away, and you can stand it no longer. It is only 
a matter of time. At last come three blistering days 
in August and you give it up. Maine is calling in tones 
that ring in your ears night and day: "Come to me. I 
have forests of fragrant pines, thousands of miles of 
coast, islands, bays, rivers, beaches, cooling waters and 
salt, glorious air, without end and without price. Come, 
take what you want, and I will give you beside the color 
of an Indian, the- appetite of a wolf, the strength of a 
bull, and the heart of a boy, and make a man out of this 
thing from the city." 
And you go. Let the poor devils who have to stay, 
or think they have to stay in town, wallow in their misery; 
you are out of it all and have earned a holiday which will 
pay for this broiling and baking. 
I had fixed upon Saturday of the second week of 
August, 1900, as the day of days, and had planned some- 
thing like this: I can take an early train and we can 
leave Marblehead about four o'clock, perhaps get as far 
as Gloucester, then if we can get away early the next 
morning and if the wind comes fair, we ought to be well 
down Portland way by night. 
I had often done it before; in fact, you can count on 
southwest winds six days in the week in summertime 
on the Maine coast, and then from Portland we would 
have a month of savage freedom among the islands. 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday were record-breakers, 
and Saturday seemed the culmination of all that was 
diabolical in temperature. With what joyous anticipa- 
tions, then, did I leave the quivering atmosphere of Bos- 
ton's streets and feel that I was started, at any rate, but 
(and here the ifs and buts come in), several hours later 
than I had planned. 
"No Gloucester for us to-night," I said to my wife, 
who had been patiently waiting, "but we shall not lose 
much, for we can start early in the morning." So we 
stocked up with ice, milk, and the usual provisions, and 
hung to our moorings in Marblehead. 
I will not take the space for a full description of our 
little ship; see Forest and Stream a few years back 
under the title, "A Few Days Single-handed." 
Suffice it to say, the Sea Witch is a stout little cutter 
22ft. waterline, 7ft. 3in. beam, 5ft. draft, and a good cruis- 
ing boat for us two who formed the ship's company. 
I doubt if I ever passed a hotter night on the water. 
The fore hatch was raised to send the faint breeze 
through the cabin, but with that it was stifling; the air 
from the land seemed tired and played out; but let her 
sizzle now. It can't be too hot for us; there is always the 
cool water alongside; and with visions of green islands 
and sun-lit coasts we were soon lost to all longshore 
cares — and awoke shivering! 
Our luck had turned with the wind, and a cold north-, 
east driving in upset our plans for a speedy run, but we 
would make Gloucester, at any rate, so we started along, 
and a cold, wet sail we had on the wind all the way, but 
arrived about noon, and, snugly anchored in my favorite 
berth in Smith's cove, felt that we were fairly away, 
and forgot that there were such things as heat and dust 
and prison walls. 
The afternoon was spent in putting things to rights, 
for in a cabin ,8ft. by 7ft. and a galley 6ft. by 6ft. there 
is no room to spare, and if any article is once lost in 
that restricted area you might as well give it up until 
the time for hauling out in the fall, when it may come to 
light. It seems as though the chance of forever parting 
with any particular article increases as the size of your 
boat diminishes. If I were cruising in a 10ft. tender I 
should expect to lose both oars the moment I laid them 
down. 
Monday opened with a drizzle, so I put the yacht in the 
dock, skated around up to my knees in the cold mud, 
and attacked the bottom with broom and scraper, and at 
midnight hove out into the cove again and hoped that the 
morning would give us. a show. 
But the morrow told the same story of fog and mist 
and doleful whistles from outside, so we towed up to an 
anchorage off Five Pound Island for a change of scene. 
That evening at twilight, while we were sitting on deck 
waiting for the potatoes to bake, and watching the busy 
traffic about us, a building on the East Gloucester, side 
burst into flames as if by magic; the whole thing was 
enveloped within a minute, as it seemed, and then the 
harbor was a curious, sight. Every, yacht in the place, 
and there were a score or more, as though at a given 
signal, sent away a boat, all hands pulling like mad for 
the landing. The revenue cutter sent a boat's crew, and 
it was quite exciting. 
An old vacant ice house, which was a heap of cinders 
before we arrived, was the harmless source of what 
promised to be a great fire; in the dim twilight it looked 
as though the whole of East Gloucester was doomed. 
The bluejackets from the cutter, passing buckets on the 
