1S4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
a seven-pound lead with seven fathoms; of light Hne to 
use in picking your way to an anchorage in a fog and for 
making sure of the character of the bottom. If you ex- 
pect to go offshore, a deep sea lead that can find the ooze 
at one hundred fathoms will be useful. 
Always know that your pump is in working order 
Keep your fresh water tank full when you can, and have 
stores to last a fortnight in case of the possible accident 
of being blown to sea. 
Keep an observant eye on the weather, and learn to 
read the lessons of the air, clouds, and sky. Carry a 
good aneroid barometer. Always expect fog when the 
wind comes off the ocean from E. b,y S. to W.S.W., and 
always expect an early morning north wind to fail by 
8 :30 or 9 A. M. Sometimes you will be pleasantly disap- 
pointed in both cases, but expect the worst. 
Try your boat to the utmost limit on occasions when 
Wood Boat on the St. John River. 
you have a harbor close under your lee, and so learn 
what she can do in a fight against sea and wind, and 
give her your confidence accordingly, but when caught 
outside in a blow, go easy. 
Istar is a younger sister of Altair, and in time may 
win her way as deeply into her skipper's heart. She is 
described and pictured in the Forest and Stream for 
March 21, 1903; 41ft. 3in. over all, she is 27ft. 6in. on 
the waterline, and has an extreme beam of loft. She 
draws 5ft. 6in., and has a least freeboard of 2ft. Sin. With 
7,000 pounds of lead on her keel she was not stiff enough 
to suit her skipper, and about 900 pounds more were 
stowed inside, with a remarkable increase in stability. 
She is rigged as a yawl with double headsail, and carries 
a topsail on a pole mast. Her balloon jib is large, and 
is arranged so that it can be used also as a spinnaker. 
This sail proved of the greatest value in the light winds 
of midsummer, and would pull like a horse when every- 
thing else hung flat. The boat is framed in oak, and 
planked with cedar. There is 6ft. headroom in the cabin, 
berths for four, and room for a man forward. On the 
present cruise the skipper was accompanied by a friend, 
Sedgwick S., and carried for the first time a paid hand, 
who' will be known in the narrative as the mate. 
In all the glory of fresh paint and shining varnish, Istar 
slid off the ways on the morning of July 16, just as the 
sun had risen high enough to peep at her over the top of 
the Greenport breakwater, and at 9 :30 she was running 
with all sail set toward the east and the fascination of 
the wide sea. The cruise had begun auspiciously. The 
air was fresh and the heavens a transparent blue. The 
West Wind was turbulent, but as clear-eyed and sunny as 
the skies above him, and the Sea smiled as he kissed her. 
The Virgin's Breasts — Moosabec Reach. 
At 11:10 passed the Gas Buoy off Gardiner's Island 
and set a course E. by N. for the whistle off Point Judith. 
A little later, while looking at the fort on Little Gull, we 
saw the flash of a gun, a second after heard the roar of 
a heavy shell passing directly over us, and turning quickly 
caught a glimpse of the black dot of the projectile as it 
dropped toward the point where a jet of white water 
marked its fall. 
Passed Judith at 5, and at 7 were getting supper in 
Newport Harbor. 
We left Newport the next day at noon, having waited 
to compare our watches at the falling, of the time ball on 
the torpedo station, and sailed away oyer a little rounded 
swell to the Vineyard, anchoring for the night well up in 
Tarpaulin Cove. The next morning ran over to the 
Vineyard Haven aiid anchored off the village at the head 
of the harbor. Quite early in the morning the sky began 
to darken and looked smooth and greasy, except where 
the cloiids bat!k?4 .h'fayil^ w the, sowth. At nopn- south' 
west storm signals were set on East Chop. About 3 
P. M. the barometer began to fall slowly, and at 10, when 
the gale broke loose, had dropped three-tenths of an 
inch. The wind backed suddenly to E.S.E., and blew 
furiously for three hours while we rode securely to two 
anchors with a long scope of cable. Others were not so 
fortunate, for a number of small yachts dragged or broke 
away from their moorings and went high on the beach. 
This blow was one of the most dangerous summer 
storms that have swept Nantucket Sound in years. For- 
tunately it gave many hours' plain warning of its com- 
ing, and nearly all craft were able to make harbor. That 
Ayaya and Emblem were able to ride safely through the 
fury of the night in the open water of the Sound, exacts 
the highest tribute to the staunchness of the craft and to 
the skill, courage, and efficiency of their skippers. 
The skipper had to wait several days at the Vineyard 
for certain important letters, and then ran down to 
Hyannis Port. The next morning opened showery with 
thin fog. At 9 :30 we ran out from behind Hyannis breaks 
water and started to beat with light S.E. wind and head 
tide down the Sound to the Handkerchief Light vessel, 
which we passed at 3:15 in a clear air and the first of a 
fair tide. At the entrance to the Pollock Rip Slue an 
extremely dense fog rolled in, through which the Shoal 
Light vessel loomed gigantic when we passed her close 
aboard to port at 5:15. By log and compass we sailed 
along through the night, passing many sailing vessels and 
steamers, but all at safe distance. At 2 A. M. the fog 
was extremely thick and the wind light S.S.E. By dead 
reckoning we were then five miles N.^E. from the High- 
land Light, and heading in the same direction for Cape 
Elizabeth Lights, 86^-4 miles away. In answer to three 
blasts on our horn, from somewhere ahead in the black- 
ness came the hoarse call of a steamer's whistle. Again 
v^e blew, and again came back the answer, this time much 
nearer and from well off our port bow. A few seconds 
later the white bow lights of a big steamer came into 
view seemingly higher than our masthead. There was an 
instant's vision of a knife-like bow towering over us and 
the hissing of a steel stem through the sea. The mate 
had thrown the tiller hard up, and, as it rushed by with 
hardly two feet to spare, we came around parallel with the 
steamer, and in the white water from its bow. 
The skipper had been forward manipulating the horn. 
As he went aft he felt that he was curiously unmoved by 
the incident, and appreciating fully the danger, rather won- 
dered that he was not frightened. Yet it was with a feel- 
ing of almost resentment that he saw the mate, who, by 
his quickness in making the right move at the right in- 
stant, had turned us aside in the nick of time, sitting with 
A Day Mark— Mussel Ridge Channel. 
one hand on the tiller and the other pressed over his 
heart, and with wide eyes that still stared unwink- 
ing into the blackness. Sedgwick slept peacefully 
below. We held our course until twenty-six miles from 
the Highlands. Then, the dense fog and light airs which 
had kept us awake all night continuing with no prospect 
of a change, we ran off for Eastern Point, smelled our 
way into Gloucester, had an early dinner, and turned in 
before five for a good long sleep. 
July 24-26. Beautiful clear, cool morning. Light N.W. 
wind. Sailed at 5 :30 A. M., and had breakfast under way. 
Becalmed three miles N.E. from Halibut Point at 9 
A. M., and drifted with occasional light airs all day, so 
that it was 6:30 when we passed the gray tower of Boone 
Island. After this the wind came light but steady from 
the north, and carried us to an anchorage in Portland 
harbor by 2 A. M. Slept soundly until 8. Breakfasted 
luxuriously at 9, and early in the afternoon sailed away 
among the ever-lovely islands of Casco Bay, and put in 
for the night at Potts Harbor. It rained hard all night, 
but was clear and calm the next morning. Sailed about 
noon and drifted along in light airs to Boothbay. Soon 
after we got under way the strap holding the upper peak 
halliard block parted, fortunately in a light air, while we 
had the topsail on her so that the slender line of the 
topsail sheet held the gaff from dropping. ^ A few minutes 
later the shackle holding the sail at the jaws of the gaff 
was found to be broken, and then, with a sudden leap 
from the deck, one of the main sheet blocks went flying 
out to the boom end. "This is because we are sailing on 
Sunday," said the mate, solemnly, as we were making tem- 
porary repairs. Barometer dropped steadily all day, fall- 
mg from 29.98 to 29.61. A heavy dark cloud bank in the 
north and west promised wind by nightfall, and it kept its 
promise. 
July 27. A fresh gale blew from N.N.W. 
The mate, who is very expert in all that pertains to the 
sailor's handicraft, finished the new strap for the peak 
block about 10 A. M. As Istar was dragging two anchors 
and in danger of going ashore, the wind having freshened 
to over forty-five miles an hour, we got under way with 
close reefed mainsail, small jib and mizzen, but had to 
take in the mizzen a few minutes later. Ran off easily 
and expected to make Owl's Head, but when we opened 
up the bay beyond Femaquid the flying spray driven from 
the crests of the steep offshore chop," soon filled and 
swamped the te;^4ei! which we tbwe4 clbs^ tinder the 
counter. The wind came out more ahead, the swamped 
boat towed very heavily, and we found it best to run into 
the Herring Gut, where we dropped both hooks and rode 
with forty fathoms of cable to each. 
July 28 we made one of the most enjoyable runs of 
the cruise. Passed out by Marshall Point Light at 7:45 
A. M. Wind light N.; Whitehead at 9:03, fair tide. In 
the Mussel Ridge were becalmed for a few minutes until 
the S.W. wind came and blew us along across west 
Penobscot Bay, Fox Island Thoroughfare, with its charm- 
ing reaches, and by Goose Rock Light at i P. M. Here 
the wind freshened and held true and steady for the rest 
of the day. Passed Lazygut Ledges at 3, Bass Head at 
4:15, and Winter Harbor Light at 6:45, making the 
average speed for the day's run six miles an hour. A 
thickening in the S. and S.E., falling barometer, increas- 
ing moisture in the air, and increasing wind presage rain 
and wind for to-morrow. 
July 29 gave us rain, fog, and S.E. wind. On the 30th 
An Eel Fisherman — St. John River. 
the wind had become a gale, with a rising barometer. 
The 31st opened beautiful and clear. A good sailing 
breeze came out from the west about 9 130, and we ran 
out from Winter Harbor into the great swells that were 
rolling heavily in from the S.E. By Schoodic, Petit 
Manan, through Moosabec Reach, by the Virgin's Breasts 
to the rocky islets of the Brothers the wind held fair and 
fresh, so we sailed on over the blue for Little River. 
Alas, the tide began to run ebb and the wind to fail as 
Istar turned inquiringly along the west shore of Machias 
Bay until she found her way to_ a snug berth in the beau- 
tiful little cove called Buck's Harbor, where she closed 
her wings for a night's rest. The run of forty-three miles 
was made in six hours and thirty-six minutes. 
August I. The sun was shining high above the hills 
through an air so crisp that one felt it a joy merely to 
be alive, when we ran between the heads of Buck's Har- 
bor, across Machias Bay and through the intricate passage 
of Cross Island Narrows. Here we met the strong ebb 
coming out of the Grand Manan channel, and made slow 
headway, not passing Quoddy Head until 12:20 with the 
first of the flood. Went by Lubec to Eastport for letters 
and provisions, then across the line into Canada and up 
through the islands at the entrance of Passamaquoddy 
Bay to Bliss Harbor. 
The tidal currents about here are very strong, and one 
should study chart and Coast Pilot carefully before sail- 
ing. At the entrance between Eastport and Deer Island 
whirlpools are formed at certain times of the tide which 
rival the famed Maelstrom and have been known to en- 
gulf vessels of twelve tons. At the other entrance, the 
Letite Passage, the swirling tides setting over sunken 
reefs form dangerous overfalls. Bliss Harbor, an oval 
basin a mile and a half long, with deep water, bold, rocky 
Passamaquoddy Bay— Off Eastport. 
shores, and good holding ground, is an ideal anchorage, 
but lonesome, desolate, and deserted most of the time. 
The skipper never sees it without wishing that he could 
"rub the lamp" and transport it bodily to some place 
where it could be appreciated. 
The next day we ran up to St. John. The coast is bleak, 
desolate, and bold, with a sombre beauty of its own. St. 
John is a picturesque and active shipping port of some 
fifty thousand inhabitants, and much of interest to the 
visiting yachtsman. The river, a noble stream navigable 
for ninety miles, pours its flood into the bay through a 
defile in the rocks scarcely forty yards wide. The tidal 
change above the defile is very small, while on the bay 
side is a rise and fall of from twenty-three to twenty- 
seven feet; so that the water of the sea is alternately far 
above and far below that of the river. Vessels- can only 
pass through these "reversible falls'* during the few 
minutes- in each tide when, the waters are at the same 
level, ,We went ashW§ tO report at the Cukoin Hbuse 
