Feb. 27, 1904.T 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
171 
Cruise of the Yawl Nerine. 
The Story of a Cruise from New Rochelle, N. Y., to 
Matbleheadt Ma&s., and Return. 
BY SANDFORD G. ETHERINGTON, NEW YORK CITY. 
"Home again." 
As I look back to the day when these two words 
were recorded in our little log, I can feel almost the 
same vague sadness that seemed to hang in the air then 
"Home again." No more tumbling out before sun- 
rise, and creeping out of the harbor in the gray of the 
morning; no more heeling in the fresh breeze and 
tearing through the water with everything drawing and 
lee rails awash; no more last pipes, with the gentle 
motion and soft lap-lap of the water to lull us to sleep 
the next moment. Our sailing days were over. 
The _ cruise, lasting seven weeks and one day, was 
made in the yawl Nerine, hailing from New Rochelle. 
Nerine is 43ft. over all; 30ft. waterline; gyiit. breadth; 
and 8ft. draft; flush deck; designed by the late Edward 
Burgess, and built by Lawley in 1891. She was former- 
ly a cutter, being changed in 1902 to a yawl, the latter, 
with a short bowsprit, proving far safer and more com- 
fortable. As a small cruiser, Nerine is practically 
ideal, 14,000 pounds of lead on her keel enabling her to 
stand up under full sail (1,196 sq. ft.)) in a fresh breeze. 
On deck is a steersman's cockpit, forward of this a 
skylight over the after cabin, and forward of this a com- 
bination skylight and companionway leading to the 
main cabin. Just aft of the mainmast is a manhole leading 
to the fo'c'Ie. A scuttle in the cockpit opens into a large 
lazarette, used for the stowing of awning, sail covers, 
ropes, etc. 
Below, Nerine is remarkably roomy for a craft of 
her size. She has 6ft. head room, a main cabin 9ft. 
long, an after cabin 6ft. long, and a large fo'c'sle. In 
the main cabin are two transoms and two hanging 
berths, the latter covered in the day time by curtains. 
In the after cabin are two bunks, a large mirror, mar- 
ble wash basin, etc., clothes, linen, and chart lockers. 
The whole boat is wonderfully compact, every inch 
of space being utilized for some sort of locker. In the 
fo'c'sle is a pipe berth for the hand, a two-burner 
Khotal stove, ice chest, dish and food lockers. 
Three of us were aboard during the cruise; "Shave" 
Vanderbilt, Rudolph, the paid hand, and the writer. 
We went down to New Rochelle on June 24, and put 
in a good week's work on the boat, July i finding her 
in splendid shape for the trip. "Jo" Johnston, who 
was to sail to New Haven with us, came aboard on that 
date and expressed much surprise at the results of our 
painting and polishing. "Wouldn't know her," was his 
comment. We turned in early, and Shave's snoring 
was soon the only sound to break the silence. 
Rudolph was up with the sun, and the splash of 

V The Yawl Nerine at Anchor. 
water on deck brought us tumbling out for a quick 
dive and rub-down. While breakfast was cooking we 
ran up jigger and main, coiled halliards, and cleared 
things generally. After a hearty meal of oatmeal, ham 
and eggs, and coffee, Rudolph started to clean up be- 
low, while Jo took the gasket off the jib and stood by 
to cast off. "All clear," he shouted, and hoisting the 
jib we reached out past the buoy in a fine westerly 
breeze and took our course W. §4- N. for Stratford 
Shoal. 
It was a magnificent day, clear and cool, with a spank- 
ing breeze. We winged the jigger and tore along at 
a good eight. -^knots. Larchmont was passed with the' 
usual array of yachts anchored' outside, the white hulls 
against the dark background making a beautiful picture.; 
The Norwalk Islands hove in Slight toward noorr, and 
after ap uneventful ju^ we s^ghfed Stratford SHoal, a|id 
headed in toward the breakwater at New Haven, drop- 
ping anchor at the regular yacht anchorage in Morris 
Cove at four o'clock. The run of fifty-two miles had 
taken ais just seven hours. 
After breakfast the next morning quite a spirited 
discussion arose concerning the relative merits of New 
London and Shelter Island as headquarters for the 
Fourth. Shelter Island was finally decided upon, and 
I stepped the mast in the tender to set Joe ashore, and 
to buy bread, milk, and other provisions. Shave and 
Rudolph stayed aboard to hoist sail and lay out the 
course for Plum Island Light. When the tender had 
been dropped astern again, we broke out anchor and 
headed for the end of the eastern breakwater. The 
wind was still holding west and blowing at about seven 
knots. A cutter, perhaps 6oft. over all, was standing 
out of the harbor a little distance ahead of us, and we 
were much pleased, as well as surprised, to see Nerine 
pull up rapidly, and finally pass her some ten iniles 
out. The course for Plum Island was E. by S. ^ S.- and 
with the mizzen winged again it was clear sailing, al- 
though the boat yawed considerably in the short swell, 
making the steersman keep his eyes open. ~ ' 
We passed Faulkner's Island at 11 and sighted Corn- 
el ' 1^' ^ jpjps?" • 
On IJoard the Yawl Nerine — The Owner, Guests and Crew. 
field Lightship about I, soon afterward making out the 
light in the middle of Plum Gut. The course was changed 
a bit so as to leave the light to starboard, and we 
were rapidly nearing it, when, "Keep her off, keep her 
off," came from Shave, who was standing forward. It 
looked as if we were on top of a sand bar, breakers 
dead ahead. Rudolph dove delow for the chart, and 
seeing that it gave 13 fathoms, we put her on her 
course again, the breakers proving to be a tide rip. 
Farther on, abreast of the light, breakers 5 and 6ft. 
high were encountered, nothing coming of them, how- 
ever, but a little water on deck. Once past the light 
we looked back and saw a line of surf stretching from 
Oyster Pond Point to Plum Island, the whole distance 
looking like a huge sand bar. 
, The wind was dead ahead for Shelter Island, so we 
trimmed everything flat and stood off on a long hitch 
to port. Rudolph, after a look at the chart, informed 
us that we were due to see a light marking the channel 
to Shelter Island, and that the bay contained -no dan- 
gers, so Shave and I didn't bother to go below. After 
half an hour's sailing we sighted a light. "How do 
we leave the light, Rudolph?" I sang out. "To star- 
board." Seeing a red channel buoy to port I swung 
her around, and with boom to port, headed for the 
entrance, which was perhaps two miles away. As we 
neared the light. Shave took the tiller and I went for- 
ward to have a look at things. "Looks kind of funny, 
Rudolph. Seems to me the deep water's on the other 
side." "It can't be. Take a look at the chart yourself, 
sir." Sure enough, channel to port. Remembering 
our experience with the tide rips, we kept on, eating 
through the water at a great pace. Suddenly we 
brought up hard on the bottom, not 100 yards from the 
lighthouse. We looked at each other in amazement. 
"Chart must be wrong, confound the luck. It gives 
plenty of water — always knew those charts were no 
good," said Shave. "Never mind the charts, get that 
anchor out over the_ stern. Flood tide isn't for half an 
hour yet." Rudolpli jumped into the tender and dropped 
the anchor 50 yards astern. "Now get busy on that 
capstan." "We slowly pulled the anchor back to the 
boat, put it out again, but in vain. The boat didn't 
budge an inch. We were hard and fast aground. 
■ We sat around on deck awhile, indulging in some 
miscellaneous profanity, which relieved us a great deal, 
and then rowed over to the light to ask the keeper 
what kind of a new channel was in use. We foyfiid that 
we were at Cedar Island, some four and a hijf miles 
out of our , course, and that the channel wa j? bp the 
other side of the light. All hands Were some'what re- 
lieved, to find that our mistake had been made before, 
a large schooner having run aground ; there, the .pre- " ' 
ceding summer. Bu^ it wa? 4 |if|jstake MI TifT^t, anc( ^ 
big one. Long Beach Light at Shelter Island is a 
white structure, and Cedar Island is built of dark 
granite. If we had noticed these descriptions on the 
chart we would have found that we were away off , our 
course, and acted accordingly. Our experience at Cedar 
Island was not without its good results— -it_ taught us 
to look over every bit of advice and description on our 
charts, and in our Mariner's Guide. This is a thing 
that, as we found, cannot be done too carefully. And 
always have at least two study the charts; the chance 
of mistake is much less than when all is trusted to one 
man. 
We most certainly were in a beautiful situation; Sag 
Harbor, the nearest port, some three miles to the 
southwest; no tugs thereabouts; and the next day the 
Fourth. After some ironical consolation from . the 
keeper, we put back to the Nerine, where Shave and I 
cleared the anchor while Rudolph cooked the supper. 
After eating, we placed an anchor some 50 yards to 
each side and bent on the halliards to the cables, set- 
ting the former tight with an idea of keeping on an 
even keel when the tide fell. 
By this time we were ready to drop asleep in our 
tracks, so, taking down the table and piling the dirty 
dishes on the transoms, we turned in. Along about 
midnight the wind dropped, and, as we were close to 
shore, the cabin soon filled with mosquitoes. After 
beating a,j-ound awhile I noticed that the deck seemed 
fairly clear of them, so took the blankets up on deck 
and soon fell asleep. Suddenly there was a lurch and 
a tremendous banging and crashing, and waking with a 
start, I found myself in the water with the blankets on 
top. Loud yells were issuing from the cabin. The 
water was up only to my waist, so I crawled up the 
deck and found that the port anchor had lifted out of 
the mud and let the boat down with a crash. The yells 
came from Shave, who had been sleeping in the port 
bunk, and had been thrown clear across the cabin on to 
the floor, where I found him lying with pillows and 
broken dishes on all sides. The lockers had been left 
unfastened, and almost every dish we had was broken 
in the general smash. After a lot of talking we cleared 
things up and turned in again, this time to sleep until 5. 
Finding the boat on an even keel again, we turned 
out and worked for about an hour with the capstan 
and anchors. Seeing that this was useless, Shave and 
I hoisted sail in the tender and started to sail to Sag 
Harbor to dicker for a tow. After running aground 
four times, we finally made the steamboat wharf and 
tied up. We spent the entire morning in Sag Harbor, 
but as everyone seemed to be celebrating the Fourth 
by patronizing the saloons, there was hardly a sober 
person in the town. Consequently, nothing was doing 
in the towing line. 
We sailed back again, and after an uneventful day and 
night went ashore again Sunday morning. After much 
, The Yawl Nerine Under Sail. 
persuasion, we induced the captain of the tug Surprise, 
which had come into the harbor the night before, to 
get up steam and go out to the island with us. On the 
trip out we stood with him in the pilot house, wonder- 
ing at the skill with which he guided his boat through 
the narrow, twisting, and badly buoyed channel. Let 
me patise right here to remark that no stranger should 
attempt" to enter Sag Harbor without a pilot. There 
is a good anchorage about a mile to the south of 
Cedar Island, on the left of the channel where the 
buoys show it to be the broadest. This anchorage is 
easy of access, deep, well sheltered, and in fact, much' 
better than the inner harbor. 
The Surprise soon pulled us into deep water, and 
after a few drinks from our bottle of Wilson, and 
variouj interchanges' of greenbacks, the captain waved 
goo(}-by ^nd ^QOd luck to us as hp disappeared Ij^, 
