March s. I904-] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
193 
looking eVerytfiifi^^^ we weighed anchor at two 
c'clcck, and, reached out past the Rock, taking onr course 
S. E. H'S- for a point three miles off Highland Light, 
Cape Cod. Our idea was to sail all night and get to the 
'shoals, the hard part of the sailing, by daylight, thus hav- 
ing plenty of time . to run up to Vineyard Sound and 
make Edgartown before dark. All our night-sailing 
would be in the. open sea, and with good weather, and the 
numerous lights along the Cape, all would be clear sail- 
ing. Again, if a storm should blow up before night, we 
had Provincetown to run into. 
From our experience in making the two trips around 
the Cape, I thoroughly believe this course the wisest for 
small boats to pursue. Take the rough work over the 
shoals by daylight, and leave the rest — the easy part — 
for night work. Of course, one always has to take his 
chances on storms ; in this connection I may remark that 
one good life-belt to every man is a mighty good thing 
to have along. 
All hands were in fine spirits, and we ran along with 
the wind off the quarter, making fine time. We noticed 
a fishing schooner some three or four miles to starboard, 
and wondered as to whether or not we could pass her 
ho\vs. Then we passed a party fishing from a small sloop 
which was rolling heavily in the swell ; so much so that 
one woman contributed to Neptune three times while we 
were in sight of them. 
The schooner was quite near us now, but expecting 
each, moment that they would head up a bit and pass 
astern of us, we kept on. She drew nearer and nearer, 
until she was almost on top of us. "Head her up, you 
damned loafers!" yelled Rudolf. By this time her tower- 
ing sides had blanketed us, and her high bowsprit kept 
coming on and on, until the jib boom caught on our port 
mizzen shrouds. As we went down in the trough of the sea 
she rolled clear of us, and for a moment we thought we were 
free, but with the fisherman's usual disregard of every- 
thing pertaining to right of way, her captain doga-edly 
held to his course, and caught us again, this time by the 
mizzen mast. The huge hulk kept forging ahead, and 
pulled our stern around with it until the mizzen snapped 
under the strain and fell, a mass of wreckage, into the 
yater. Then we began to drift towards her stern, scrap- 
ing along her sides, and parting something with every 
swell. The fluke of her anchor caught on our starboard 
runner and snapped it like a thread. Seeing that our 
mainmast would go in a second, Rudolf threw a line 
aboard the schooner, and one of her crew, who until this 
had been standing idly on deck looking at us, made it 
fast, while others trimmed her main sheet to get the 
boom out of our way. Then they let go the line, and in 
a shower of curses from both boats we dropped astern, 
reading the name "'Juniata, Boston," on her stern as she 
passed us. 
"Put right for Lawley's," I said, and we trimmed sheets 
and headed over towards Boston, all our plans for the 
trip around the Cape knocked into a cocked hat. 
The details of the collision are as follows : We were 
on a broad starboard reach, and Juniata was on a still 
broader port reach ; having, therefore, right of way from 
each of two rules of the road, we kept on our course 
until it was too late to do anything, expecting each 
moment that the schooner would give way. With the 
fisherman's usual "to h with the rest" attitude, her 
captain kept on and deliberately ran us down. We have 
since entered suit against the owners of the schooner.* 
My advice to men in small boats is "Keep away from the 
big fellow, and give way every time." 
We kept on beating over towards Boston, clearing the 
wreckage as we went, and finally made out the whistling 
buoy off the entrance to the harbor — we were almost out 
of sight of land- when the accident occurred. 
We beat in past it and the Graves, - and getting the 
chart on deck and following the south channel, crawled 
along against a head tide past Deer Island Light and up 
through President Roads, finally bringing up hard 
aground, on a mud flat off City Point, just at dusk. We 
knew the tide would soon be flooding, so kept sails up, 
and floated off in the course of an hour or so. Dropping 
the hook over near the wharf, we had supper and turned 
in, thoroughly disgusted with, humanity in general. 
The best anchorage for small boats in Boston Harbor ^ 
is where we were, at City Point, which can be easily lo- 
cated on the chart. The anchorage is good on either side 
of the wharf. Close attention, however, must be paid to 
the chart to avoid running on the numerous flats there- 
abouts. 
The next morning Shave and I went ashore and over 
to Lawley's. After some bickering, he sent a launch 
around for us, and hardly knowing her for the same boat 
without her mizzen, Nerine was towed around to Law- 
ley's basin and hauled out. This was oil the morning of 
Thursday, August 13 ; we had expected to be in New 
York by the 17th at the latest. 
Law-ley did a quick job, and Saturday, the 15th, found 
the boat afloat again. -We had persuaded Ed Habich, a 
Boston fellow, to make . the trip down with us, so he 
came over to Lawley's Saturday, and we slept aboard for 
the first time since Wednesday. At seven o'clock Sunday 
morning we turned out and had a consultation, deciding 
to run around the Cape in anything short of a hurricane. 
With four aboard' we could -stand watches easily, so we 
worked the boat out from Lawley's basin and made sail 
Then, bringing the chart up on deck again, we started 1 o 
beat-out of the harbor, -taking our course down through 
the Narrows and Nantasket Roads. A dead calm rame 
up at nine, which, varied by short puffs of air, lasted , all - 
day, so that at nightfall we were only just up to Boston 
Light. At dusk a breath of air came up, and as we were 
crawling along we passed- a huge five-master anchored 
oft the harbor waiting for a breeze; Knowing schooners, 
w"C gave her a berth of about a mile,' aixl steered a course 
S. S. for a point three miles off Highland Light. 
Rudolf and, Ed; drew first watch, from six to twelve, so. 
after lighting the, binnacl-e- and sailing lights. Shave and 
I. turned " in, leaving: Rudolf and Ed just abreast . of . 
Minot's, whose bright .light was flashing its "143" out 
through the dafkness. 
We slept souiidly until twelve, when Rudolf turned us 
out.-, Oji deck CA-erything was pitch black^n'ct a 'sign. Of ^ 
anything • ,e;;cept waiter and imiuinerable stars. :Mm6fs] 
*'^''r.; . Ktheyington has ginos noiified us that after- --suing, tha" 
' : .] i .fi:V.er---5n .TuAviiu/ the ca^e., was ■ settlfed--f6r,. =$I2S.- 
E a it if^ard, 
We St wo r<i. 
Chart of Course taken by the Yawl Nerine. 
had been dropped and Highland Light, owing to light 
breezes, had not yet been sighted. To all intents and 
purposes we were alone on the deep. It was our first ex- 
perience at being out of sight of everything, and a feel- 
ing of almost awe crept over us at the thought 5f the 
vastness of the great ocean. 
The other watch went below and left Shave and me on 
deck. Shave took the first hour at the tiller, and just 
as I was going on for my trick I made- out a faint flash 
ahead. Timing it, we. found that it -was our old friend 
Highland. Light flashing at five second intervals. A bit 
of a breeze sprang up out of the northwest, and soon we 
could make out the white flashes of the light on Race 
Point. The moon came up about one, and we passed 
several red lights off to port,- one com ing so near that we 
showed our lantern. 
At . four o'clock it commenced to get lighter, and it 
kept getting more so, until about five the sun rose. We 
put out the binnacle and lights, and were taking them 
below, when the . breeze dropped ^ suddenly. We drifted 
about aimlessly until six, when we turned Rudolf out and 
had breakfast. As we were eating, a light breeze came up 
dead ahead, so we started to beat down the coast again. 
Highland Point was passed about ten, and in two long 
tacks we drew out a good two,, miles ahead of a black 
sloop that had been beating ahead of us. Let me pause 
here to reniark' that whatever may be the disadvantage of 
a deep draft, it counts in' beating. All summer long we 
didii't. find a single, boat our. size that- could, even touch 
us in clawing out to windward, and we gave many a 
bigger craft a good argument.. I'm for a , deep boat every 
time. 
Nauset and Chatham were passed sldwlv,, and, taking 
short tacks, we sighted Pollock Rip Shoals Lightship, 
passed it, and got to Pollock Rip just at sundown. So 
far we had been under way thirty-five -hours, and had 
.made about eighty-two miles, rnost o-f;it in dead calms. 
1 hanks to the winds the worst part-of. the trip, the part 
ever the shoals, had Jo be. made in darkness, just what 
we had been .trying all along to avoid. 
After an early supper, Rudolf and Ed turned in Shave 
and I on watch had to make Handkerchief, which bears 
W. by S. from Pollock Rip, a course which, however, 
was almost dead to windward. The , wind, blowing due 
east, was heavy and full of puffs, and blowing against the 
tide, kicked up a nasty cress chop. We would be steering 
along m the dark through fairly calm water and suddenly 
would find ourselves in breakers five and six feet high, 
throu.gh which the Nerine^ would splash and flounder,' 
pitching fearfully. Then it would seem to lighten a bit, 
and we could see a line of foam and more tossing break- 
ers ahead ; coming up to it, it would be only another tide 
rip. We slowly lost Pollock .Rip, and, taking long tacks, 
passed the two fixed white lights on Handkerchief. 
Shovelful and Monomoy Point could be seen off to star- 
board. A heavy thunder squall came up, and we went 
through it in the midst of a fearful tide rip. Waves were 
breaking all around us, and every minute or two a huge 
comber would come splashing aboard, gurgling otit 
through the scuppers the next moment as the boat rose 
on some cross sea. Thunder was booming and lightning 
Hashing on all -sides. The terrific , pitching and diving 
loosened the new mizzen in , its step, and it began to 
creak and sway so alarmingly that Shave rigged a tackle 
h-oni up near ,the, j.aws of the gaff to the foot of the 
mainmast, having „to shift it. every time we came about. 
We were now. making for Cross Rip,, bearing W. 14 S, 
from Handkerchief, , and .the wind shifting a Irttle, we 
were able to , lay our course. We. could- see two- lights 
over near Nantucket, which we made out to be Great 
Point and Great Round Shoal Lightship, 4lsb Handker- 
chief, Shovelful., and.Monojaioy Point, so we knew prettv 
\vell where we were. We' kept on for about two hours, 
■aiid thought,^we were due to see Cress Rip. ' 
"There's a light off the port bow," said " Shave. /'But - -' 
that'$ white. Cross Rip ought td. be red. Going below 
for a look at the chart,, and. getting Qur.beairings, wd de- 
cided that the' chart was wrong, and that the' li.s-ht must, 
be,, Cross 'Rip.; .so, ..changing our coursje, .we made for it". 
\ht light. g,re;A-...l,argex' and -larger, and I., on watch in the 
bow, was co.ngrafulating .myself, 'over- having, done so well,"' 
when s.uddeijly," I:, saw, tlie .'shad.ow of a - aail loom= up 
aliead-. ,_, '•.Hard'. , a^Iee, , quick..!"' , arid Shave, ,' astdlaished^ 
s\vyft| He,r ,a.rop.rid;as I let goJthre 'mizienrtaclile.-. f'Hete 
Shave, and, wondering why we didn't see any sailing 
lights, we kept on our course for a minute, and soon came 
upon our sail and light at the same time. It proved to 
be the riding light and sails of a large four-master lying 
at anchor waiting for a fair wind. We put the Nerine 
on her course again, and eight bells sounding, I went 
below to turn out the other watch. We were still pitch- 
ing every now and then, and the fellows below said they 
hadn't been able to sleep at all. As soon as they came 
on deck. Shave and I turned in in a hurry, and at once 
dropped off into a sound sleep. 
"Wake up, Sandy, it's six o'clock," and I sat up. bMmp- 
ing my head against the deck-beams. It was Ed. "Whe-e 
are we?" "Off Vineyard Haven." I .hepped up on deck, 
and what a change from when we, had turned in. We 
were in 'Vineyard .Sound, in smooth water, and tearing 
along past West Chop in a spanking southeast b'^eeze. 
"Did you see Cross Rip?" "Not a sign of it, sir. Saw 
Bishop and Clerk's and Succonesset Lightship, but not 
Cross Rip." To this day we haven't been able to account 
for our not seeing the lightship. We kept a good watch 
and steered a true course, and according to all reckoning 
from Succonesset and the red sector of Bishop and 
Clerk's must have passed within at least half a mile of it. 
Whether a fog came up around the ship or whether the 
lights were temporarily disabled, or something else hap- 
pened,, we will never know. 
We reached along through the Sound until oft' Tar - 
paulin Cove another of our calms came up, and we drifted 
arou.nd from seven o'clock until two in the afternoon, 
a fair tide, however, taking us down almost as far as 
Cuttyhunk. Just as the tide turned a breeze sprang up, 
and we passed Vineyard Sound Lightship and took our 
cturse W. by N. % N. for Brenton Reef. We ran over 
with a smashing breeze on the quarter, and crawling up 
the harbor against a strong tide, we dropped the hook off 
the Conanicut Y. C. at seven. We had been under way 
.iust fifty-nine hours and had gone about one hundred 
and seventy miles, an average of not quite three miles per 
hour. But of the fifty-nine, at least twenty-five had been 
spent in drifting about waiting for a breeze. 
We laid at anchor from Tuesday night until Thursday 
morning. After vainly trying to persuade Pot to sail 
down with us, we said good-by to Jamestown Wednesday 
evening, and turned in early. At eight o'clock the next 
morning we hoisted sails and started to beat out of the 
harbor. As soon as we got outside a heavy rain set in 
with a thick fog, so all went below, except Shave, who 
steered S. W. for the whistler off Point Judith. A stiff 
southeaster was blowing, with banks of. rain clouds hang- 
ing low, but we kept on, and just as the buoy was 
sighted through the mist the fog lifted, the sun came out. 
and we had clear weather all the way down. We skirted 
along shore some five miles out, and in a fine "breeze 
reached along past Watch Hill and Fisher's Island. Off 
Fisher's Island there v/as a tremendous long swell ; a 
lumber schooner passed, and when both boats were down 
in the trough of the sea we were unable to see even the 
tops of her masts. 
About five o'clock we rounded Race Rock, and at once 
ran into a heavy tide rip, almost as bad as the rips on 
the shoals. Once throush this we headed up and steered 
due west for Middle Ground, off New Haven. Night 
was just coming on, and the lights on Plum Island and' 
Orient Point began to twinkle over to port. The other 
two had first watch, so Shave and I turned in. Along- • 
about nine we were awakened with a start by a tre'-. 
mendous diving and splashing, and rushing on deck saw ■ 
.the stern lights of one of the Sound steamers disappear- 
ing ahead of us. From nine until our watch at tw^elve. , 
there was a continuous procession of all kinds of steam- 
ers and tows, and we couldn't sleep for more than ten ' 
minutes at a time. The boat was bucking a head tide, 
and evidently not making much, as I - heard Ed ask 
Rudolf five different times, "What's that white flash over ' - 
there?" Rudolf's answer was the same every time; - 
"Faulkner's Island:" 
- .At twelve, , Shave and I went on deck.' Red, green, and "■ : 
v lrite. lights were all : around us, . but , looking around a- " 
bii.-'we -saw . Faulkner's Island flash,-" and taking its bear- 
ings, soon itiade out where we were.. The other watch' : 
went below, arid,- the tide turning, we steered along pa.st i' 
tbe;tWD;:Iights :o.ri .New HftV,to- breakwater, finally ■making- -'^ 
out -Sti;atford-v-Sho4l a^iiad. " We-- passed this"- just'' Ss thV -;' 
§t?r^ -Q5ni^ wP Q'y;§f,. Qiif :§fern; aSd in a 4U'PiW§"lling br^§z§. 
