4§6 
Forest and streaM: 
Sunday mornitig had brought a change in the direc- 
tion of the wind, its strength had increased consider- 
ably, and the sun was hidden; flying clouds swept across 
the sky and the sea had grown to a good size. We 
had hauled to a point to allow the sails to draw and 
while thus sailing much faster, still were off our course, 
and all the time getting into the gulf. 
These big five and six-masters will h.\rdly move dead 
before the wind; then everything forward of the spanker 
is becalmed, and the spanker itself loses a great deal 
of its power, as the boom can be squared at an angle 
of only about 45 degrees with the line of the keel; and 
the least inattention in sfeermg will have her "by the 
lee," when you might as well be at anchor. So, strange 
as it may appear, with a wind blowing fair for your 
destination, you have to beat down to lu'ard when a 
two or three-master would "wing out" and go fluking, 
and the sUghtest change in the course is manifest. 
You may be asleep below, when all at once she begins 
to roll and slat and bang the booms about with a 
terrific noise — the man at the wheel has let her go off 
half a point: then the rolHng ceases, she lays over a 
trifle, the soft hiss of foam comes in at the open port; 
he has her on her course again and added four or five 
knots to the speed. 
Toward the latter part of the afternoon it blew 
harder than ever, and the sea became steep and angry; 
the schooner was wallowing along, rolling and pitch- 
ing and sending the foam in broad sheets on either 
bow; a good eleven knots by the log and still breezing. 
Had we been on the wind we should have been 
snugged down to reefed lowers all around, but run- 
ning before it we could carry on, and the sea that was 
folloAving us helped out in the speed; though some- 
times when she would settle between two seas there 
would be "seven humps" in the long sweep of deck 
that ran forward to within a few feet of the forward 
house. These long schooners work and strain terribly 
in a steep sea. Many a good schooner, caught out 
"light" in the Gulf Stream has broken in two, and no 
skill can prevent it. Say hurricane to one of these big 
schooner captains and he will shrink back and put up 
his hands as though to ward off a blow, and thev have 
reason. Running before it as we were, she slid over 
the seas in a regular rise and fall that ga\ e no mtlica- 
tion of the size of them; but as I stood in the waist 
my eye was on a level with the long poop-deck, and 
when the stern settled in the hollow and the next sea 
getting under, rose around the quarter, I could see that 
deck curl up; and then as the sea passed under her and 
she hung on it amidships, the ends of her dropped, and 
along in the wake of the mizzen mast the deck humped 
up and hogged; and as the stern settled she straight- 
ened out, curled up, straightened out, curled up, and 
straightened out. 
A bank of clouds in the southeast, which had been 
hanging there all the afternoon, seemed suddenly to 
rise and draw near with an advance which could be 
felt in the damp, cold currents of air which occasion- 
ally found their way into the warmer atmosphere 
aDout us. Clearly defined against the sky and rapidly 
rising as though another half hour would find us buried 
in its blackness, it approached, and extending to the 
east until we were well by, the end of it seemed to lie 
in wait for the proper moment to strike or engulf us 
in its arms. The mate, whose head was even yet 
none too clear, after walking uneasily back and torth 
watching the cloud and the sails and the course, and 
showing his nervousness in every motion, finally 
stepped to the companionway and spoke to the cap- 
tain, who had gone below for a wink of sleep. A word 
at the companionway will bring any shipmaster, how- 
ever soundly sleeping, on deck in about eight seconds, 
and in that time the captain was up and looked the 
question he did not ask. The mate pointed to the fear- 
ful looking clouds and blackness to luar'd and sug- 
gested that it foreboded no good. 
"Oh, that's nothing, I guess. Looks like a lee set 
for a nothe easter. How is she heading? (Aside) 
The idea of calling me up for a thing like that. I'll 
give that feller his papers as soon as I can, now, don't 
vou forget it. I'll be mighty glad when this trip is 
over. Might as well sail with nothing at all as with 
that for a mate. There won't be a whole sail on the 
sliip by the time we get to New York if he stays 
aboard." And that was true enough, for on Uie first 
night out the mate had torn about every topsail in set- 
ting it. The winch at the side of the forward house 
would be winding up the messenger at a rapid pace 
and the liahards fast to it would be "two blocks." and 
everything sirctching and snapping and settling under 
tl:c F^rain rnd the topsails as flat as a board, when 
t1 c mate, if lie happened to think of it, would, blow his 
wLisile, llic nl,^n at the winch would pick the bell, and 
th.e engine would stop — but between the time of the 
ivuite's apprcci.uinn of the fact that things were swayed 
U]) taut and the stopping of the power, a period of a 
few seconds necessary for the transmission of the sig- 
mals from the mate to the man holding the turn, and 
from him to the engine man, the damage would be 
done, and a split would appear at the head of the top- 
6ail or stavsail, or whichever part caught it the worst, 
and if it was dark, the limit seemed to be when some- 
thing carried away entirely and came tumbling down 
eU i.eck. and when a few days later, after supper, the 
mafe came aft, with unmistakable signs of a drop too 
much, I expected to hear something. But nothing 
was said, though I confess I did not relish ,the idea of 
that big ship tearing along in tl;e night with nobody in 
charge hrt a man who couldift have told Diamond 
Shoal Lightship from a drug store. 
The captain of a vessel cannot stay awake every hour 
of the day, and if his mate. is incompetent luck must 
take charge at some hours; and luck is not always 
good. 
At eight bells we gybed her over; and aside from 
liandling the spanker boom, that operation is; not diffi- 
cult; but the spanker boom supplies any deficiency that 
may be lacking in the others in the waj' of quick work. 
Imagine a spar 70ft. in length' by 22in. in diameter 
stretching a sail whose weight is a half ton when dry 
and whose pulling capacity when distended by a small 
gale, cannot be measured. To get that boom amidships 
and over the other side without mishap to anybody or 
yny thing, is a good job when it is blowing. We gybed 
over repeatedly on the passage down, about every four 
hours at the call of the watch when all hands were on 
deck; and one night, as the boom went over, the sheet 
fouled the wheel-box, cut in under the cover, and lifted 
it like a great white ghost flying across the deck. From 
the time the messenger is passed and the big boom 
comes slowly in until the sail gets aback and the tackle 
is snubbed as the spar flies overhead snapping and 
buckling under the strain and twisting the mast as it 
digs its jaws into it, there is always a chance that some- 
thing may go wrong — and then stand by. This time 
we slacked down the peak halyards, and had our hands 
full in overhauling the lee sheets and keeping every- 
thing clear. 
Soon after supper we reefed the spanker again, and^ 
made a quick job of it, compared with the first night 
back in the bay; the sail seemed to fall so that the 
nettles came handy, and I doubt if we were over fif- 
teen minutes from start to finish. 
Topsails and staysails and the outer jibs had been 
furled, and at midnight they gybed her again. I was 
asleep at the time, and thought I should be shaken out 
of my bunk as the boom tackle was slacked away. The 
whole vessel trembled and shook, and I came on deck 
to find a small gale blowing and a big sea running and 
getting bigger. The ship was under the four lowers 
and a reefed spanker doing thirteen knots. It was 
grand sailing. Running quartering, she rolled down 
until, light though she was, you could almost reach 
the water to leeward; and the schooner that on the 
flats at South Portland was called the "big five-mas- 
ter," looked no larger than a fisherman. But how she 
steered ! Instead of the soft almost human pull of 
tiller ropes, there was a double gear, which it took 
the strength of one man to move in smooth water, 
and to put the wheel up or down in a hurry, took two 
men; and it was a dead pull — no "give" at all. How 
the Dutchman used to curse that "dommed whveel." 
The breeze came, a steady, howling flow that sent us 
through the water with an area of phosphorescence 
on either side. We were about on the edge of the 
stream with the gale against the current and the water 
was anything but smooth. Two hundred miles in- 
shore, along by the capes of Delaware, the northeaster 
was sinking ships and lifting houses off the ground, but 
either we did not feel the full effects of its strength, 
being on the edge of it, or running before it, did not 
mind it. I did not realize at the time that it was any- 
thing more than a strong breeze, although I was sur- 
prised a few days later, when the wind had fallen a 
great deal, to see vessels bound north under short sail 
and hove to. I went below about 2 o'clock, and after 
rolling in the berth until sleep was out of the question, 
finally slewed around athwartships, dug my toes into 
the outside board of the bunk, braced up against the 
side and so stayed in. 
At meal times we did some lively catch as catch can 
exercise, to prevent numerous dishes from sliding to 
destruction, in spite of the rack which the steward had 
put on the table. As he said with a look of disgust 
when the tomatoes left their dish and spread over 
the cloth, "she allers rolls worst at meal time." But 
years of practice in all the seas of the world had made 
him a master hand at preserving his balance and his 
temper; and with the arm and chest of a Hercules, he 
made play of work, and with the good humor of his 
race could spin yarns of the China seas or the Cali- 
fornia coast. 
At midnight we gybed again, hauled in out of the gulf 
and into much smoother water, and with a glorious 
breeze swept along with everything drawing, and the 
reefs out of the spanker. It was much warmer, and 
by the log we should make Diamond Shoals by dark, 
and after a few casts of the lead it appeared dead 
ahead- — a good shot after shifting the course so many 
times. 
"A nothe easter like this," said Captain Potter, "gen- 
erally lasts way down below Hatteras. I've known it 
to blow for eighteen days just like this — when I was 
bound the other way. We ought to be in by Wednes- 
day night." 
South of Hatteras it is always summer; the water 
was warm, the sun burning hot, and the sea fairly 
smooth. From Diamond Shoals the course is S. W. 
by W., which takes us clear of everything and does 
away with the gybing, of which we had had so much, 
and we sailed along at steamer speed. For the space 
of twenty-four hours we touched neither sheet or 
halyard or tackle, nor shifted the course, or slacked 
our speed; ten knots we averaged that twenty-four 
hours, which meant 240 miles and more, for the mighty 
gulf, instead of being against us, was in our favor in 
its eddy, and that day about noon the smell of the 
land strong and rank, came off on the wind — -the smell 
of the marshes and swamps of North Carolina. 
That night was an ideal one. The wind came sweep- 
ing into the sails in a warm, steady, generous flow 
which promised to last forever; the bright stars over- 
head gave light enough to make out objects about 
decks; the great arching sails, swelling hard, seemed 
like the wings of some gigantic bird overhead; and 
the staysails, like handkerchiefs aloft, looked like mere 
toys that a boy could trim down; take a pull at that 
staysail sheet and see if you can start it; a half dozen 
men couldn't gain an inch on it. The whole structure, 
clear cut against the brilliant sky, made a picture that 
cannot be transferred to canvas or plate; the soft air 
and onward sweep; the hiss of troubled waters; the 
faint creak of block and gear; the sharp snap of strain- 
ing hemp; the dull roar of the wind rushing under the 
booms and through the rigging; the regular heave of 
the deck and the outdoor living magnetic thrill of it 
all — all these can never be told or pictured; they must 
be lived and felt; and a few days and nights like these 
are worth a month of stuffy walls and soft living. 
At noon several schooners appeared under our lee, 
and we judged we were in the latitude of Brunswick. 
One of them, a large five-master painted white, one of 
the Palmer fleet, passed close by, and answered our 
hail. Toward afternoon the wind showed signs of fail- 
ing. But it had served us well. From the moment 
we got our anchor at the foot of the shoals off Mono- 
moy it had blown strong and steady until we entered 
the river at Fernandina entrance; where, as though its 
duty done, it flattened out to nothing. For a distance 
of 900 miles we had averaged almost nine knots — a 
very ciulck passage. 
The water had changed its color to a dirty light 
brown, and about 4 o'clock a pilot boat rounded to 
under our lee, and the pilot came aboard. One hundred 
and fifty dollars for pilotage, $350 odd for towing out, 
sailors getting $35 a month and cook $55, freights go- 
ing down and winter coining on — but this was my 
yachting trip. 
Ice Boating: on the Notth Shtewsbaty. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
If the winter of 1903-64 is favorable for ice yachting, 
the racing promises to be of the most interesting char- 
acter on the North Shrewsbury River, - at Red - Bank, 
N. J. Besides the usual club races, there are challenges 
from the South Shrewsbui-y and the Pleasure Bay clubs 
for the third class ice yacht pennant of America, and 
from the Burlington, N. J., Club for the State pennant. 
The North Shrewsbury Club has also challenged the 
South Shresbury Club for the Shrewsbury River pen- 
ICE BOAT TYRO, 
nant, captured in 1901 by the latter's yacht Leroy. All 
of these events are open only to yachts carrying not 
more than 350 sq, ft. of sail. Local conditions have 
favored the building of ice yachts of this size, and there 
has come to be practicallly no I'acing in any other 
class, although there are yachts on the river carrying 
from 200 to 900 sq. ft. of sail, covering all classes from 
first to fifth. 
The third class includes some fourteen yachts carry- 
ing from 250 to 350 sq. ft., most of them being built 
ICE BOAT TYRO. 
right up to the maximum limit, and arranged largely 
for racing. The lateen is the favorite rig, although 
there will be two modern jib and mainsail rigs in the 
third class. One of these, the Atalanta, the' property 
of Newton Doremus, appeared at the end of last sea- 
son in one race, and by its performance filled her 
owner with great expectations. The Georgie, which 
has heretofore had a lateen sail, is to be changed to jib 
and mainsail, with about 300 sq. ft. of sail, ;which, in 
connection with her light weight and narrow track, 
13ft., will make her a fast light wind boat. . Chas. P. 
Irwin, the Georgie's owner, is also building a new 
lateen up to the limit, and is devoting all of his well 
known skill as an ice yachtsman and builder, to making 
a fast and workmanlike boat. It is to be equipped with 
two planks, tracking isf't. and 17ft. 
In 1902 George Gillig's Wizard, built by Robert 
Chandler, was clearly the fastest ice yacht on the 
North Shrewsbury, but last winter her title to cham- 
pion was not so clear, having been defeated by both 
