Sew. Sf 1903.1 
FonEST And stream, 
179 
nail and a bruised knuckle. We were m a light rowboat 
and a choppy sea was running. Mr. R. F. Stocking, of 
Los Angeles, got his 48 pound yellowtail in 1900 and 
still holds the record. Dr. Trowbridge's 47^-pound 
record yellowtail of 1902 gave Mr. Stocking a close 
.run. I want one of those. 
No albacore are being taken. Rock bass are gamy, 
and some I took on a 9-ounce rod gave me excellent 
sport, but an 8-pounder gave me less enjoyment than 
Tny 4/4-pound black bass, taken with the same tackle 
Hast summer in a Massachusetts lake. 
A few white sea bass have been taken, but I didn't 
•see them. They are said to be good sports. Why 
sheepshead and white fish are classed among game fish 
I do not know, as I saw none taken except by the 
seiners. 
The Tuna Club conditions restrict anglers to rods not 
less than 6 feet 9 inches in length, the tip of which 
must not weigh more than 16 ounces. By "tip" is 
meant that portion of the rod from reel seat to end of 
the rod. The line must not exceed 24 threads or 
strands, and be capable of sustaining a dead weight of 
not more than 48 pounds. Anglers must bring their 
own fish_to gaff (reeled in), broken rod disqualified. 
Very little use is made of the game fish and tons of 
passably good food fish, such as yellowtail are daily 
(or nightly) taken out to sea and dumped. And this 
within fifty miles of a large city where they would 
be very acceptable to a large number. 
There are no restrictions as to catches or seasons. 
Those who have no savvy as to the fitness of things 
or are lacking as to moral sense, may come here if they 
have the money to pay the launch hire and do a dead- 
ly slaughter. Nothing short of a law restricting the 
number of fish taken per day and each season will 
ever put a stop to the senseless practice. 
When this is done and some of the objectionable 
features are removed from Avalon, it will be the nearest 
an ideal sea resort of any place I know. The marvel- 
ously clear waters, the wonderful submarine gardens, 
the matchless climate, and all that goes to make up the 
mystic Catalina are known to the world, and so surely 
as Southern California is destined to become the most 
thickly populated portion of the world, so is Catalina 
Island to be some day the most sought for refuge for 
those who love the sea and the mountains. But that 
will be when all the mountains are covered with green 
forests and every bay has its Avalon and every Avalon 
its city of canvas. Frank E. Wolfe. 
Some Landsmen Afloat. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There were two of us who had suddenly became in- 
tensely interested in matters nautical, my partner and I. 
Our interest had its source in the then forthcoming in- 
ternational yacht races for the America's Cup, so-called, 
roundly and sonorously, though without warrant; for, 
while they are international, as a matter of fact, they are 
not so as a matter of law or dependency. Nevertheless, 
no parHamentary or congressional recognition could 
have added one iota to their importance and popularity 
from the viewpoint of the world's people. 
The yacht races of this year promised to be a strug- 
gle far surpassing all others, consequently the preliminary 
doings of the colossal yachts. Reliance and Shamrock 
III., buterfiy water sprites of the territorial ocean, excited 
cur interest and enthusiasm both in our capacity as 
American citizens and as private individuals. In our pri- 
vate capacity we could hardly afford the expense incident 
to an actual view of the races ; as patriots, all sordid con- 
siderations were cast adrift, and as patriots we decided 
to go. As private individuals we might derive some 
satisfaction from our doings as patriots, and, indeed, we 
did. 
There was much to invest the yacht races of 1903 with 
superlative interest; Reliance had beaten, directly or con- 
structively, all the American trial boats which had pre- 
viously beaten the Shamrocks I. and II.; on the other 
hand, Shamrock III. had beaten all the other boats which 
had been beaten by the prior American defenders. There- 
fore Reliance would beat Shamrock III ; therefore Sham- 
rock III. would beat Reliance. The American boat, 
furthermore, had a greater sail area, and would per- 
force have to give the challenger an allowance; the de- 
fender had bullhead bows while the bows of the chal- 
lenger were sharp and beautiful; Capt. Barr would sail 
the defender, while Capt. Wringe would sail the chal- 
lenger; therefore again Reliance would beat Shamrock 
III.; therefore _ Shamrock III. would beat Reliance, and 
therefore the civilized world was either to be present to 
behold the wonderful deed in its doing, or to have its 
ears aprick to catch the first news of the doings. 
Nor was there any dearth of collateral incident. It 
was Sir Thomas Lipton's third magnificent attempt to 
"lift the Cup," and if he succeeded it would fill his heart 
and that of his good friend, King Ned VII., with spark- 
ling delight, besides affording cause for national rejoic- 
ing in Great Britain, followed in a lesser degree by re- 
joicings in America; for if America could not hold the 
Cup, Americans would need a reasonable interval of time 
in which to organize and to launch their rejoicement. 
If Sir Thomas could lift the Cup he would perform a 
deed the counterpart of which does not exist in the 
world's history. Each side, too, had its strong features. 
For a captain. Reliance had that wizard of the wheel, 
Barr, who can sail his yacht in any direction even in a 
vacuum; and Shamrock III. had the equally great wizard, 
Capt. Wringe, who could be counted on at all times to 
point skillfully two or three points closer to leeward than 
could Capt. Barr. 
Everybody \Cas interested in the yacht races. Every- 
body was going to see them ; that is, everybody who was 
anybody in the 3'achting world or who wished to appear 
as an integral part of it, barring the quite important class 
who have always some of that very uncommon mental 
equipment, common sense. 
Nevertheless, there was general and profound en- 
thusiasm exhibited by the public; yet of all the en- 
thusiasts, the owners of craft for hire — steamboats, ocean 
and inland, of evei-y size, kind, model, age, color, and 
condition of servitude — were in the first place in their 
devotion to the public service. 
But all the public was not dependent on public boats. 
There were many people who owned private yachts, beau- 
tiful marine visions of comfort and luxury, whose owners 
discovered that they, at that particular juncture, pos- 
sessed concentric circles of friends spreading far away 
in the area of the social perspective; who, as friends 
aboard, were expectantly desirous of seeing the yacht 
race, free of cost and full of comforts, which, all else 
failing, was quite sufficient warrant betimes to present 
themselves aboard uninvited, oblivious to all snubs and 
checks. To this vivacious and loyal class belong, pre- 
sumably, the people who, actuated by a feeling of pro- 
found personal esteem, crave mementoes or souvenirs, 
such as the host's silver plate, cut-glass ware, wardrobe, 
bric-a-brac, the yacht engines, the masts, the anchor, or, 
in short, anything fit as a token of appreciation, or in 
keeping with the opportunity when the eye of the host is 
not upon them. 
Having resolved to see all the races, the next step was 
to determine upon the manner of seeing. The big, fast 
boats of approved speed, comfort and equipment, were 
rejected because of the high fares demanded, that is, $5 
and upward. The low fares of $1 to $1.50 denoted jour- 
neying by the tug boats which, while speedy, were uncom- 
fortable ; or by little dinky steamboats, overcrowded and 
still more uncomfortable; and furthermore these were 
rejected because of their inferiority as points from which 
to view the races, and of their plebeian patronage. At 
least that was the way in which we figured it in our 
minds. We settled at last on a boat of- medium fare, the 
Shinnecock, advertised as a new, magnificent, ocean-going 
steamer; licensed to carry 1,800 passengers, but limited 
on this occasion to 900; speed, 18^ knots; meals, table 
d'hote and a la carte; military band; tickets, $3; state- 
rooms, $2 up. 
The transformation of a landsman into a yachtsman 
is the simplest and the soonest thing in the world. He 
simply changes his clothes, and uses at haphazard a few 
nautical phrases which he does not clearly understand. 
When afloat and he observes that a racer has tacked, he 
loudly and learnedly exclaims, "She has come about," 
whereupon everyone else newly bedecked in yacht cos- 
tumes, in unison exclaim : "Ah I" 
Still, in a measure, at least, it is proper to conform to 
custom. All the yachting portrayals in the illustrated 
papers _ show the yachtsman in natty costume standing 
majestically erect on the quarter deck, in propinquity to 
a pretty girl gowned becomingly in yachting costume ap- 
propriate to her sex, and a marine glass airly suspended 
from her shoulders, all of which may properly be ac- 
cepted as the true yachting mode. As a compromise, I 
donned a bicycle cap, an old office suit, and a pair of field 
glasses, thereby acquiring quite an amphibious appear- 
ance ; and I pondered deeply how it was possible for a 
yacht to sail against the wind. 
We bought our tickets many days before the races 
began, for the boat with a capacity of 1,800 was limited 
to 900, you know; still, that was a reasonable limitation 
when one considers the fact that it denoted a revenue of 
$2,700, which, with moneys for berths, cafe, etc., made 
the aggregate receipts for one day about $5,000. 
On the morning of the first race I was ready to start in 
good time; so, after weighing anchor, I boarded a street 
car loaded with a cargo of working people whose port 
was in the top of some skyscraper where they were be- 
layed all day long. On the car were a few other people 
with field glasses hung on their persons whom I identified 
thereby as yachtsmen. I was further confirmed in the 
identification by observing that their hands had a firm 
timber hitch around lunch baskets the size of ditty bags. 
At the ferry I met my side partner, who was becomingly 
attired in the every day clothing which he had been wear- 
ing for a certain length of time during past years. We 
immediately began a discussion as to whether there was or 
would be any wind. In our discussions with landsmen we 
had gotten into the habit of using the term miles instead 
of knots, and we found that it was a habit most difficult 
to break, so we let knots and miles go as meaning about 
the same quantity anyway; and, to the true yachtsmen 
aboard that day, we noted that a knot more or less had 
no great significance one way or the other. 
We mounted the steamboat' on the port side. There 
was quite a crowd at the gang plank, although it was 
more than half an hour before sailing time. We arrived 
thus early for we had cunningly planned that we would 
select some nice, easy, comfortable chairs which we would 
place in a sequestered, cosy and advantageous nook, in 
which we would seat ourselves, and then view in comfort 
and calmness the flitting single-stickers as they galloped 
nautically on to victory or defeat. 
The idea was lovely. There were, however, more 
powerful ideas at work- which completely avasted our 
ideas. There were a number of menial Ashantee and 
Senegambian Americans on board as servants who had 
cornered all the camp stools on the Shinnecock. With 
true race instinct in matters concerning the unearned in- 
crement, they were dealing out the camp stools impar- 
tially yet ostentatiously to the white man who held forth 
expeditiously a silver honorarium. No tip, no stool. To 
us it seemed an intolerable imposition that we should pay 
a good price for passage, which included a seat, and then 
be so held up by a lot of unscrupulous menials whose 
methods were not quite piratical. 
We hastily decided to go fore and aft and amidships, 
upstairs and downstairs, in search of chairs and in de- 
fiance of the Ashantee trust. We noted, however, with 
some consternation, that the places of vantage were 
already taken, that the second best places were full to 
their limit, that all places were rapidly filling, and that 
the people were swarming in from every ingress, much 
after the manner observable on a bridge car during the 
rush hours when Brooklynites are homeward bound. We 
plied our search more expeditiously, but, thus seeking a 
chair, we found no chair, for the chairs were not— without 
a tip. 
Every deck was crowded. At length we reached the 
hurricane deck, and even that was well occupied, A life 
raft offered the only accommodation in the way of a 
seat, so we quickly took possession, for to hesitate was 
to lose. 
The raft was belayed to the deck, about two feet from 
its edge, and not far from the giant smokestack or stove- 
pipe of the boat. Each cylinder of the raft had about 
two inches of lengthwise plank which served for a keel. 
and on the edge of this plank we sat. Men soon took 
possession of the seats on our port and starboard sides, 
other men stood up behind us on the raft, while still 
other men stood on the space in front of us, and all this 
before the boat had cast off the ropes with wliich she was 
tied to the posts ashore. 
Surrounded thus we could not see at all. The sun was 
shining with fervid warmth. The big stovepipe of the 
boat was making the air still hotter. The flags hung limp 
and still, denoting that there was no breeze. Everyone 
began to perspire violently, and it was a pleasure to note 
that the discomfort was shared equitably in common. 
And still the passengers swarmed in. Every deck had its 
crowd. We congratulated ourselves on the fact that the 
number of passengers had been limited to 900, though the 
boat was licensed to carry twice as many, for had it car- 
ried its full allowance of twice as many, several hundred 
necessarily would have himg off the rail over the side. 
And still the people swarmed aboard. A photographer 
stationed himself in front of me, and by graduarexpan- 
sion of his territory inch by inch, he spread his tripod. 
I now was tucked up into the smallest possible compass. 
The boat started at last. I, by a simple process of calcu- 
lation, had decided that the edge of a plank. was uncom- 
fortable, and that I preferred to stand. A camp stool also 
had been gouged into my back, my elbows were pinioned 
on each side from the pressure of those seated to the 
right and left; and in front was a wall of backs. I stood 
up, and therewith faded away all the pre-sailing anticipa- 
tions of a comfortable seat during the race. 
One could see but little better standing, for the crowd 
of 900 was so dense, and so many had taken every higher 
point of vantage, that vision in many directions was cut 
entirely off. But we were "seeing the races !" Besides, 
we had paid for a day of discomfort ; that is to say, dis- 
comfort if one is not a seasoned yachtsman as we were. 
We gained more comfort as the Shinnecock (limited) 
steamed slowly toward the racing course. The passen- 
gers had settled into such places as they could best pos- 
sess. There was less elbowing and less scouting for 
good places which no longer were to be had. It was no- 
ticeable, however, that the yachtsmen in the beautiful 
navy blue suits and deep blue caps of navy shape and 
heavy gold braid on the bows therof, were loath to be 
seated. They stalked about portentiously, clapped their 
field glasses to their eyes as they paused for a moment 
to gaze earnestly into vacuity; or they strutted hurriedly 
and ostentatiously a fathom or two to shake the hand of 
some friend or acquaintance ; or they stood with feet well 
braced apart, chest nobly expanded and head erect at 
magnificent heights, conscious of the admiration won 
from all beholders. 
It was an incomparable opportunity to study human 
nature off its guard. No peacock or turkey cock, in the 
full flush of health and the full panoply of beautiful 
feathers, was ever so conscious of meriting the desen'ed 
admiration of his fellows. No tinsel king of the mimic 
stage ever felt more realistically the pride of real kingli- 
ness. Each landsman in navy costume believed that his 
externals were accepted at their face value ; and they lived 
the part. They were pretty creatures. 
We at length reached the starting point, just as the 
racers were jockeying for position. Soon the race be- 
gan. There was a rush to the port side, and the boat 
listed so far over that some of the natty yachtsmen 
thought she would turn turtle, so they modestly stood 
nearer to the center of gravity. Soon a black cloud 
spread more and more skyward. 
Shamrock seemed to outfoot Reliance in the work to 
windward, the race being fifteen miles out and back. A 
number of the yachtsmen in dustless costume agreed that 
Shamrock was gaining. Some quiet, unassuming gentle- 
men in citizens clothes observed that Reliance was point- 
ing closer_ into the wind, and that Shamrock therefore 
was abafting. I give only the substance of their re- 
marks. 
Forward on the hurricane deck sat a yachting avatar, 
a male being pf surpassing loveliness. He was dressed 
in a yachting jacket of resplendent newness, on the lapel 
of which was embroidered a lovely yacht flag, and on his 
bead sat jauntily a cap, heavily laden on the weather leech 
wth gold braid, and it was faultless in shape. His legs 
were encased in duck of snowy whiteness, close hauled, 
and creased with skillful accuracy, while his feet reposed 
in canvas shoes whose whiteness was in keeping with 
his trousers. He sat on a camp stool with knees wid« 
apart, arms akimbo, one hand grasping a field glass which 
he slowly and gravely placed to his eyes betimes. A big 
moustache, titian red in color, gave added beauty to his 
mature face. All made a figure of faultless symmetry. 
So white, so blue, so neat, so correct, he looked almost 
pure. He had seen perhaps about fifty springtunes. 
Soon it began to rain heavily, and there was a general 
scramble for cover. In the disintegrating upheaval, I cap- 
tured a camp stool. My side partner captured another. 
Anything nailed securely was safe from appropriation. 
A lot of us got to leeward of the big stovepipe, and thus 
were \yell protected from the rain. We could hear a faint, 
metallic sound of beer band music from below — that was 
the military band at work. 
After a time the boat changed her course, leaving a 
lot of us exposed to the rain. A lot of other people 
gained protection from the rain by the change, so the 
ones left in the rain scampered for downstairs, or rather 
down a ricketty ladder. We found the decks crowded 
to their full capacity. Also the table d'hote and a la 
carte were overrun with patrons. I went below to the 
first deck carrymg my treasure, the camp stool, with me. 
I attempted to buy a sandwich on the first floor at an 
improvised lunch counter behind Avhich were several 
black waiters crowded together and constantly in each 
other's way. Yachtsmen were, in numbers of two to six, 
all calling for something of each waiter at the same time. 
After waiting about twenty minutes, the candidate for 
sandwiches would _ learn that he must first purchase 
checks. The cashier was seated at a cheap table, oji 
which was a small satchel containing all his check's. He 
kept the satchel partially open, never left any checks 
loose on the table, and at every purchase made change 
from his pocket. He seemed to have a profound suspi- 
cion that yachtsmen were dangerous characters. About 
half a dozen people, as many as could surround him, were 
asking for six different things all at once, but he was 
calm and slow and methodical, and furtive and unper- 
