8 74 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 9, 1903. 
some twelve or fifteen miles to the southwest of Au 
Sable. We didn't want to go so far out of our way, 
and succeeded in making the shelter of Au Sable with- 
out another mishap. This town was an important 
place in the palmy days of lumber; but now the most 
conspicuous' part about it is the decaying and rotten 
docks. 
The storm we expected didn't come during the night, 
and as the wind had got back into the quarter where 
we wanted it, we were anxious to get away on Mon- 
day morning. At nine o'clock we started out in a 
five or six-mile blow, carrying the balloon jib. Off 
Sturgeon Point Light we had to take it in, for thunder 
clouds were banking up ahead. As they swung round 
to the east and south, we took down the mainsail and 
jigger, too. The storm seemed to break all around us. 
Presently a squall sent us spinning out into the lake 
under the jib. This we were thankful for, as we had 
no relish for a closer proximity to the shore. Then 
it began to rain, and it rained! For an hour or more 
it rained, with calms and cross-puffs alternating, and 
there was nothing for us to do but wait and watch. 
We evidently got the tail end of several thunderstorms 
which swung round us. They did us no hurt, but 
they kept us guessing. About the middle of the after- 
noon it cleared up nicely, the wind swung round to 
southwest again, and we up mainsail and jigger, and 
then afterward the spinnaker, as the wind did not 
seem to want to hold. It developed that another squall 
was brewing. Nearing Thunder Bay we got it. Though 
we had plenty of time to get ready. The extra can- 
vas came down, as well as the mainsail. A couple of 
schooners running for shelter behind Crow Islands 
didn't tempt us. We were going to Alpena, and twelve 
miles out wasn't port. There is no question in any of 
our minds why that particular sheet of water is called 
Thunder Bay. We had all kinds of thunder, and lots 
of each kind. To make it more interesting, the rain 
came with it, and also all sorts of wind. There wasn't 
anything on the programme left out. We kept at it, 
however, and, when at last, way after dark, we made 
fast to the dock in the river a little below the bridge, 
you never saw a more tired, wet, hungry lot of cruis- 
ers in all your travels. 
THE YAWL DELIGHT. 
Supper ■ was hastily prepared, and we proceeded 
promptly to put it out of sight. While so engaged we 
had a comical diversion. The river is so very nar- 
row that some of the larger packing freight and pas- 
senger steamers making this port cannot swing and 
head out again, but must have the service of a tug to 
pull them out backward into the bay. So, when the 
City of Alpena, a big side-wheeler on the Detroit and 
Mackinac route, came thrashing in, the waves she 
kicked up made things look interesting on the yacht. 
It required the united efforts of the five people sitting 
at supper to prevent everything on the table rolling 
on the floor. The tug boats, as they went in and out, 
made scarcely less commotion, and we began to regret 
having come into the river at all. Next day we 
learned better places for small yachts to lie, can be 
found in the slips of the lumber company's docks, of 
which there are plenty. But unless you know the 
places, or have daylight, it would be difficult to find 
them. We improved our condition by making fast stem 
and stern lines to the dock, and throwing out a breast 
anchor to keep us off. In this way we were kept from 
pounding the dock, and the occasional rolling we got 
through the night only made us sleep the better. 
We put in two nights and a day at Alpena, and found 
it one of the finest towns of its size. We didn't come 
across any 3'achtsmen; in fact, with one exception, we 
didn't find it possible to talk yacht to any one on the 
whole cruise. Perhaps this may be explained by our 
cruise being somewhat early in the season, and most 
of the yacht runs being in August. 
Wednesday morning, July 16, broke fine and clear, 
the wind south by west. By nine o'clock \\e 
towed the yacht out to the end of the dock. We made 
good sailing of the beat down the bay, and by a quarter 
past twelve rounded the island, called Thunder Bay 
Island, on which is a light, and a life-saving station. 
All going well the next port would be our destination. 
The wind was quite fresh, but we were thoroughly 
rested and feeling in a frolicsome mood. We ran up 
the spinnaker, and probably broke all our records for 
sailing. There were some other things we broke which 
we wished we hadn't. Abreast Presque Isle Light Sta- 
tion we decided to take in the spinnaker. It would 
have paid us to do it sooner. For the halyard parted 
aloft, and down came 500 feet of light canvass into the 
lake. Coming up into the wind, the spinnaker boom 
dragged the water, pried but a moment against the 
shrouds, and crack! it went into two pieces. We man- 
aged to get the canvas and the pieces aboard, and 
stood away on our course. We bemoaned the loss of 
the use of the spinnaker, though, curiously enough, 
there never was a time after, on the entire cruise, when 
we could have used it. 
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Troubles never come singly, as we learned that day. 
Half an hour after the spinnaker went, the painter to 
the dinghy parted, and our precious little tender fell 
behind. Now that dinghy is no ordinary boat, and we 
couldn't for a moment think of abondoning it. At the 
rate we were going there was no time to shorten sail, 
and so a mad chase for the rescue began. We got a 
glimpse of her as she rose for a moment on the crest 
of a wave, and then she was lost to sight again. The 
Captain took the wheel, Fred went forward, and the 
Cleric handled the sheet. We -flopped and tumbled 
about, and finally came in stays three feet from that 
loft. truant. Fred reached out expectantly; it looked 
as if it would be so easy; but the next wave broke 
between the yacht and the dinghy just at that moment, 
and she was twenty feet away in an instant. We filled 
away and came up again, and then again, and again, 
until it seemed as if we should really have to give it 
up. At last Fred got his grip on the boat, and it was 
well that he could hold like a giant. The Captain 
turned the wheel over to the Cleric and flew forward, 
and though the yacht pounded and tumbled horribly, 
they managed to bend a line on the stub end of the 
painter. We pulled her into the cockpit to dump the 
water out of her. A new and stronger painter was 
made fast, and overboard she went, to bring up the 
end of the procession, not very much worse for the 
adventure. Of course our oars were not lashed. We 
got another pair at Mackinac; and we always managed 
to have the memory and the time to find a piece of 
marline and make them fast; and nothing ever hap- 
pened to tempt them astray! 
These little accidents interfered considerably with 
our sailing record, and it was nine o'clock at night be- 
fore we could make out the light on Spectacle Reef, 
over our starboard bow. Soon after making the light 
we ran into a tremendous thunderstorm, which lasted 
longer than any we had met so far. The night was 
pitch dark, and the lightning fierce. The wind would 
howl from all the points of the compass, so we got all 
the canvas down except the jib. It rained: that ex- 
presses it. After midnight it cleared up, but turned 
beastly cold. There was no wind, and the tremen- 
dous rolling of the dead sea, and the light on Spectacle 
Reef were the two things we could not get away from. 
the shelter of Mackinac Island, which we finally reached 
at eleven o'clock in the morning, tired, cold, wet and 
hungry again. We dropped our hook abreast the 
Lake View House, and after a hasty toilet, the first 
thing we did was to see what the inside of the dining- 
room looked like. 
After dinner we felt better, and we figured out our 
sailing. Summary: 
Wyandotte to Tashmoo Park 38 miles, sailed in 11 hours 
Tashmoo Park to Lake Huron 34 " " " 10 " 
Port Huron to Harbor Beach 66 " " " 10 " 
Harbor Beach to Au Sable 50 " " " 8 " 
Au Sable to Alpena 48 " " " 11 " 
Alpena to Mackinac Island 110 " " " 26 " 
Total ......^ 340 " " " 76 " 
By Monday morning, July 12, we had all the sight- 
seeing on the historic old island that we wanted, and 
we decided to start for home. The wind blew lightly 
from the north, when, at eleven o'clock, we up anchor, 
taking the west shore of Bois Blanc Island and the 
South Channel. There was scarcely a ripple on the 
surface of the lake. The sun, together with the re- 
flection from the smooth water, became a little trying, 
so to make things more comfortable, we stretched the 
awning over the cockpit, and spent a lazy afternoon. 
By daybreak on Tuesday we had jogged along as far 
as Middle Island, and midday found us at Thunder 
Bay Island, with the wind almost gone. Without com- 
ing to anchor, the Cleric took the dinghy and went 
ashore to see wh^ the island afforded in the way of 
provisions. The family of the Captain of the life-sav- 
ing station were very genial; and as a result o£ the 
forage, he took back to the yacht three newly baked 
loaves, two dozen eggs, and two quarts of fresh milk, 
for which he had considerably difficulty in persuading 
the good woman to accept the sum of sixty cents! 
The great kindness of these people almost tempted us 
to make a stop. But we had decided to attempt the 
run from Mackinac to Port Huron without a stop, if 
possible, so we drifted on, promising ourselves a longer 
sojourn on the island if we ever came that way again. 
THE FORT, MACKINAC. 
About two in the afternoon the wind headed round 
to the south, and we put out on a long leg into the 
lake. At four o'clock we found another squall and 
some more thunder, and then rain. Surely Thunder 
Bay was most appropriately named. We fooled around 
under jib for a couple of hours, the heavy sea, which 
the squall kicked up, making the yacht pitch and roll 
badlJ^ When the storm cleared at six o'clock the 
wind veered westerly, the sun came out again. We 
up mainsail and jigger, and managed to stand close- 
hauled down the lake. 
Wednesday morning at eight o'clock found us north- 
west of Point-aux-Barques, the lighthouse barely vis- 
ible through the glass. We managed to sail close- 
hauled with a steady wind all day, though the sea was 
heavier than is necessary for comfort. Passed Port 
Sanilac Light at half-past five, about eight miles out. 
At six o'clock we ran into another tempest, though 
we were not hunting for one. Several heavy schoon- 
ers in sight made sorry work of it. One big fellow, 
going up, got all his canvas down, and threw out a 
THE TOWN OF MACKINAC. 
At daybreak a cold, strong wind came from the 
northwest, and we had a long, weary beat to get into 
A BtOCK HOUSE, FORT MACKINAC. 
hook as a howling blast came down the lake from the 
north. We had nothing but the jib up, and we smiled 
as we flew before the wind in the direction we were 
anxious to go. Selfishly, we didn't care how long, or 
how hard it blew, if it only came that way. Less than 
thirty miles away was the mouth of the river we were 
seeking. But it didn't blow that way. It blew just as 
hard most of the time, and all night long, and a wild 
night we had. But most of the time we got it from 
the south, and with the heavy sea it kicked up, we 
made slow progress working into it. Fort Gratiot 
Light was sighted long before daybreak as we tacked 
back and forth trying to make the mouth of the river. 
